[lbo-talk] Soviet Children's Picture Books, Etc.

[joanna bujes]

Kelly writes:
"In my experience they are. The problem with that clip in Roger and Me is 
that college students I've shown it to don't quite get the point. I assume 
Moore's point is to show what capitalism turns us into: people who would 
sell rabbits for pets in February but once that venture fails, start 
selling them for meat a few months later. Not to mention the fact that the 
consumers were probably "forced" to eat rabbit meat (mighty tasty, 
actually) because they couldn't afford London Broil any more. Moore's point 
is that it isn't the particular people in Flint who are savages; it's that 
they become so under the conditions in which they live."

You know, I saw that movie and I'm still confused about the "goryness" of that scene. As I rember it, an enterprising, working-class woman kills a rabbit with a swift chop to the neck -- to make some money and feed her family. I didn't get what the flap was about then, I don't get it now. It's ok to kill cows, pigs, chickens, etc... for food, but killing rabbits is a sign of "savagery"? Huh?

The rabbit's death did not seem more "tragic" than the death of Flynt, or the dispossession of hard-working-now-unemployed folks, or the domestic violence that flourished in the newly impoverished town, or..., or....

Joanna