Re: saving private ryan is toooooooo violent, why should this be at the top of the oscar list

Posted by Stephen Sills from ip155.albany5.ga.pub-ip.psi.net on August 17, 1998 at 18:11:23:

In Reply to: Re: saving private ryan is toooooooo violent, why should this be at the top of the oscar list posted by Roxy on August 13, 1998 at 11:10:22:

: : I AM NOT GOING TO SEE SAVING PRIVATE RYAN BECAUSE IT IS TOOOOOOOO VIOLENT AND I THINK THAT MATT DAMON AND HIS FRIEND BEN AFFLECK ARE TRYING TO GET ALL THE ATTENTION AWAY FROM LEONARDO DICAPRIO. BILLIONS OF GIRLS LOVE LEO.

Quick note: There are only five billion people in the world. Try millions.

HE STOLE MILLIONS OF FANS HEARTS AWAY FROM HIS INCREDIBLE PERFOMANCE IN TITANIC (THE #1 MOVIE IN THIS PLANET) SAVING PRIVATE RYAN SUCKS AND MY GRANDPA WAS IN WWII AND I BELIEVE WHAT MY MOM SAYS. HE WAS PROTECTING HIS COUNTRY. BUT THE MOVIE SAVING PRIVATE RYAN HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE REAL THING! I DONT THINK IT SHOULD GET AND NOMINATIONS FOR ANY KIND OF AWARD. THE MOVIE TITANIC CAPTURED PEOPLES HEARTS. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN IS GOING TO CAPTURE NIGHTMARES. DONT SEE IT IF YOU DONT WANT TO WAKE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. FOR ONE THING MY ENTIRE FAMILY FROM DIFFERENT STATES AGREED NOT TO SEE SAVING PRIVATE RYAN!!

If you haven't seen the movie, then how can you say that it's too violent? Personally, I think that the violence was one of (but certianly not the) most powerful elements in the movie. After all, up until now, no movie has ever come even close to realistically representing combat. According to the experts, Ryan is like no other war movie ever made. Some have even said that the movie made them feel like they were in the middle of a war again. It's almost disrespectful to say that it's unnacceptably violent, because those people were actually in the MIDDLE of all of that. If those men could fight in the middle of that, you should at least be able to watch it.
Although I actually haven't seen Titanic, I've read most of the script, and am very familiar with the historical event. And to be brutally honest, D-Day and the subsequent events are far more dramatic and powerful than anything about the sinking of the Titanic. And they are certianly more meaningful than a fictitious, cliched romance between Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet. And the idea that there is something wrong with somebody "competing" with Leonardo Dicaprio is just... absurd. I mean, girls have the right to like whoever they want, and they should have more options than Leonardo Dicaprio. Saving Private Ryan, however, is not attempting to attract the female audience by the "cute" factor of the male stars anyway, so you really don't make any sense.
And about the thing with Saving Private Ryan being fictitious in nature. Well, newsflash, so was Titanic! Except Titanic's plot didn't have any depth whatsoever. It was simply a typical Hollywood romance with a typical Hollywood ending. But, you say, both movies have simliar endings. At the end of Titanic, Leonardo is sinking into the water holding Kate's hand. Just as she releases her grasp, she says "I'll never let go." signifying that she'll always remember him. That's about as far as you can go with that, and the implications are only relevent to that one person. Now let's look at Private Ryan.
The ending is similiar on the surface. Tom Hanks is dying, with Matt Damon hovering just above him, tears on the verge of emerging from his eyes. Hanks motions for Damon to lower his head, and whispers "Earn this" softly, calmly into his ear. He repeats it, even fainter, and then goes limp in Damon's arms. Unlike Titanic's ending, it transcends that individual event, and even transcends the war itself. It is actually speaking less to Damon's character as it is speaking to us. It's message: WE, as a people, are Private Ryan. Those men in World War II and other wars gave up their lives so that we could be free. We, like Ryan, should conduct our lives with as much passion, and with as much purpose as possible, because our lives were bought with the lives of others.
In the end it comes down to this: Titanic, while basically a good story, pulls on cheap emotions to make you sympathetic with two dreadfully unoriginal characters. It doesn't have any depth to speak of, it's simply fun escapism.
Saving Private Ryan, on the other hand, is a memorial to the men that fought and died, not just in World War II, but in all of our wars. It does this by both realistically representing combat conditions and by having a story that is actually a metaphor for what war is. Throughout the movie, there are numerous philosophications from the characters regarding the nature of war and the nature of their mission. Its ending doesn't play on cheap emotions, but represents, on a small scale, the sacrafices that people in the military have endured for us.
It is obvious, to me at least, which movie is superior.

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Re: saving private ryan is toooooooo violent, why should this be at the top of the oscar list Tom 20:10:47 9/28/98 (0)

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: : : I AM NOT GOING TO SEE SAVING PRIVATE RYAN BECAUSE IT IS TOOOOOOOO VIOLENT AND I THINK THAT MATT DAMON AND HIS FRIEND BEN AFFLECK ARE TRYING TO GET ALL THE ATTENTION AWAY FROM LEONARDO DICAPRIO.  BILLIONS OF GIRLS LOVE LEO.

: Quick note: There are only five billion people in the world.  Try millions.

: HE STOLE MILLIONS OF FANS HEARTS AWAY FROM HIS INCREDIBLE PERFOMANCE IN TITANIC (THE #1 MOVIE IN THIS PLANET)  SAVING PRIVATE RYAN SUCKS AND MY GRANDPA WAS IN WWII AND I BELIEVE WHAT MY MOM SAYS.  HE WAS PROTECTING HIS COUNTRY.  BUT THE MOVIE SAVING PRIVATE RYAN HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE REAL THING!  I DONT THINK IT SHOULD GET AND NOMINATIONS FOR ANY KIND OF AWARD.  THE MOVIE TITANIC CAPTURED PEOPLES HEARTS.  SAVING PRIVATE RYAN IS GOING TO CAPTURE NIGHTMARES.  DONT SEE IT IF YOU DONT WANT TO WAKE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.  FOR ONE THING MY ENTIRE FAMILY FROM DIFFERENT STATES AGREED NOT TO SEE SAVING PRIVATE RYAN!!

:      If you haven't seen the movie, then how can you say that it's too violent?  Personally, I think that the violence was one of (but certianly not the) most powerful elements in the movie.  After all, up until now, no movie has ever come even close to realistically representing combat.  According to the experts, Ryan is like no other war movie ever made.  Some have even said that the movie made them feel like they were in the middle of a war again.  It's almost disrespectful to say that it's unnacceptably violent, because those people were actually in the MIDDLE of all of that.  If those men could fight in the middle of that, you should at least be able to watch it.
:      Although I actually haven't seen Titanic, I've read most of the script, and am very familiar with the historical event.  And to be brutally honest, D-Day and the subsequent events are far more dramatic and powerful than anything about the sinking of the Titanic.  And they are certianly more meaningful than a fictitious, cliched romance between Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet.  And the idea that there is something wrong with somebody "competing" with Leonardo Dicaprio is just... absurd.  I mean, girls have the right to like whoever they want, and they should have more options than Leonardo Dicaprio.  Saving Private Ryan, however, is not attempting to attract the female audience by the "cute" factor of the male stars anyway, so you really don't make any sense.
:      And about the thing with Saving Private Ryan being fictitious in nature.  Well, newsflash, so was Titanic!  Except Titanic's plot didn't have any depth whatsoever.  It was simply a typical Hollywood romance with a typical Hollywood ending.  But, you say, both movies have simliar endings.  At the end of Titanic, Leonardo is sinking into the water holding Kate's hand.  Just as she releases her grasp, she says "I'll never let go." signifying that she'll always remember him.  That's about as far as you can go with that, and the implications are only relevent to that one person.  Now let's look at Private Ryan.
:      The ending is similiar on the surface.  Tom Hanks is dying, with Matt Damon hovering just above him, tears on the verge of emerging from his eyes.  Hanks motions for Damon to lower his head, and whispers "Earn this" softly, calmly into his ear.  He repeats it, even fainter, and then goes limp in Damon's arms.  Unlike Titanic's ending, it transcends that individual event, and even transcends the war itself.  It is actually speaking less to Damon's character as it is speaking to us.  It's message: WE, as a people, are Private Ryan.  Those men in World War II and other wars gave up their lives so that we could be free.  We, like Ryan, should conduct our lives with as much passion, and with as much purpose as possible, because our lives were bought with the lives of others. 
:      In the end it comes down to this: Titanic, while basically a good story, pulls on cheap emotions to make you sympathetic with two dreadfully unoriginal characters.  It doesn't have any depth to speak of, it's simply fun escapism.  
:      Saving Private Ryan, on the other hand, is a memorial to the men that fought and died, not just in World War II, but in all of our wars.  It does this by both realistically representing combat conditions and by having a story that is actually a metaphor for what war is.  Throughout the movie, there are numerous philosophications from the characters regarding the nature of war and the nature of their mission.  Its ending doesn't play on cheap emotions, but represents, on a small scale, the sacrafices that people in the military have endured for us.  
:      It is obvious, to me at least, which movie is superior.

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