Kickass!

Kickass - a movie about a teenage boy turned superhero. He has absolutely no super powers. What he does have is a custom made superhero costume and the will to help those in trouble. The movie has its share of humor, a fair amount of gore and Nicholas Cage in yet another strange role he could have done without (remember Ghost Rider?)

Still, this teenage comedy does have its heart in the right place. The entire movie is based on a simple observation – most of us want to help, but do we?

Most of us definitely want to put a stop to injustice happening around us, we want to rescue that old man getting mugged or that young woman getting assaulted. However, if it means putting ourselves in harms way, we would probably look (run) in the opposite direction. Self preservation comes naturally to us.

The person inflicting harm is definitely ‘bad’ and the person who actually goes in to rescue the victim is probably ‘good’. But there is a whole lot of gray in between these two extremes.  According to me, a combination of basic human decency, common sense and presence of mind are needed to respond appropriately in such situations. If you don’t care and don’t want to help, i.e. u lack basic human decency, then it is really quite simple. Just walk away. Save yourself. If you do want to help, common sense is essential. There is no point running into a fight against a group of thugs to rescue someone. Not only is it stupid, it is not fair to your family and those who care about you. While it is important to come to a strangers rescue, doing so at the risk of your own life might not be the most prudent thing to do. So that brings us to presence of mind. In most situations, even if we are unable to jump in and save the day ourselves, it is possible to call for help. Call the police, call an ambulance, run to a safe distance and scream your lungs out (you are bound to attract a crowd).

I find it strange that I decided to blog about Kickass, considering I also watched The Prestige over the weekend. The Prestige was everything everyone said it would be. Unpredictable and awesome! But more about that in another post.

An Eye for an Eye

Would you kill to protect someone you love? Would you kill to protect yourself? Would you spend the rest of your life planning revenge on someone who tried to destroy you?           

Interesting questions that have no simple answers. I think most people would answer ‘Yes’ to the first two questions. If someone is coming at you with a knife and you have a gun in your hand, it would be stupid not to pull the trigger. Well if you get frozen due to fear and are unable to do it, that’s just too bad. However, I would hope that for most of us, our primal survival instincts will not let that happen.

Now the 3^rd question is very different. It has nothing to do with self defense. It involves carefully planning the destruction of someone who did the same to you in the past.

Why such morbid thoughts? I just finished reading Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer. It is a modern day version of The Count of Monte Cristo. The main protagonist is a guy who gets framed for murder and sent to prison for the rest of his life. He manages to escape and plots an elaborate scheme to bring down the 4 men responsible. Of course, he conveniently has access to a great deal of wealth and other resources that help his vendetta. (For those who have read the book, I really enjoyed it but found the part about his escaping from prison because he looked like Nicholas fairly unbelievable)

We have all been wronged. For most of us this includes relatively minor incidents such as the teacher who was partial to another student, the cheating boyfriend/girlfriend, the boss who overlooked our efforts and promoted someone else. We usually crib, vent, maybe get a little drunk and move on. But what if it is something bigger? A co-worker gets caught for stealing confidential information and puts the blame on you. Your business partner commits fraud and vanishes with all your money. You get framed for murder.

Do we all have a breaking point after which nothing else matters except getting back at the people who wronged us?