QUESTION: Kick-(A) Butt

[Pam Goble]

I saw the movie this weekend and was left thinking about it. Before I talk about it, has anyone seen it? One of the requirements of being in my MS classes(actually keeping current should be for anyone involved in teaching the age group) is to keep up w/pop culture,i.e., films, books, music etc., so I went with my son Blake and am still thinking about the film. It made an impression...for sure. Comments, thoughts???

[Ryan Goble]

Hey Mom, I'm hoping to see this with Nicole soon. In the meantime check out this article about the violence from today's NYTimes, "Brutal Truths About Violence"...

EVEN before it opened in theaters on Friday, “Kick-Ass” had achieved a degree of notoriety thanks to a scene in which Hit-Girl, a pint-size masked vigilante played by Chloë Grace Moretz, unleashes a barrage of obscenities against a room full of foes. Both the provocation and the published responses to it — more or less evenly split between shock and exhilaration — had a somewhat ritualized quality. We’ve been here before: A movie pointedly tests what seems to be an established boundary of propriety, and rhetorical battle lines are drawn. “How dare they!” faces off against “Oh, lighten up.”

In the film, the latest comic-book-derived movie to defy the PG-13 norm and seek out an R rating, Hit-Girl is 11. Ms. Moretz, a charming and energetic performer, is 13. Anyone who has spent time around children that age knows that they say the darnedest things, including things not printable in this newspaper. Which is not to suggest that Hit-Girl’s foulmouthed tirades are easy to shrug off. They aren’t meant to be. But it’s a little curious that what the character says should carry the queasy jolt of a taboo being smashed, as opposed to what she does.

Read the full article HERE.

[Sean]

While I love it, I do not think it's at all appropriate for teens. Chloe Moretz (who is hilarious and crazy-awesome as Hit-Girl) has repeatedly said that children her own age should not see it. It's an adult comic and an adult movie. I love the differences between heroes: heroes, anti-herores, and villains, although even those are not clear-cut (so to speak). The world of good and evil is not black and white, though Hit-Girl and Big Daddy tend to see life that way.

[Pam Goble]

Blake and I really loved the movie, too. The violence, though, was crazy intense. My kids (my 7th grade class), though, this morning have every intention of seeing the movie... so always the question of comic book movies being made for adults is one that gives me pause. Chloe Moretz and Cage were a different twosome; the comic book section of the movie gave the movie understanding.
Three things were happening in the movie that I thought should be reflected on singularly:
The hero/heroine aspect, the good vs. evil plot line and the adolescent angst to the movie. Each aspect is worthy of more discussion.

[Scott Honig]

I didn't see the movie yet, but I read the comic book series on which it is based. As a long-time fan and collector of comics, and specifically superhero literature, I think it's great! If done well, the notion of superheroes in the "real world" is endlessly fascinating to consider. From a literary standpoint, we can examine the development of character when superpowers are thrown into the mix, especially in a coming-of-age story. X-Men does this quite well. In social studies, we might examine how certain historical events may have played out differently had there been superheroes. Going back to Superman's origin in the late 1930s or Captain America's origin in the early 1940s, for instance, begs questions about the possibility of Hitler's defeat earlier in World War II. My favorite topic involving superheroes to discuss with students is ethics. Spider-Man's motto is "With great power, there must also come great responsibility," which is at the heart of every superhero origin story. Why do some people decide to use their abilities for the betterment of mankind while others resort to crimes ranging from petty theft to attempts at world domination or destruction? Books like Watchmen and Squadron Supreme work well for this. Kick-(A)Butt definitely gets to the heart of the intellectual loner (comics' primary audience) and forces him to internalize many ethical issues involved with fighting crime. Is Dave going to be a hero who incapacitates his foes, ties them up, and leaves them for the police to deal with, or will he kill? His models in the comic books generally do the former, but when faced with real-life situations, he realizes after his first extended stay in the ICU that he must kill or be killed. Big Daddy and Hit Girl figure that out long before. Then there are the legal ramifications of crime fighting: is vigilantism within our constitutional rights? What happens if innocent bystanders get hurt during a hero's fight with a supervillain or mobsters? Is the hero (partially) responsible? For middle school kids, I think the possibilities for real discussion are limitless.

Scott Honig
Great Neck North High English Department