My favorite movie from that time period (1920s) is "Beyond the rocks," with rudolph valentino and gloria swanson.
Yeah that was a strange movie. Why in the world would a husband kill himself (in the end) so that his ex-wife and her lover could be together? (Yeah like that would ever happen... :rolleyes:)
It's that self-sacrifice. Think about it, we are supposed to have that kind of devotion to the desires of Christ. Well, hollywood found a substitute for us, in the desires of a beautiful young girl.
In "mata hari" (early 30s) it's men's slavish obedience to a beautiful young woman, betraying the men who depend on them for their very lives and betraying their own god (extremely clear scene of that in mata hari). The young officer blows out the candle in his room, because mata hari demands it, before she'll "surrender" to him, but the candle is supposed to be kept perpetually burning for The Blessed Virgin Mary. In other words, it's a literary symbol of his burning passion in his heart for God and he extinguishes it, in order to indulge his burning and illicit passion for a beautiful girl. But, the point should not be lost, that she puts him up to it. She intentionally makes him choose between his god and her. She wins!
There's different ways of looking at that scene. Surely it's a tale about the gentle mastery of God and the cruel mastery of sin. But how can it not have something to do with the modern phrase, "women's empowerment!" She has what he wants and he will sacrifice anything, including his eternal soul, to get it! Oh wow, that's power!
Ultimately, that kind of power destroys you. Look at elizabeth taylor. What a wreck! But still, the temptation is compelling.
So women become tyrants and men become slaves. It's matriarchy! And it is extremely perverse!
If we had a national church, it wouldn't be devoted to Christ and virtue, it would be devoted to some sort of voluptuous young goddess and our passions.
Topic: 1920s and 1960s: Two Satanic decades (Read 4874 times)