Sobchack's Condition: A Cinema Born Dilemma

Vivan Sobchack's "Postmorbid Condition" discusses how the film industry in present day constantly neglects the meaning behind its violence. The essay also focuses on how there is almost no purpose to all this violence that the the casual movie goer experiences. Sobchack writes about why the average film audience needs "noise and constant stimulation" to make up for this lack of meaning portrayed through violence. The constant bodies being tossed and thrown throughout a scene by fire power and various weaponry should be viewed as "dummies" or "straw men" according to Sobchack. Technology has simply made producers, executives, and directors careless with their movie making and bodies are simply "squandered" throughout many violent film scenes nowadays. Sobchack's Postmorbid Condition is simply something that people experience through modern film and there is no shock factor anymore; they've seen it all.

Vivan Sobchack refutes her own earlier essay from 25 years prior to this one. This begs the reader to ask, which Sobchack should I believe? The one who thinks violence is meaningful? Or meaningless? In this essay, she obviously focuses on how it is meaning-LESS. No longer are people sensitive to recent school shootings and that is a sad thing. Phrases like "Oh, there was a school shooting in Ohio the other day? Well that doesn't sound good," are constantly being heard and mentioned in passive tones and that is scary. This is what Sobchack is kind of hinting at in her writing and how modern movies such as Pulp Fiction and Natural Born Killers have desensitized people in society. These movies are so "outrageous" and "over the top" that they almost elicit laughter. This is not the way it should be and Sobchack is addressing this issue. The one time she does let a violent movie slide, Saving Private Ryan, is because it does serve a purpose because the events of World War 2 were black and white and actions of right and wrong could be easily distinguished. I definitely have to agree with Sobchack on that one and also on how film makers are constantly showing off their latest technology to make death scenes more gruesome and violent. People of society should always take a step back when watching such terrible acts like murder and similar actions should never be viewed in a passive manner and should always be taken seriously.