Broken Trail & Society

Carrie and I rented a really good movie recently called “Broken Trail” with Robert Duvall in it. We really didn’t know much about it, but thought we’d give it a go because we both really like Robert Duvall. We later found out that it was a TV movie shown in two parts on AMC. Now I realize that made for TV movies are not usually all that great, but we both really enjoyed this movie.

The movie is not a true story, but the script was based in historical fact. The movie is set in 1897, where a rancher, Print Ritter (Duvall), and his nephew, Tom Harte (Thomas Haden Church of Sideways fame), sell all they have in order to take a gamble on driving a herd of horses from Oregon to Wyoming. Its starts as a pretty classic western movie, but takes a very interesting twist when the two come across a lowlife human trafficker. He has with him five very young Asian girls whom he plans to sell into prostitution as soon as he reaches town. You can tell that Ritter and Harte don’t approve of what is going on, but they are hesitant to get involved in something that isn’t really their business. I don’t want to ruin it for you, so I’ll stop there, but you can sorta guess where the movie is going.

What I found so interesting was the total nonchalantness that most of the characters had towards prostitution. It was simply apart of life that few seemed to question or be concerned about. I got to thinking about how happy I am that our society here no longer accepts that as the norm. No longer are women thought of as property. Gone are the days where men can simply pay a price for women. That doesn’t happen anymore, or does it?

Take one look on the Internet history of the computers of most men in America and you will see that buying women for money is not a thing of the past. Pornography has slipped into our everyday culture and become societal norm. Myspace and YouTube are taken over by people selling sex. You can’t get away from it.

Even in movies and television women are flaunted around to raise ratings. Why is the K-Y scene needed in Old School? Why do teen movies come out with the "unrated and uncut" version? And what’s with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleading Reality Show? See Adam’s blog regarding American Apparel using sexploitation to sell their clothes. Everywhere you turn you see people selling sex for a profit.

Sadly, I don’t think we’ve progressed from the days of the old west.