Chris Holden: Saunders’ outdated view

As a usual fan of Barry Saunders, I was embarrassed to read the Sept. 3 column “ ‘Straight’ off my must-see movie list” on his reasons for eschewing the recent film “Straight Outta Compton.”

His arguments particularly fall flat after citing the nihilistic movie “Pulp Fiction,” a film that surely also contributes to “glorifying lawlessness and dysfunction.” I fail to understand any moral stance that allows one to watch “Pulp Fiction” while boycotting “Straight Outta Compton.”

Does Saunders expect all art to be explicitly moralizing? He appears to conflate mere viewership of a film with moral endorsement of what the film portrays, which is quite a slippery slope.

Additionally, his arguments against rap music come across as the opinions of a man who hasn’t even bothered to explore the genre that he’s so ready to vilify. It’s Saunders’ right to ignore whatever media he’d like, but the smug, patronizing tone of the column only highlights the irrelevancy of his outdated arguments.

This story was originally published September 14, 2015 at 4:49 PM with the headline "Chris Holden: Saunders’ outdated view."