Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Family That Preys - The Return of the Smack


I saw The Family That Preys Together last night.

I won't review it. And I won't ruin the ending, but I do have a question which analyzes a scene, which implies the trajectory of one of the characters, which could be a spoiler, so read with caution.

That said, drum roll please . . .

Is there ever a justifiable reason for a man to smack a woman? Is the movie smack back?

Sanaa Lathan's character, a savvy corporate woman who loathes her blue collar husband (Rockmond Dunbar) is having an affair with her high profile boss. She makes some pretty heated comments, spewing some lines that no woman with any sense would ever say to a man without either a can of mace in her hand or her foot on a gas pedal, bags in the trunk, while pulling off on a drive way. At any rate, she makes these mind blowing revelations to her husband in front of the rest of the fam and POW, her mild manner husband smacks the beejeezes out of her and she goes flying over the counter. No one runs to her aid, no family tackles the husband. The next scene, her mom is icing her down and I believe the sister, played by Taraji Henson says something like "Wow, I never saw him that angry before."

I'm not saying her revelations weren't worthy of a smack. I'm not saying that the do good husband didn't have his reasons. I'm just saying I didn't exactly like the repercussionlessness of it all. Domestic violence is domestic violence, justifiable smack down or not. And I was uncomfortable with the fact that all is fair in love and war, including a heavy handed man knocking out a woman.

Before you answer, I have to refer to that comic genius Chris Rock who said no one is above a beat down, just don't do it. "There's a good reason to kick an old man down a flight of stairs," he said. "Just don't do it."

Back in the 30s flicks, women were smacked all the time. With the changing of the times, education on domestic violence, the justifiable man smack had disappeared from film imagery.

So while, the smack might move along the plot, I echo my comedic hero. "Just don't do it."

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