"Even if I got rid of all my problems, I'd just go out and get new ones..."

De-sensitisation? Or simply a lack of empathy?
1:21 p.m. on 2004-09-08

What is it that makes an image powerful? Shocking?

I was watching The Shield last night.

The Shield. A gritty drama that really should have come from the offices of HBO. A SWAT team and their corrupt leader, several bitter detectives, a couple of beleagured beat cops and their politically motived captain.

"Gritty." Aka, violent, full of cursing and nudity and, well, fucking. Oh, and shot by a handheld video camera, to give that grainy, shaky effect which I love, and my dad loathes.

The Shield, like the Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Oz, or British productions such as the recent Messiah or Silent Witness. All headlined by that disclaimer 'this show contains images which some viewers may find disturbing."

But I don't.

Last week in the Sopranos, Paulie stamped on the arm of an unfortunate gardener, breaking bones, and then grabbed the man by the testicles and dragged him across the pavement. 'Ouch' doesn't even begin to cover it.

In Six Feet Under, at least one person must die every week. Preferably in a humourous manner.

Nip/Tuck features scenes of graphic surgery, which true, make me feel squeamish, but I can't help watching. Even the bit with the 'self-induced' nose job. You know the bit.

There's almost nothing that shocks me anymore. I watched the movie Battle Royale and winced at the icky moments, and laughed at the silly moments. But they were all, well, violent moments. I've seen Resevoir Dogs, and yes, the ear bit makes me squirm, and yes, the jaw crunching head stamp in American History X prompts my eyes to squeeze tightly shut, despite the fact that you don't actually see what's going on.

But shouldn't violence have more of an effect?

There are some clips in Farenheit 911 which were truly horrific. Which did have the impact they were intended to have - to make me feel sickened, and disgusted, and to feel grief for the bodies on the screen, for their famillies. But these were real.

It's not like I constantly remind myself that the stunts in The Sopranos or Oz are just that - stunts - but that knowledge is always there, making what should be a nightmare into a comedy sketch - or at least, palatable.

But last night, The Shield crossed the line.

One character, Dutch, had been interviewing a serial rapist/murderer for the entire episode. Dutch has always had this desire to get under the murderer's skin, to become the next Cracker. He's more like the next, well, Lewis. He has always been one of the more likeable characters on the show - weak minded, perhaps, quite naive, but not corrupt or nasty, like some of the others.

Maybe that fact is what made the last scene so disturbing.

In a previous scene, the murderer was explaining to Dutch the feeling he got when he murdered someone. I can't remember the exact script, but it went along the lines of

"I can see them staring into this great, dark abyss, and they're fighting to hold on. And do you know what I see?"
"God?"

Cue existentialist and exceedingly creepy discussions of death and fear and power, with the murderer reflecting on the memory of his first kill - strangling a puppy. Seeing it die.

In the final scene, Dutch opens the back door to his house and puts down a bowl of food. After several seconds, a big ginger tom cat appears and starts to gobble the food. There is no music (there never is in the Shield), only the background noise of the street and the soft noises coming from the cat.

Dutch picks the cat up. Holds it with his hands around his neck. And then, slowly, deliberately, looking into the animal's eyes, he strangles it.

You can hear the cat mroaw, and see it try and scratch Dutch. It leaves bloody marks across his chest, but he doesn't even hesitate.

The noise when he drops the cat's body onto the ground stayed with me for several hours.

I'm quite sure someone else could have watched that scene and been quite unaffected. Someone else could see an episode of The Sopranos and be disgusted. I'm quite sure, looking at the Parents Association of America (or whatever the heck they're called) some people are.

So what is it about that moment, about that scene, that made me feel sick inside? That made me clasp my hand to my mouth and curl up and do nothing but watch the titles roll?

Answers on the back of a postcard, please.

Listening to: Billy Bragg, the Internationale

Quote: "Oh, Angel, don't be so hard on yourself. You wouldn't have figured it out even if you'd had both of your wits about you."

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