Disgust for Good

Short reviews of two compelling films that show disgust in distinct ways

Brokeback Mountain

How can a person beat another person to death because they are gay? What emotions drive a heinous act like that? I'm convinced that the one emotion powerful enough to drive such behavior is disgust. Once you put something in the category "dirty," you are energized to get rid of it, to get it as far away as possible from yourself to avoid contamination. This is a useful emotion and without it we would be vulnerable to sickness and disease. Think about the kinds of objects we find disgusting. Feces, bodily fluids, and rotting meat all make our stomach turn, and all of these can make us sick. The emotions surrounding contamination are compelling. Somehow, we are able to transfer those emotions from disgusting objects to "disgusting" people and this is where things get ugly.

There are no good rational arguments against homosexual behavior. The strong moral indignation that people feel against gay sex is driven almost entirely by the feeling of disgust. If you listen to people who are against gay sex, it usually becomes clear that the religious or moral justification they give for their belief is just window dressing over a potent emotion: disgust. While emotions are important in our moral lives, disgust is a flimsy basis for passing damning judgements on our fellow human beings. I imagine this is one way ordinary people were able to participate in the Holocaust. If we can think of Jews, gays, and retards as the dirty other,it doesn't bother us to torture and kill them.

I love the movie Brokeback Mountain because it confronts this feeling in the most direct way possible. It shows us two people falling in love with each other in such a beautiful way that makes it impossible for most of us not to empathize with them. We have all fallen in love before and watching the heartbreak driven by this couple's unfortunate circumstances speaks volumes. Watching this movie, we are forced to overcome our revulsion, and face gays squarely as human beings, worthy of love and compassion.

Super Size Me!

Talk about disgusting! In the first ten minute of the film we get to see Morgan Spurlock stuff down a super-sized meal, then vomit it out of his car window. Don't misunderstand, this movie is great fun. Somehow it is entertaining to see him try the ridiculous stunt of eating nothing but fast-food for an entire month and nearly killing himself. It is fascinating to watch his body break down under this treatment. Every time he takes another bite of a McDonalds hamburger, your stomach turns and you want to go in the bathroom and retch for him. It becomes so ghastly towards the end of the film, that you are yelling along with the his doctors when they plead with him to stop hurting himself. It's enough to convinced the most devoted McFan to give up the golden arches. This is disgust at its finest.