forgive our generation!

there are certain memories that draw you back into your childhood and stir up the excitement of being a kid again. the world was more simple when you were a kid, and sometimes it's relaxing and enchanting to just escape back into the days of imagination and wonder...when toys and tv filled your mind with fantasy and adventure. sometimes you'd pay anything to go back and be a kid again.

and hollywood knows it.

over the past few years the movie industry has seen an epidemic of remakes from the old days. nothing escapes the camera that retains any reminiscence of favorite characters, toy, books or stories from our lifetime. just look at the upcoming blockbuster list and you'll see something that's intending to make you say, oh, wow! there making a movie out of that? i remember that from when i was little! it seems everyone wants to relive the past, but with more mature themes enhance by CGI and special effects. it's like our childhood never grew up.

but the obsession with revisiting our immaturity as kids has a price! especially when the more "mature" versions don't seem to have truly matured. some of the movies that are based out of childrens' shows of long ago seem to have lost anything of real value to children and are replaced by immoral material reflective of our current culture. it's like sesame street meets mtv.

the latest attempt to lure in young viewers is paramounts' "transformers 2: rise of the fallen" directed by michael bay. the film has grossed $390.4 million in over 5 days. apparently there is a huge fan base. and although the movie doesn't seem to be generating positive reviews here in the united states, it apparently has all the elements of a movie that our generation wants to see.

which makes me sick to my stomach.

some of you may be of the generation where the power rangers ruled supreme, but you see, transformers was from mine. truthfully, i never really got into the transformers...i was much more of a lego and g.i.joe kind of guy (which coincidentally, this transformers flick featured a preview for the new movie soon to be release, "g.i.joe: the rise of cobra", further proving my point that our generation can't get over their childhood).

this movie was aimed at my generation. and this is what my generation wants to see. this is what my generation has become.

i couldn't even finish the movie. i left the theater, having wasted $8.75 (a rip off in small-town indiana), with a growing anger burning in my heart. i blame paramount and i blame michael bay for the all the crass humor and gross sexual content scattered throughout the film, but i fear that they were simply giving the audience what it asks for. i'm more concerned that this movie embodies what my generation wants.

now why would i pick this movie to go after? there wasn't an explicit sex scene (at least none that i saw as i was forced to hide my eyes from the screen). the movie toys with the freedom and fun of college life...and all the immorality that goes with it. i know there are other movies that are blatantly more focused on twisting and indulging in sexual content, but my issue is that this was supposed to thrill my generation with a chance to enjoy a piece of our childhood again. i wonder what was going through the minds of those involved in making this movie. they knew a whole generation of young men would flock to see their old boyhood friends blowing up the decepticons, but they also must have known that a whole generation of young men really want to see girls and nudity along with their cars and robots.

that's what makes me sick.

my generation is a generation of young men enthralled with immaturity and immorality.

Father, forgive my generation. forgive us of our base and indecent lust for the things of this world. forgive us for distorting Your beautiful gift of sexuality. raise up a generation of young men who will put off the old self, "which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires" and "put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." (eph. 4:22-24) we need Your wisdom and strength to navigate the treacherous waters of our culture and be blameless and innocent so that we "shine as lights in the world" (phil 2:15).

i wish i'd gone across the hall to see "up"...