Hey, where'd everyone go?

After 163 minutes of hiding in my note-taking during unpleasant scenes and being perplexed at the movie plot's deviations from Homer's Iliad, I stood up to join the throng of moviegoers exiting at the end of Friday's showing of Troy.

Before I could get out the door, though, the overachiever in me compelled me to sit back down for the discussion. I was there for a class and figured the discussion might give me some ideas for the paper I had to write on Troy and the Iliad.

Besides, the discussion was EMU's excuse for showing an R-rated movie on campus, right? Perhaps discussing the movie would ease my qualms as someone who considers most movies unworthy of my valuable time and attention.

The really unfortunate thing about the discussion was that only five people stayed for it. I have to wonder whether having a discussion under these conditions is really a valid justification for showing an R-rated movie on campus.

In case you've ever wondered what actually goes on at these discussions, here's a sample from Friday: a good portion of the time was focused on plot discrepancies between the movie and Homer's Iliad, which we had read for class, too. I was slightly irritated by the numerous and significant differences, but we were reminded that ancient stories like that of the Trojan War have been retold and reinterpreted many times to make them relevant for new generations. Our generation is one more chapter in the retelling of a classic story.

We also discussed the reason for the timing of retelling a story that is called one of the greatest war stories ever. The current war in Iraq was the easiest answer, which led us to the director's possible motives or message.

Although the book characterizes war with glory and honor, the director of Troy points to the personal impact of war on the soldiers and their families: "there's nothing glorious about it" (Hector to Paris).

A related message in Troy is the hierarchy of war in which "soldiers fight for kings they've never met" (Achilles to Patroclos). This is a stark parallel to modern-day wars in which soldiers fight while presidents stay protected in "undisclosed" locations.

I admit that 11 p.m. on a weekend isn't the ideal time for these discussions. However, it seems a little contradictory to use them as our excuse for showing certain movies on campus and then not even participate.