That's fine... but it still doesn't make turning an 11 yr. old girl into a cold-blooded killer any more right. Fictional or non... it's a bad message to send across.
Like I said... that is my only pet-peeve against the movie/comic...(admittedly I've never read the comic... never HEARD of it until the movie came out).
That being said and as a BTW... I didn't like the idea of O-ren Ishii's origins in Kill Bill either (same idea... little girl with no compunctions on killing).
(******************SPOILER alert.*****************)
Writing a character like this doesn't imply the writer ENDORSES making an 11-year old girl into a cold-blooded killer.
I would have to agree how the father raised the daughter was wrong. But how do you know the writer doesn't agree?
Bad message? What is your interpretation of the "message" the writer is trying to deliver? And who do you think is the intended audience is?
I think it was a
brilliant piece of writing.
Flawed characters are interesting. Characters with gray areas are interesting because PEOPLE are full of grays. We are rarely if ever, in real life, black or white. In fact, if I were to find fault, I would find fault in the crime boss character in that he was one dimensional: bad with no redeeming characteristics.
His son is much more interesting as a character.
The Big Daddy character was incredible because he was a GOOD man at heart who loved his daughter very much, who loved his late wife very much, who loved justice and law but with a fatal flaw — from his bitterness at losing his wife, at being falsely imprisoned — that resulted in him doing some horrible things (raising his daughter to be a killer, for example).
He lost faith in "the system" and decided to get revenge.
He was obviously insane. The opening scene with Big Daddy and his daughter demonstrates this. It is comic, yes — but also disturbing: what kind of man would risk his daughter's life by training in such a reckless, dangerous manner?
But then, he has lost faith in society. HIS daughter will never be abducted and raped and killed, will she? Not likely: he has prepared her for the worst possible scenarios. He might argue that WE are all insane for NOT preparing our daughters for this violent society we live in.
In the end, this movie demonstrates the perils of the path this man chooses: he dies a painful death and his daughter is left an orphan.
It demonstrates powerfully the "live by the sword, die by the sword" caution that comes from Christ himself.
Is THIS not a worthy message?
This character, this story, had some
depth.
As much as this movie made me laugh (guilty laughs! I feel a bit dirty for laughing at some of things I laughed at!)
the moment in which Big Daddy is dying and having his last words with his daughter chokes me up and gets me misty, as a father, not only watching it but even now just thinking about it:
she comments that getting shot by Red Mist hurt more than when they practiced. He explains that, because he loves her, he used low-velocity rounds.
Hilarious — and so very touching. It makes me chuckle and tear up at the same time. Even in Big Daddy's insanity, he loves his daughter SO much.
In a way, it is a super-over-the-top demonstration of the "spare the rod" — if you really, REALLY love your children, you will cause them small pains to help equip them to overcome the big ones that life will bring.
Of course, I'm not going to go strap a vest on my daughter and fire low-velocity rounds into her. But it really makes one think: just how well AM I preparing my daughter for this crazy world we live in?
And in that scene, Hit Girl is so mature as she faces her daddy's death. Grieved, but not crippled by it. Are YOUR children as prepared to lose you?
It is easy to be distracted by all the violence and dark humor on the surface, but in my opinion this is an exceptional piece of film literature with a story that explores in disturbing ways some very important themes, some very interesting questions.
It's deep, the type of movie that forces you to think about issues, if you don't just run away screaming "horrible! horrible!"; delve deeper.
There is so much more I could say about this story but I've run on long enough. This movie deserves awards.
