Sick Eros Antonionis Films Display the Outdated Morals...

The older generation in America was taught to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but the younger generation knows it does not work. How can they trust strangers after hearing about murders, rapes, kidnappings, shootings, robberies, and gangs? Yet their behavior is dictated by the benefit of the doubt when daters only think about leaving horrible or awkward dates, and ignore uneasy feelings about being alone with a stranger in an elevator. Filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni has a broader claim. He argues morality, specifically in marriage, is outdated. Since man continues to use obsolete morals, however, he is unable to find happiness. Antonioni explores moralitys harmful role in marriages in his films: La Notte and Red Desert. He articulates his belief when he writes, †¦Eros is sick; man is uneasy, something is bothering him And whenever something bothers him, man reacts, but he reacts badly, only on erotic impulse, and he is unhappy (Antonioni 34). What moral then does Anto nioni argue destroys marriages? He does not directly state a specific moral, but I argue it is the structure of marriage and the societal hatred of divorce and infidelity. Marriage in ancient civilizations and until the twentieth century was an arraignment made between two families to gain a political and social benefits. One reason divorce and infidelity were prohibited was to ensure families could not lose those benefits. Instead of developing a different system to join two people together,