It's not that no one has noted that our puritanical, squeamish culture is perfectly accepting of physical sadism and brutality before, but rarely do you see the disconnect so starkly illustrated. So here's a question for the parents in the audience: would you rather your kid absorb the grisly torture scenes and meaningless violence of Hostel, or the fairly standard family-values message of Transamerica? Is there a belief that children are better equipped to mentally marginalize fantasy violence than sexual ambiguity? And if so, why?
