Stark Contrasts

I've got images in my head I can't seem to sort out.

One of them is a grainy black and white image of a truck or van - with a military target hovering over it - then - an explosion and the truck is gone.

The other is a weapon wielding man, an Afghani I believe, who is about about kill a man in front of his small son, who weeps. A high tech US soldier intervenes and the man is freed - the US soldier says "He's yours," and a crowd of locals circles around him with the intention to beat him to death.

Here's where I get confused. One of those images I saw on the ABC Evening News. The other - with my 10 year old son this weekend at Iron Man.

Don't get me wrong. Iron Man is all its cracked up to be. The beginning of the summer popcorn season is off to a roaring start. And the crowd in my local theatre was excited to be there for opening weekend. Afterwards, my son proclaimed it "the best movie he'd ever seen". Then he tossed and turned, unable to sleep that night. Me too.

Clearly the hunger for entertainment and escapism is at a premium. But the images and messages of Iron Man can't be ignored. The hero is an arms dealer - the son of one of the builders of the Nuclear Bomb. And following in his father's footsteps, Stark Industries is the world's preeminent arms manufacturer. That the movie paints the brilliant Tony Stark as a national hero and role model is itself an odd moviemaker's decision. Fantasy for sure - as the actual arms makers that build and sell the worlds 'smart bombs' are hardly men in the mold of Donald Trump. While Stark may be a high profile socialite and playboy - the actual arms industry is run by unknown and unnamed individuals who's work is far from the limelight and fanfare of celebrity.

Why then does that Hero Stark turn on his arms business roots? Well, it seems he's shocked - yes, shocked - to find his high tech weapons have fallen into the hands of the 'bad guys.' Yet here too Iron Man blurs the real and cartoon worlds - make the 'bad guys' a collection of nationless arabic faces who aim to 'rule the world' with Stark Weapons.

Throughout the movie - the line between good and evil is blurry - or impossible to find. When the evil arabic bad guys take over a town - they line up their prisoners and as the camera pans away the Strong Man leader says, "Finish the job, boys." The screen crackles with gunfire just off screen. My son repeated that phrase, "Finish the job, boys" as he tried to process the cartoonish robot superhero suit ('very cool') with the real images of children and their fathers being separated and ruthless violence being committed by men in Arabic garb. A torture scene early in the film shows Tony Starkhead being repeatedly immersed in water by his captors to get him to cooperate.

Don't get me wrong. Iron Man was really not a bad movie. In fact, Robert Downey Jr. is remarkable believable - passionate about the toys, and niave in his belief that his weapons are used for peace. Yet at the same time, the message of the movie (if there is a message in comic book re-makes) is troubling. America is the best weapons maker on earth. Yes, we need to go and stop the bad guys from using our weapons, but in the end the world somehow condones and even endorses the fact that in a confused part of the world like Afganistan - even good people have to do bad things. Is this really conventional wisdom? Do we agree?

By the end, Stark's latest invention - his Iron Man suit is already being embraced as the greatest new weapon ever built - and there's already one in the hands of the 'bad guys.' And these guys are Americans - in suits and ties.

I'm sure there's a moral in there somewhere.