Friday night, I went to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier (FINALLY!) and, as I tell people, I knew it was going to be good- I didn't think it would be epic!
Throughout the movie, I kept noticing how I would relate to the Cap, namely how he refused to go along with this generation's relativistic ways and trying to compartmentalize one's own morals in order to do a job. When his partner did such a thing, it did lead to consequences, yet he always stuck to his morals when everyone else thought he was out of his mind. Frankly, I have been called names for being moralistic rather than relativistic, yet I still continue on.
Months before it came out, moviepilot.com released pictures of how Captain America's new suit would look, and, for this generation, it did have a more modern, "dark" look, and what surprised me was how a few people reacted. They didn't want the change, they preferred his old-school style. Remember this, though:
In America, today, it's becoming illegal to have an American flag flying in your own home lawn. You get called "intolerant", "bigot", everything but "human" and "patriotic", would these be side effects of postmodernism and relativism and the whole Tolerance Movement? I dare say it certainly seems so.
In the first movie, Captain Rogers was completely unashamed in how much he believed in fighting for freedom, but even more so in fighting for the sake of a friend's life when no one else thought that friend could even be alive. In his second appearance, he made a thought-provocative one-liner ("With all due respect, ma'am, there's only one God, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."), and even though The Avengers had many pro-Biblical moments, one-liners, subtleties, etc., it never got controversial, in fact it actually became one of the summer's biggest hits. And relativism got a slap in the face throughout. Try figuring that one out.
Before I saw the first movie, I never got into Captain America. I don't consider myself an American patriot. When a co-worker (who was stunned) asked me why not, I was blunt with her:
"With today's status quo, you're not allowed to be a Christian without getting dehumanized, so I'm status quo ante." She smiled at that response, and hey, I was taught honesty by my mother and subtlety by my father, so I've learned how to mix the two without compromising my faith nor values nor virtues. After all, if I felt it unnecessary, I would have given up my "v-card" around 15 years old, when it was the average age to give it up to fit in (nowadays, I think it's 12), instead I'm still waiting and am now 27. The culture bashes and ridicules me, yet I still continue on, regardless. As a few friends of mine say, I was born in the wrong generation. Or maybe... like Captain America, we were born in the right generation, with a different generation's mentality, and are meant to go against this generation's mindset. I have never had a problem going against the flow, against the grain and be a pain at times (okay, okay, quite often), but I won't stop being who I am just because some think my morals are "outdated" and think I'm "backward" (does that mean they're hypocritical if they call me narrow-minded just because I don't think like their narrow minds?).
After seeing the first movie, I was completely surprised, given that Joss Whedon's an atheist, but as a friend of mine pointed out, Stan Lee's involved in all the Marvel movies and believes in absolutes. When he passes on, if they're still making them, they'll try to change that, but they'll have a huge fanbase demanding what we're still getting. How do I know? It turns out that a few people who believe in relativism saw The Winter Soldier and considered the themes and considered the possibility of absolute good and evil to be existent after all.
All-in-all, it's a good possibility that relativism takes on a heavy toll on how one tries to live than one would ever expect. No wonder we're getting hungry for absolutes again.
