	Bob Hostetler > Writing

To Watch a Thief

by Bob Hostetler

A dozen or so years ago, my brothers and I gathered with our families over a holiday weekend. In the course of the weekend, we rented a movie video that critics had praised highly. Big mistake.

The movie was something called Glengarry Glen Ross. It had a renowned screenwriter (David Mamet), an ensemble of big stars (Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Ed Harris, Alec Baldwin, etc.), and an Academy Award nomination for best actor. It had everything. . . except a single likeable character.

Call me shallow (you won’t be the first), but I don’t tend to root for despicable people. Even if they’re fictional, I find it hard to cheer on murderers, swindlers, and thieves. Apparently that means I’m out of touch with Hollywood.

There seems to be an increasing desire among moviemakers and television executives to make heroes out of thieves and con men. Maybe it’s based on the recent box office success of films like The Thomas Crown Affair, Matchstick Men, The Italian Job, and Oceans Eleven (and Twelve, respectively).

These are not dramas in which the good guys are chasing the thief, to bring him or them to justice. In these dramas, the good guy is the thief! In other words, the audience is persuaded to root for someone to break one of the Ten Commandments. . . in the process, of course, breaking the law and getting away with it!

This seems to be such a popular formula that major television networks are launching no fewer than three new television series—“Hustle” on AMC, “Heist” on NBC, and “Thief” on FX. Now, I’m not saying these shows are breaking new ground. Some of us are old enough to remember “Maverick,” James Garner’s likeable TV card shark, and the short-lived 1973 sitcom, “Paper Moon” (based on the Ryan and Tatum O’Neal movie of the same name, about a father/daughter team of grifters). But the recent proliferation of television shows and movies with this theme is unusual.

Is Hollywood pushing something that the public doesn’t want? Perhaps. But people are clearly watching and enjoying these shows. What does it say about us as a culture—and as individuals—that we can so blithely root for cheats and lawbreakers to win the day? It may be part and parcel with our general rejection of the Judeo-Christian ethic.

Once upon a time, multiple influences in our culture communicated fairly clear standards for behavior: certain things were right and certain things were wrong. Parents, teachers, ministers, youth workers, and other adults collaborated, by and large, in explaining the universe, humanity, and the purpose of life from a generally Judeo-Christian perspective, a belief that truth existed, and everyone could know and understand it. A clear understanding of what was right and wrong gave society a moral standard by which to measure crime and punishment, business ethics, community values, character, and social conduct. It became the lens through which society viewed law, science, art, politics—the whole of culture. It provided a cohesive model that promoted the healthy development of the family, united communities, and encouraged responsibility and moral behavior.

That has changed drastically, however. And, while that Judeo-Christian ethic was never fully or consistently applied, such a cultural consensus has largely disappeared. Today, truth has become a matter of taste, and morality has been replaced by individual preference.

Of course, none of us can realistically expect to reverse that reality in the culture that surrounds us. I’m absolutely not suggesting we protest shows that make heroes out of crooks and con men. But at least I can refuse to be manipulated by those who—for whatever reason—think it is creative and entertaining to root for criminals to succeed.

This article appeared in the April 9, 2006 edition of the Hamilton Journal-News.

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