...watching the Deathwish movies on TV.
I've never seen one in its entirety, but there seems to be this theme of young people (in gangs) being intrinsically evil, and old people (represented by Charles Bronson) being intrinsically good.
Of course, the evildoers are served up with some typical Reagan-era film justice in the mode of Charles Bronson's vigilante-ism (delivered in a fetching Members Only jacket, by the way).
My mom said something about "that gang problem still being like that." Yeah, because gangs make a concerted effort to go after middle-age, middle-class white guys and their families. This notion of victimization at the hands of minorities and the poor is the Republican's canard to rally their base in a nutshell. And, of course, why god-fearing folks should have guns. My parents aren't Republicans, but they do have that old-world conservatism that is pretty typical of people in their 60's, and this obviously appeals to them at some level.
Come on; even the bad guys on the A-Team seemed to have some kind of motive, which were usually re-used Scooby-Doo plots (nearly all of both were some kind of scheme to extort money, land or businesses). But the gangs of kids in these movies are always just intent to hurt people, without much explanation, and show no humanity whatsoever.
I'm reading too much into this. It obviously worked as a character vehicle for Bronson. I do think it's funny that my parents seem to have some enthusiasm for it, though.
