May revenge be understood as a pure act of LOVE?

 

Justice inspired my exalted creator.

I am a creature of the Holiest Power

of Wisdom in the Highest and of Primal Love.

INFERNO, canto 3,lines 4-6, Robin Kirkpatrick. 

The divine comedy I: Inferno

Revenge, says tradition, is a dish best served cold. Revenge, according to  catholic religion,   is not a possibility. Revenge, I say, it´s quite fun when it comes to movies. Inglorious basterds, Tarantino´s most successful movie, is about vengeance. In fact, revenge is a theme that the director always shows in his movies. Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas or Saint Augustine are some of the philosophers who have talked about the problematic act of revenge, an act, that could also be understood as an act of love.

I spit on your grave, a rape and revenge film from 1978 was a controversial movie that has inspired a new remake. The original film, banned in almost every country where it was released, was classified as a "vehicle of personal expression reacting to violence against women". Whether the movie was good or bad wasn´t actually the important point of the discussion. The film was too explicit and showed the rape in detail. Was this the first torture porn movie ever? Was it indeed as disgusting as they said it was?

The truth is that a new film has been remade for a worldwide release, telling the same story: a woman is raped by a bunch of men in a small town. Although they think she´s dead after the crime,  she finally survives and then starts her revenge against those who raped her. Today´s thinking is pretty different from the early 80´s and viewers are much more used to seeing violence in movies. After revenge movies like Kill Bill and after successful movies like Martyrs, violence against women and acts of revenge are much more understood by the viewers and don´t seem too extreme or controversial. Should we be proud of this fact? It may be a signal that the new generation is so used to violence that they can´t be shocked by a rape and revenge film? Ask yourselves a new question and please, be honest: would you approve the woman´s behavior?

"The act of vengance is an unambiguos declaration that evil is a reality. By contrast, the act of vengeance is also a statement that love, goodness and righteousness are moral realities by virue of the fact that they have been violated "

Quentin tarantino and Philosophy. 

Edited by Richard Greene and K. Silem Mohammad

When the main character of I spit on your grave starts her vengeance, one could see it may even  be lifesaving, given that the men who raped her will not be able to hurt anyone again. Therefore, revenge wouldn´t be just fair but morally right. Anyway, the vengeance of the main character would be, whether right or wrong, an act of love for herself as one who is violated and, some could argue, an act of love for every woman.

Whether the movies ask these questions or they don’t, we cannot forget that answering an act of vengeance with more revenge, could become a never ending circle of violence. After all, those who live by the sword die by the sword.