What's in a Name?

Summer blockbuster season is not quite upon us, but already we’ve got a brand-new, comic book-based superhero movie and would-be franchise claiming the top spot at the box office.

I didn’t go see it. Don’t plan to.

And the main reason is not because I’m not interested in the concept (actually, I am). My problem is simply with the title — “Kick-A**.”

That’s the name a character chooses when sets out to become a superhero, even though he doesn’t have any powers. Honestly, it’s a realistic name that a teen might come up with. Even that doesn’t really bother me.

It may seem a little silly, and even a bit hypocritical, to get hung up on this title, considering the cavalcade of obnoxious language and vile content that parades across movie screens. And I certainly don’t limit my viewing to movies rated PG or G, although I do think a lot of movie dialogue suffers when writers and actors can’t come up with more creative dialogue than words of primarily four letters.

But that stuff is at least confined to the movies themselves, which are rated to give people an idea of the content. If someone is offended by excessive profanity, violence or sexual content, well, they don’t have to watch.

This title, though, will be on movie marquees, posters, video store shelves and the like (some blocked out, many probably not). It may not offend you, but some people would rather not have it splashed all over the place.

Whether or not you personally find the word acceptable is only part of the issue. Think about it. If you have no problem cursing in your everyday conversation, do you still use that language in front of your grandmother? Or around someone you know it offends?

This isn’t a freedom of speech question; it’s a good neighbor issue. Of course, you can say it and you can title your movie that way. But do you really need to?

There’s very little that seems off-limits in our “entertainment” world today, and no, the government should not be in the business of setting those limits. Words and their meanings change all the time because of the way people use them. So while this is a part of that process, I guess I’m just disappointed that we’ve reached this point, where a movie has that word in the title and nobody seems to bat an eye.

I don’t think “Kick-A**” is an appropriate movie title, and I don’t think it should be used non-chalantly. As such, I didn’t buy the comic and I don’t feel good about adding to its box office tally.

If you disagree, that’s your prerogative. It’s all part of the conversation.