The Boondock Saints as Super Heros

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Lauren Pitre February 4, 2013 ENG 380: Professor Parmelee Assignment 1 Vigilante Fantasy VS Reality Many children grow up having heroes. These heroes might be their parents, their sibling or, most often, a fictional character. The most popular fictional heroes that children look up to are super heroes such as Batman, Spiderman, Superman, or Catwoman. Many children look up to these characters because they stand for justice and what is right. These characters fight villains and keep people safe from harm. As children, we do not acknowledge the fact that these charters are vigilantes committing crimes themselves. Although these characters are technically criminals, many get sucked into the fantasy that they are promoting justice and they themselves are above the law. This vigilante theme is seen in the Troy Duffy film The Boondock Saints that came out in 1999. This film displays an adult version of the crime fighting vigilantes and how modern society might react to these characters. This film makes the viewer question if society would accept the vigilante in reality or if society only accepts the fantasy of these “heroes”. The Boondock Saints is a film about two Irish brothers who live in modern day Boston. These brothers believe that God is talking to them and telling them that they must kill the criminals that haunt their city. This film was released at Cannes film festival in 1999 and it was expected to be a Blockbuster hit but, in reality, it turned out to be a flop. This failure was not due to the credibility of the film, rather, it was due to the current events that surrounded the film. This film came out exactly a month after the Columbine Shootings. The Columbine High School Massacre was when two students came to school with guns and killed a total of thirteen people. The two students took it upon themselves to decide who
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