A Different Take on Pornography

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has earned my respect.

The man I associate with thrillers like “Inception” and the Batman series focused his first self-written and directed movie to the havoc that pornography wreaks in relationships.

“Don Jon,” in theatres now, is graphic at times, awkward at others, and doesn’t quite capture the moral or psychological depravity of pornography (this is Hollywood, after all).

Nevertheless, Gordon-Levitt has done the film industry—and the culture—an enormous favor by at least acknowledging the elephant in the room: The fact that pornography poisons so many relationships in ways that numbers ultimately fail to express.

The more we vocally challenge this saddest of status quos—whether through film or other venues—the less comfortably men and women can indulge their lust without fear of reproval (moral or otherwise) or personal consequence. If pornography use is anything, it’s an attempt to obviate responsibility.

This elephant is lurking in the shadow of too many relationships. I’m glad that Gordon-Levitt had the courage to call it out.