As an audience member, seeing plenty of violent movies does not faze me. Yet, there is one act of violence that shatters my attention to the screen: killing my beloved dog.

I can watch Michael Meyers kill dozens of babysitters and bystanders, but the moment he strangles the dog, I am done. Seeing an entire village massacred by an outlandish villain, sure,  I can accept that, but the poor dog stuck in the burning shelter is an absolute travesty.

America has no problem seeing gun violence, machete-wielding maniacs, and other gruesome scenes, but keep the dog out if it. I have seen my dog killed multiple times for no good reason other than to show a person doesn’t give a penny about humanity.  They could accomplish the same with an elderly person. Grandma can take the hammer but Snowball is the size of a… well a snowball.

The notion of hurting an innocent, defenseless animal to some people can come off as being edgy in their art. I say the whole action is not edgy, but just coming from a troubled person who never had any pets growing up and does not understand the empathy towards a dog.

Americans seem to handle the violence thrown at them on a daily basis with such ease. Give us any fatal car chase, heroin addict teen, or psycho killer any day but please stay away from my golden doodle.
The dog is not some heroin addict or serial killer because there is no place for evil in a dog’s brain.
Discussions arise asking where the line is in today’s acceptance of violence. Some say the line is depicting school shootings, theater shootings, workplace shootings. I say the line is killing Fluffy the Pitbull.
People are inherently bad, so all the suffering upon humanity can be seen as just. Yet an animal, the dog, is small and fair in its world.

Seeing a child decapitated, a priest commits terrorism and Lars von Trier’s anti-protagonist kill a mother and her kids on a hunting trip is nothing compared to showing the mutilated cat in The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo.

Some might accuse me of censoring art as the same people continue to cut out nudity and lessen romantic relationships on screen in America. Kids shouldn’t see a couple making love… but hey, killing the entire family with a wall of bullets is exciting, right?!

America continues to push the limits on violence, yet at this point the boundary was drowned in the bathtub.
So to that I say go and continue to make the most violent movies without any simple hesitation, but please leave Snickers in the doghouse.