John F. Kennedy doesn't have such a wonderful lot in life these days. His family suffered endless tragedy, his reputation has been tarnished with stories of infidelity and, well, he's dead. But just when you thought mere death was bad, JFK is about to be assassinated again.
By millions of teenagers.
Sure, the new video game might be morally repugnant and ludicrously offensive, but give the makers of \JFK Reloaded"" some credit. No one has ever made a video game this realistic about murdering a president who's already dead. In the game, the goal of the player is to recreate the events of Nov. 22, 1963: bust two caps in Jack.
And if murdering an icon isn't cool enough for gamers, the game's producers have sweetened the deal with cash prizes for this simulated high treason. The game's official Web site offers a $100,000 prize for the player who can ""most closely match the shots taken by Lee Harvey Oswald, as concluded in the Warren Commission Report on the assassination of JFK."" Maybe they will pay their real tribute by doling out the prize money in JFK half-dollars.
But for all the brewing controversy around the game, at least no one is attacking the accuracy of ""JFK Reloaded"" except conspiracy theorists. The same can't be said for Oliver Stone's forthcoming ""Alexander."" A collection of perturbed Greek lawyers are reportedly pursuing a lawsuit against the producer of the Colin Farrell-starring epic for depicting Alexander the Great as bisexual.
""We are not saying that we are against gays,"" Yannis Varnakos, the lawyers' spokesman, told Reuters. ""But we are saying that the production company should make it clear to the audience that this film is pure fiction and not a true depiction of the life of Alexander.""
It's strange to think that a man who is world-renowned for murdering and conquering to fulfill his own ego is now being defended against claims of homosexuality. One would think that Alexander supporters would have greater attacks to defend against than mere sexuality conjectures-especially given that they are probably true. In this crazy era, these lawyers should gain perspective on mere cinematic character assassination.
After all, it could be a video game about actual assassination. Just ask JFK.
