...is torn.

Tonight I feel torn. Where is the line between artistic commentary and blind, macabre fascination?

Watched "Dorian Gray" tonight. Essentially, it's a good movie, with less than brilliant effects and some amazing photography. The movie stars the always brilliant Colin Firth and beautiful Ben Barnes who is freakishly good in his subtle portrayal of Dorian - the innocent boy corrupted and ultimately damned by the influence of an immoral older man. It is based on a novel by the absolutely brilliant Oscar Wilde.

But, here's the thing: Conceptually, I love this moral fable of what it would mean to sell your soul. And, as mentioned, the actors and original author are brilliant. However, I am increasingly shocked and frightened by contemporary society's fascination with evil. What is the distinction between looking at and thinking about something depraved and just playing with the idea of it? Is it not, in itself, depraved to blindly and indiscriminately portray evil and depravity? What is it that draws the line between this film and something like "Saw", or even "Natural Born Killers"?

Is there a line?

I have not read the original text, but this version, with its strange sex scenes and bloody murders, despite the way it ends,leaves me slightly muddled. Or is it that the ending redeems the rest?