The Slap: A Relic of a Bygone Era?

Remember the good old days of Hollywood blockbusters, when women were dames, men probably didn’t even know what a pronoun was, and a well-timed face slap could solve all manner of societal woes? In the golden age of cinema, a sharp smack to the cheek was as commonplace as a cigarette holder and a fedora. Face slaps were de rigueur in movies and, as life imitates art, often found their way into real-life confrontations. But was this Hollywood-inspired behaviour effective, or just another relic of an era best left in the past? The End of An Argument A movie might set a scene with a smoky bar, a sultry songstress crooning in the background, and a man making an off remark....