This is a new kind of post. A little troubling, but I wanted to make an entry while it's fresh.
Just watched Mr. & Mrs. Smith. If you don't know this movie, follow the link. I like the co-stars (actually, a little stronger than "like" for Ms. Jolie) and the movie's premise was fun. I kept reminding Suzanne throughout that it's a comedy and at the end I said "that was pretty entertaining". However, as this sunk in a little I'm thinking...all this gunplay, all this "fun" violence...how can I find this entertaining when we had another tragic gun death downtown Toronto just over a week ago.
I'm not codemning Hollywood or even the US gun thing (which many people are doing here), however I do find it a little disturbing that we are entertained by shows where many people are victims of guns on our TV and movie screens.
Neither do I think this is really anything new (perhaps there's a lot more of it and it's a lot more gratuitous), but the war and cowboys & indians themes have been ever present in our entertainment lives.
Is there a connection ? If so, what is it ? I don't have the answers, but it makes you wonder why we can easily except some poor schmuck being shot by Brad Pitt one minute and horrified at innocent victims of gang violence in our own cities the next !
I apologize if this comes off sounding kind of unemotional and unthoughtful, and I'm sure more thoughts on this topic will come in daylight hours. But I did wonder if this would spark any pjmixer blog heated commentary !
4 comments:
Little bro here.
A big topic here, and so many ways to approach it. On one hand, the suitable audience for gratutious violence should be able to separate life from "art", and except the entertainment for what it is.
It is now an old and rather naive response that media is to blame for the increase in violence over the last century. Phil is correct, our oldest examples of media portray violence, and even the oldest stories contain graphic themes, but we never once considered them "hazards" to our youth. I remember seeing Bond flicks when I was seven, and I don't recall having to hold back my rage at school the next day!
Today's youth is far more independent than ours, mostly out of necessity. Single parents, working spouses, three jobs, and computer companionship have drawn children away from their shelters and natural censorships. As a reaction, we force an over abundance of censorship into society, and blame Marilyn Manson on the state of our youth.
I fear that if this continues, the only programming in our media, books in our libraries, and news in our papers will interest 10 year old, and adults will be out of luck.
People are getting too lazy, and look towards beurocracy to solve the same problems our parents tackled with hard work.
This all from a guy without any kids...hmmmm.
Dick
Well worded little bro.
I'm still thinking about a worthwhile 2 cents (don't want to go on a rant).
Thanks for the deep perspective Dick.
One addition thought I had that may change the picure a little is the type of gunplay we see in movies. Bond, cowboys & indians, and sci-fi, and all pretty harmless for the "intelligent" young viewer, but when the stories get really close to modern reality (urban black gangster movies or the popular bullet spraying shootout on the street) doesn't that change things a little ?
And what about the video game side of things, good example - Grand Theft Auto or others that let the player be the criminal or killer ?
Dick again.
The video game industry has always bothered me, and I am really amazed that they don't get as much criticism as they should. The players of these games leave the position of passive audience, and become active participants and voyeurs. I am quite certain that this is the arena where the lines between reality and fantasy really begin to blur... frightening stuff.
As for the increased reality of gun and gang movies, yeah, I do get upset when the media glorifies that type of violence, but what came first, the gun violence, or the movies that portray it?
Shindler's List was incredibly graphic and shocking for it's portrayal of human disregard, but we accepted it as an important representation of history.. but can't the same be said about gang movies? Don't these portray the unfortunate reality of racial violence in our society?
Dick
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