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Home Front: Culture Wars
Discovery hit ‘American Guns’ canceled as Hollywood wrestles with links to gun violence
2012-12-17
Indeed the tragedy in Connecticut, in which with 27 people, including 20 school children, were killed by a lone gunman, has many in the entertainment industry struggling with the issue of firearms and gun violence. The star and director of the upcoming blood-and-gore filled “Django Unchained” differed this weekend about Hollywood’s responsibility when it comes to violence in film.

Actor Jamie Foxx told the Associated Press that the entertainment industry needs to start bearing some responsibility for violent content it produces. "We cannot turn our back and say that violence in films or anything that we do doesn't have a sort of influence," Foxx said. "It does."

But director Quentin Tarantino, who has built his career on depictions of graphic violence in films like “Inglourious Basterds” and “Kill Bill,” said he was tired of having to defend his movies, noting that “tragedies happen” and the blame should fall on those guilty of committing them.

“Quentin Tarantino seems to believe he is magically disconnected from the human race. Somehow everything he creates has no impact on us? He’s not the only director or movie producer who denies any negative effect from their work,” scoffed documentary producer Nicole Clark, who also educates young children on the effects of the media. “But ask any of these producers or directors if they think films can have a positive effect on society, and they will instantly say yes."

The Tarantino movie – described by one early filmgoer as so violent that they had to leave the theater midway through – is slated for official release on Christmas Day, prompting many to wonder if producer Harvey Weinstein, who recently called for a Violent Movie Summit to discuss the hot-button topic, will look to delay its release given the current circumstances. The film’s press junket, held in New York the day after the Connecticut shootings, proceeded as scheduled.
Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC

#7  Harvey's summet idea is a way to get free press without sounding ghoulish.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2012-12-17 15:05  

#6  If violence in movies and video games adversely affects 1 out of a million it still doesn't justify banning the violent movies and video games, it just suggests we need to find that 1 and do something about them before it is too late.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2012-12-17 15:03  

#5  GB,

thanks. Good refresher history. Being from MI, I almost forgot about that. Not to mention Tim McVeigh. His farm was not too far away from where my grandparents lived.
Posted by: Broadhead6   2012-12-17 14:03  

#4  If you follow the horrendous school shootings from Columbine to present they are all young men and boys perpetrating the act. A Psychiatrist on Fox just confirmed that in the late teens to early twenties is when a disturbed person's Psychosis tends to break out. There's nothing that will relieve your anger better than to see Cheech Marin's grubby character get one between the eyes.

The Newtown tragedy was not the worst in history:

The Bath School disaster is the name given to three bombings in Bath Township, Michigan, on May 18, 1927, which killed 38 elementary school children, two teachers, and four other adults; at least 58 people were injured. The perpetrator killed his wife first, and later committed suicide in his last explosion. Most of the victims were children in the second to sixth grades (7–14 years of age) attending the Bath Consolidated School. Their deaths constitute the deadliest mass murder in a school in United States history.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC   2012-12-17 13:56  

#3  This would be the Jamie Foxx who just bragged about this movie allowing him to kill a bunch of white people.

I don't think Djengo or Johnson Reacher are so much the problem, they are about getting the bad guys, unlike say Natural Born Killers, which makes it out to be cool to be bad guys. I'm not advocating letting hollywould off the hook, their products have been overall aweful. I just look at all these pounces by the media et all and see drug use, mental illness, or both as a factor.

Self censor, hardly likely, but lets start with one I consider incredibly violent and bigoted: The Color Purple. Domestic abuse, makes black men look like predators. But get rid of the violence and is there a story, any lesson to take away?

What about Whale Wars? Gonna cancel that propagandist cheerleading for piracy, law breaking, chemical weapons use? Sports, pretty violent too. Video Games, absolutely. Personal transportation, yep. Maybe we can all hang around in our collective basements and hope that the next knock on the door is only our neighborhood green heeler, making sure our credits are paid up and have proper light bulbs installed.

No, the problem is in the parenting. Saw x-men origins with the wife when it came out, swear there were a half dozen under-8s at that showing. Parents dropped them off there so they could go do, well, whatever. Call me olde fashioned, but hugh jackman's bare ass cutting up a bunch of people isn't 6 year old's material and that isn't the movie maker's fault either.
Posted by: swksvolFF   2012-12-17 13:36  

#2  "Somehow everything he creates has no impact on us?"

I like a few of his movies, but in the end, they're just that, MOVIES. The feeble minded buy into the whole movie affects the way I act. The sick minded will use whatever excuse they want to rationalize their evil actions -- and so will politicians jump on those same tired excuses.
Posted by: Broadhead6   2012-12-17 13:05  

#1  "You can't stop a bird from landing on your head, but you can stop it from nesting".

Old Irish proverb....
Posted by: Besoeker   2012-12-17 12:42  

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