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I heard about this on CNN this morning. A Washington Post newswriter named Ann Hornaday wrote an article claiming that movies like the recent success Neighbors and Judd Apatow movies lead the UCSB murderer to his killings.
Quote:
How many students watch outsized frat-boy fantasies like “Neighbors” and feel, as Rodger did, unjustly shut out of college life that should be full of “sex and fun and pleasure”? How many men, raised on a steady diet of Judd Apatow comedies in which the shlubby arrested adolescent always gets the girl, find that those happy endings constantly elude them and conclude, “It’s not fair”?
Movies may not reflect reality, but they powerfully condition what we desire, expect and feel we deserve from it. The myths that movies have been selling us become even more palpable at a time when spectators become their own auteurs and stars on YouTube, Instagram and Vine. If our cinematic grammar is one of violence, sexual conquest and macho swagger — thanks to male studio executives who green-light projects according to their own pathetic predilections — no one should be surprised when those impulses take luridly literal form in the culture at large.
I have to disagree with Hornaday's points because I've watch pro-wrestling since I was 4 & 1/2, didn't make me a violent sociopath like say Lionel Tate. I've watched superhero movies and cartoons but I've never tied a bedsheet to my neck and jumped out of the second story window or tried kung fu on my friends. I want to know what you think.
I think if you're a stable person, violence will not influence you to commit violent acts. If you're unstable or maybe on the cusp & have continuous exposure to it, I'm sure you could pawn off your responsibility for your acts onto Hollywood. People always like to use Hollywood as a scapegoat.
I think if you're a stable person, violence will not influence you to commit violent acts. If you're unstable or maybe on the cusp & have continuous exposure to it, I'm sure you could pawn off your responsibility for your acts onto Hollywood. People always like to use Hollywood as a scapegoat.
It's like when pornography is considered the evil of the world. I doubt porn is truly the common denominator in every rape case but yet some people unwisely tie it into the total effects of it. I personally think it is a factor in some cases but not all. Hollywood is the same case whether it is gun violence in movies like the Christopher Nolan Batman series, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, war movies and political thrillers or even now the over-sexed comedies.
Pop culture, whether it be musical, literary, or theatrical has always influenced society. It doesn't matter what the subject was, or the time. Poor Richards Almanac, Uncle Toms Cabin, the music of the 1960's, during prohibition, you name it, it has had an influence on our society, and our collective thought process.
That said.......
Most humans have this remarkable guard rail called "sanity". So when we see Bluto go home with a half naked hot blonde from the parade, we don't all think we deserve, or are going to get that.
We did not blame Jodi Foster for Reagans assassination attempt, why try and blame male movie roles for this one?
People always seek out confirmation of their own beliefs and then use it as justification for those beliefs. An person who believes in a conspiracy theory will find any article supporting the conspiracy and believe that to be true, while saying anything that argues against it is part of the conspiracy. A racist will ignore anything pointing to the equality of the races, and will instead latch on to articles promoting racial superiority. A violent prone person will latch onto things promoting violence and ultimately use that to justify their own desire for violence.
Taken another way, there is very little in the bible that promotes violence against others, yet people will often find reasons to justify using even something like that to justify whatever they want. The problem isn't the media in these cases, it's the individual.
The greatest epidemic today in America is mental illness. Even if many are not showing signs of violence, their numbers are staggering. It is far worse and damaging to society than other epidemics that are publicized daily by the media.
Yes, there were never so many crazy people and their numbers are only growing. Must be something in the air, or the climate, or the water.
The greatest epidemic today in America is mental illness. Even if many are not showing signs of violence, their numbers are staggering. It is far worse and damaging to society than other epidemics that are publicized daily by the media.
Yes, there were never so many crazy people and their numbers are only growing. Must be something in the air, or the climate, or the water.
There have always been crazy people. Men used to regularly beat their wives, mothers abuse their children, etc throughout history. Mass murder was sanctified under the name of religion and expansion.
There are simply more people, in tighter spaces, and we see more of the crazies. They don't have the means to exact their feelings on others in the closet anymore. There have always been mass killers and killings. Its just been spread out or kept quiet by distance in the past. Do you think Ed Gein was the worlds first Serial killer?
How many Germans took part in the genocide of the Jews? It was more then just a few that enjoyed what they did.
There is always that element of human nature in all of us. Most of us have the sanity to resist darker urges. So it doesn't spiral, which is usually what happens in cases like this.
I don't think the more people is the problem, it is that wee have 24 hour news cycles that allow for this news to come out. Plus, there is also the celebrity effect that comes from wen a person kills several people now. We broadcast the Sandy Hooks, Auroras, Columbines, and all of the other murders for days on end.
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