Comments on: Movies, Violence, Hypocrisy and Real Life. http://americanelephant.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/moviesviolence-hypocrisy-and-real-life/ Defending Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness Wed, 22 May 2013 03:35:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: The Elephant's Child http://americanelephant.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/moviesviolence-hypocrisy-and-real-life/#comment-16304 Sun, 27 Jan 2013 08:56:18 +0000 http://americanelephant.wordpress.com/?p=31349#comment-16304 Last big car crash I saw in a movie, and I can’t even remember what the movie was, was so over-the-top that it would have believable only to the most gullible. Fascinated with what they could accomplish with special effects, they’ve neglected the story. I just don’t watch as many movies any more. Storytelling isn’t what it used to be. Neither Mel Gibson nor Viggo Mortenson were able to carry of the St.Crispin’s Day speech from Henry V, nor were the writers able to measure up to Shakespeare, but they were all trying to tell the same story over. I’d like to see the movies get back to telling good stories and being a positive influence.

]]> By: Lon Mead http://americanelephant.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/moviesviolence-hypocrisy-and-real-life/#comment-16303 Sun, 27 Jan 2013 08:22:18 +0000 http://americanelephant.wordpress.com/?p=31349#comment-16303 Concerning graphic depictions of violence in movies, think of the films of the 70′s… “Dirty Harry” had gun violence, but was carefully edited to minimize the effect. More damage to the human body was shown as the effect of getting beaten with fists, rather than shot with a .44 magnum, or a shotgun, or a rifle. Same thing with “The French Connection”. The scenes showing killings in “The Godfather” were elaborately stage, but once again, the damage done by guns was minimised so it would not detract from the story. And you know what you never saw in the original “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”? Someone getting killed with a chainsaw (all of the violence was implied, and happened off-screen)… and it was still one of the most frightening movies of it’s time.
In modern film, most filmmakers don’t hesitate to show the gore (lookin’ at you, Tarantino!). They claim it’s to make the film more “realistic”, which is a laugh because of the frequently UNrealistic storylines they try to push on us. And some of these same actors ad filmmakers that are trying to say that it’s the “culture” which is making gun violence more prevalent will, in the very next breath, tell you how silly you’re being for blaming violence in movies, because, well, it’s only a movie, not real-life, and you’d have to be crazy to confuse the two, right?

John Hickley fixated on actress Jodie Foster in the movie “Taxi Driver”
Mark David Chapman believed he was the main character in the novel “Catcher in the Rye”.
The University of Texas Tower sniper, Charles Whitman, had mental issues.
More recently, Seung-Hui Cho (Virginia Tech), Jared Loughner (Tucson, AZ, shooter of Gabrielle Giffords), James Holmes (The Aurora, CO theater), and Adam Lanza (The Sandy hook School) are all know to have exhibited abnormal behavior and been treated for psychological issues before the fact.

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