Pardon any grammar and diction issues. I wrote this essay when I was a lot less competent in English. Since before the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2013, Hollywood movie stars have called for gun control, yet they have also continued to make millions of dollars from their acting in violent films. In Hollywood, many people demand fixes to the problem of gun violence, while they are making money off of gun violence. This is a simple example of public hypocrisy.
Last year, the movie Red Sparrow (2018) was released and the star actress and Academy Award winner, Jennifer Lawrence, told the media, “I think the problem is guns, not the entertainment industry.” Many of her fellow colleagues disagree offscreen and, yet, when they are starring on-screen in violent movies, they seem to agree. According to Douglas Ernst for The Washington Times, Matt Damon, star of the ferociously violent franchise Jason Bourne, had this to say about gun control while he promoted his movie in Australia, “You guys did it here in one fell swoop [in 1996] and I wish that could happen in my country, but it’s such a personal issue for people that we cannot talk about it sensibly” (Ernst 1). Can Hollywood be taken seriously in the debate over gun control if much of its industry relies on these same guns for profitability? The Wall Street Journal published an article discussing Hollywood's attack on the NRA after the Parkland shooting last year. The piece by Christian Toto detailed what a few people in the industry do to fight gun violence, including how actors discussed the connection between real violence and violence in movies. ” Oscar winner Jamie Foxx, who starred in the Weinstein-distributed Django Unchained (2012), connected movie violence with the real thing while promoting the 2012 film. ‘We cannot turn our back and say that violence in films or anything that we do doesn’t have a sort of influence,’ Mr. Foxx told The Associated Press at the time” (Toto 1). Jamie Foxx recognized the connection between violence in movies and real violence, and yet he appears to be a hypocrite by taking the opposite stance and appearing in a 2013 video “Demand a Plan,” where a group of celebrities got together and demanded President Obama to stop gun violence. According to USA Today, even after recognizing violence in movies can influence real events, Foxx discusses stopping gun violence after the Sandy Hook tragedy while still appearing in very violent and gun-heavy movies. USA Today talks about Hollywood stars pushing gun control and the contrasting opinion of many movies, “how could they reasonably expect that a few minutes of imagery on the Internet could induce positive behavior but that thousands of hours of blood-soaked entertainment will never encourage destructive behavior?” Violence is in movies more than ever now and Jenna Susko and Matt Schrader for NBC Los Angeles reported that, “PG-13 movies are now more violent than R-rated ‘80s flicks,” (Susko and Schrader 1) meaning more people are able to see them and be influenced. It would be a very hard argument to say movies do not impact our culture. According to Dr. Pautz, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Dayton, “Younger people, particularly teens, are much more likely to be impacted than older adults because they are still developing and shaping their worldviews.” (Pautz 1). to reference this to films, younger people, specifically teenagers, see the most movies and mass violence would influence them. Mike Fleming Jr for The Deadline opined on the issue with, “Can’t marketing executives find more clever ways to sell films and TV shows than simply depicting hails of bullets? Violence is such a staple of films, TV shows, and ad campaigns” (Flemming 1) It appears to this writer that Hollywood may have dug itself into a hole filled with ammunition and bodies. A few actors are combating gun violence by proposing more gun control and refusing to appear in movies with guns. In an article written by Ben Childs for The Guardian, Actor Dustin Hoffman talked about how he did not want guns in the entertainment industry and how Hollywood discriminates against actors like him, “Perhaps even more controversially, Hoffman implied that actors had seen their careers stifled due to a refusal to carry guns on screen. ‘If you are not holding a gun, and that is something I have always refused to do, then suddenly this person who was always offered leading roles, suddenly gets offered supporting parts then you... start getting offered cameos…’” (Childs 1). This argument brings up that far more goes into the process than the actors flat out refusing to carry firearms. in contrast, some actors such as Matt Damon, refuse to damage their careers in order to promote gun control. Matt Philbin at the Media Research Center reported that “An astounding 589 incidents of violence were featured in Kingsman: The Golden Circle, American Assassin, Stephen King's It and mother! And that's just four top-grossing movies from the week before the Las Vegas attack. The films had no less than 212 incidents of gun violence, and the body count was at least 192.” (Philbin 1). This ties in directly to the argument that Hollywood, while fighting to prevent gun violence, displays gun violence for profit. Many people associated in the film industry have tried to make the argument that films are art and gun violence within them should be taken as part of the art, not reality. David Ehrlich, a writer at IndieWire, wrote, “Even after the digital revolution should have fully defanged the idea that Western media is limited to Western audiences, blaming art remains a go-to defense mechanism for those who can’t afford to blame themselves.” (Ehrlich 1). The problem is that, while there are many other media and aspects of US culture to blame for gun violence, film is relying increasingly on violence to skyrocket films and influencing people. Hollywood in recent years has participated in the debate over gun control and actors continue to voice their opinions. While many thrive as actors in Hollywood making fortunes, those who speak out against gun violence often seem to defeat their own points by appearing in heavily violent films armed with firearms. Whether it is hypocrisy or not, actors, specifically those who appear in violent, gun-heavy movies, need to make up their minds over what really matters to them: their heart or their careers. Michael Philips of the Chicago Tribune puts it this way, “We create fictional worlds filled with gun violence, and search for answers as bodies stack up in our inner cities, or crazed gunmen go on rampages in classrooms.” Works Cited Child, Ben. "Hollywood's depiction of guns is fraudulent, says Dustin Hoffman." The Guardian [London], 30 Jan. 2013. thegaurdian.com, www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jan/30/hollywood-guns-fraudulent-dustin-hoffman. Accessed 16 Jan. 2019. Ernst, Douglas. "'Jason Bourne' star Matt Damon calls for the U.S. to ban guns 'in one fell swoop.'" Wallstreet journal [NY], 5 July 2016. Wallstreetjournal.com, www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jul/5/matt-damon-jason-bourne-star-calls-for-us-to-ban-g/. Accessed 16 Jan. 2019. Fleming Jr, Mike. "Are Gun Control Pleas By Movie Stars Undermined By Onscreen Violence?" The Deadline [LA], 2 Jan. 2013. deadline.com, deadline.com/2013/01/are-gun-control-pleas-by-movie-stars-undermined-by-onscreen-violence-395568/. Accessed 16 Jan. 2019. Susko, Jenna, and Matt Schrader. "Some Celebrities Demanding Gun Reform Star In Violent Films." nbclosangels.com, 4 Feb. 2016, www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Some-Celebrities-Demanding-Gun-Reform-Star-In-Violent-Films-367748701.html. Accessed 16 Jan. 2019. Toto, Christian. "Hollywood condemns NRA while dramatically increasing gun violence in entertainment." Wall Street Journal, 8 Mar. 2016, www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/mar/8/hollywood-attacks-nra-while-using-guns-for-movie-t/. Accessed 6 Jan. 2019. Philbin, Matt. "Hollywood Homicide: 108 Automatic Weapons Blaze Away in Four Top Movies." mrcNewsBusters, 12 Oct. 2017, www.newsbusters.org/blogs/culture/ matt-philbin/2017/10/12/ hollywood-homicide-108-automatic-weapons-blaze-away-4-top. Accessed 21 Jan. 2019. Ehrlich, David. "Violent Movies Don't Cause Mass Shootings, But They Can Help to Make Sense of Them." IndieWire, www.indiewire.com/2018/02/ movie-violence-mass-shootings-parkand-utoya-trump-1201933645/. Accessed 21 Jan. 2019.
0 Comments
|
Photo used under Creative Commons from mac.rj