Article Review

Reading 1-Everything Quentin Tarantino Really Thinks About Violence and the Movies:

In the video and quotes,Quentin Tarantino states his opinion on violence in films. Which is that movie violence and violence in real life are separate, and someone can enjoy violence in films and abhor real life violence without contradiction. He also states that if someone who has seen his film then commits an act of violence, he is not responsible for it. I think, he is right, a person can enjoy violent films and disdain real life violence. I also believe, by blaming films you are ignoring the primary causes.

Reading 2-Violent Media Poisoning Nation's Soul:

Mike Lesall believes we have a cultural problem, due to events like Newtown massacre not surprising us like it should have. Mike Lesall blames video games and films for desensitize us to acts of violence. He also thinks that movies and society do influence each other. He also calls the film and video game industry a “neural training ground for action.” and even go as far as compare them to the Taliban in targeting young men. His solution to combat violence in society is for any movie with any violence is to receive an R rating, and if the R rating does not work then NC-17. He thinks this will reduce the amount of violence in film will still allowing directors like Tarantino the freedom to still make their movies. While he is right that movies and society do influence each other, I think, he is overestimating how much they do. By changing the rating of films to R might result in desensitize parents to the R rating. If films start receiving the NC-17, you might as well start banning violent films. No theater would show an NC-17 film.  

Reading 3-Columbine: Whose Fault Is It?:

In the article, Marilyn Manson thinks that our country has not become more violent, but we simply are exposed to it more through news media. He also thinks that death and violence and our fascinations with it is rooted in the very core of our country and its history. From the first killing in the Bible with Cain and Abel to the Civil War and beyond in our history. He also points out how we turn killers of the past like Jesse James, and more recent ones such as Harris and Klebold into celebrities of a type by posting their image on every paper in sight. He then states that the news media is quick to blame easy targets such as: movies, video games, people like himself, and anything that sits outside the norm even if there is no connection.

I think, Marilyn Manson is right, we do tend to have a fascination with violence from the news media’s around the clock coverage of the latest act of violence, to turning killers in to infamous celebrities. In the past year Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the Boston Marathon bombers, appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone.