Yesterday I posted a short entry and link to the Media & Society facebook page about the heated debate on Rotten Tomatoes about The Dark Knight Rises. The essence of the story, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, is that the comment section of the latest Batman film was out of control with trash talk and threat of physical violence because of a couple of unflattering reviews of the newest movie in the Batman franchise. Apparently fans of the series were not taking kindly to the negative reviews and, as often is the case with online discussions, the anonymity and deindividuation (I know it’s a big word…look it up) led to brutish behavior on the part of some.
This morning I woke up to horrible news that a gunman had opened fire in an Aurora (suburb of Denver, CO) theater where movie goers had gone to see the newest Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. Dressed in a bullet-proof vest and gas mask, and with his hair colored red, the shooter opened canisters of gas and then opened fire with multiple weapons in the crowded theater. Some 71 persons were shot and 12 are reported killed. Taken into custody, the gunman–recently a PhD student at CU’s medical school–claimed to be the Joker, the villain portrayed by the late Heath Ledger in the previous Batman film.
All of this will no doubt raise questions, and even political posturing, about the shooter’s motives and the state of our society. Some of these questions may be genuine attempts to deal with the loss by looking for explanations. Others may be asking questions in an effort to direct public dialog to topics in which they have political axes to grind. Some of the questions will look to the media. Was the shooter in any way influenced by the Batman movies? Are villainous portrayals on the big screen capable of triggering desperate acts by deranged individuals?
I began this blog with reference to the uncivil behavior in an online forum. Some might argue that this online incident is indicative of a greater social illness that found its final outlet in a horrific act of carnage. While causal links are incapable of providing explanations for the behavior of psychotic and deranged individuals, it won’t stop people from trying to connect the dots. There may well be connections to be made, but those will have to wait for now.
I grew up in lower downtown of Denver and in that neighborhood shootings happen quit often it was like a way of life, the first time I witness a shooting I was 14 and I saw my block get shot up, I lost two friends that day. Which was very upsetting it was not long after that the shootings began to get worse they started happening at the schools and almost everywhere. People could not understand why this was happening or who was to blame: Could it be bad parenting, or an abuse child with anger issues, or could it be the TV, or the radio. Who was to blame because everyone in my neighborhood had anger issues and listen to that gangster rap, and watch movies that had nothing but sex and violence? However could TV and radio really influence people I believe that people need to take responsible for their own actions. When the shooting happened at the theater in Denver, I asked this question will the violence ever end and what we could do to clean up our streets. As I listen to the media report the evidence they stated that James Holmes was a Ph.D. student in neuroscience that goes to show he was very intelligent he was only calming insane to get a lower sentence. Society needs to be smart then that. We had 12 innocent lives lost due to Holmes lost his mind over a movie? I understand that: sex, violence, and all kinds of profanity sales and the market goes up but the movie producers need to understand that not everyone could handle the fantasies of fiction.
It is crazy to me what people can do to innocent people. To walk into a movie theater and start shooting, I believe, expands much further than media influence. I understand the argument that media could have affected him to do what he did but I do not believe that this was the problem. In order for a human being to plan out and kill people for enjoyment they have to have some psychological problems. I know several people, including myself, that have seen several violent movies and it has never influenced me or anyone else I know to take it to an extreme like this. Media is filled with violence, sex, and drugs but I do not believe it was intended to influence the audience to do the same. The Aurora shooting was a tragedy but I believe it was a result of psychological problems and not media influence.
It is truly devastating how someone can simply not only kill 12 people, wound 71 people, but also take the time to plan something like that out. Questions were obviously brought up about how the movie the Dark Night has anything to do with this shooting. I do think that the media does bring violence and other inappropriate behavior, though if a person like James Holmes decides to kill people, there is no one to blame but that individual. There needs to be blame on the environment people are exposed to and the people they are exposed to, and even then it could just psychological. For filmmakers, producers, screen writers, actors, etc., they shouldn’t be blamed for crises like the Aurora Shooting. They look forward to producing pieces of art and entertainment that they will be able to share through media. They can not put limits on their work hoping that someone wont decide to become one of their fictional characters. Tragedies like this should not be their responsibility simply because they were able to become so creative and realistic. Making a fiction motion picture believable is a goal and an achievement not a fear. The unfortunate Aurora Shooting did happen, and they later determined that James Holmes had a mental issue. There will always be disturbing events like this, no matter what is playing in the movie theatre.
I would say that the constant debate on how people blame the media and other forms of technology has a negative effect on some consumers. I would also note that whether you blame the media or the person nobody would know because there are still sociopaths to this day and they could bet that but in this case it looks like the media is sort of to blame. The directors of this movie must feel terrible for what happened at this movie and not to unveil that the man that did this terrible mass shooting was claiming to be joker so the directors must have felt terrible. But not only do the directors must feel terrible but also must know that they hold a responsibility of putting a good movies but also being mature about things so none of this will happen ever again.
It boggles my mind how someone can just do that to innocent people. Most of us were in shock by it all. I don’t think we should be automatically blaming the movie or the production company for what happened. The joker is known for being the bad guy. He was brought into the movie as someone we can all root against. He wasn’t meant to be inspiring to anyone. We all know that. The shooter obviously has some psychological problems. He planned this whole thing for what exactly in return? Any sane human being shouldn’t be okay with killing anybody. I think he’s the sole person to blame for all of this. The media has showed us through films for years how good guys are better and who we should all aspire to be. I feel like it’s wrong to pressure the filmmakers, actors, producer, etc. into feeling responsible. It’s nice of them to acknowledge what happened and to send their well wishes to the families and friends effected but that’s the extent of it. It wasn’t them who hurt people. In the tomato post a lot of people were making violent comments. I think to a degree it’s something to take seriously. Just because someone says they hate you for saying Batman was a bad movie and they want to kill you doesn’t actually mean they’re going to do it. It’s a tricky situation to pinpoint someone who is actually crazy and someone who is just saying things out of anger. Violent speech is still a very serious subject that people should better take into consideration. Joking around with your friends is one thing but saying you want to harm a stranger is another. It depends on the person on how they take media. Someone can play violent video games all day long it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to be violent outside of that realm but I definitely think it does influence their mindsets.
I believe that the shooter at the aurora theater is the one to blame but do i give media and pass and say they did not influence it anyway.. no I will not. James Holmes was the one who pulled the trigger of the gun and not media but I am a huge believer that media will either influence you positively or negatively. it will either give you hope and allow you to dream or it will take away your dreams or it will put ideas in your head. There is so much violence and negative actions anymore in movies that it is almost impossible to say that media does not plant seeds of negative actions in someone’s head. in saying that, all the positive movies also will have a positive impact. So James Holmes is guilty of the crime and he should be the one to blame but I do not believe media should get a free pass either.
To expand on my earlier comment. In media they are driven by consumer wants and needs. I know that it is sex, violence and crime that is what sells but I also think that people who are in charge on what is being produced need to take a look at this and adjust even though there maybe a loss in some monetary value but I think they would make up for it in pride of knowing they produced a quality production.
The tragedy in Aurora was a devastating time; it is unimaginable to think of what was going through the shooter’s head to make him feel the need to do such a horrible thing to such innocent people. Some may think to blame mass media and motion pictures for portraying violence and crime, but I honestly think it’s a far stretch to blame motion pictures for this behavior. I feel like the only person to blame is the suspect himself, with some possible influences being those closest to him, such as parents, family, and friends. There have been arguments about blaming mass media for violent behavior in the past, with video games and other films besides The Dark Knight, but I feel like it comes down to the moral behavior of the individual and what sort of environment he was surrounded in growing up as a child. Regardless, bad people will still end up doing bad things.The shooter did reference to the Joker from the film, but the producers of that film could not have known that this incident would occur after exposing the public to Heath Ledger’s character. Film makers, producers, etc. do not hold the responsibility for ensuring they don’t produce something that someone can later reenact. Their job is to produce top entertainment, we cannot give them the huge responsibility of sanitizing their ideas prior to releasing the film. It is difficult to make a casual link between the aggressive speech and aggressive action, because the blame can be pointed in several different directions. When it comes down to it, the responsibility lies within the person, and it is unfortunate that tragedies such as this occur at all.
By reading both articles filmmakers, producers, screen writers, and actors that make these films are there to make money. Just like the moves, music and books they give the public what they want. What sells is drugs, pornography, violence, and fantasy. If people wouldn’t contribute to these behaviors the film industry along with the other industries would be forced to make what sells.
What happened in the theater was something that shouldn’t have happened but I believe we have to consider mental illness plays a part.
I think there is a link between aggressive speech and aggressive action if you use aggressive speech sooner or later the aggressive behavior will follow. I believe you are what you feed your mind, feed it healthy things and it will be healthy.
Are they having a difficult time making the connection between media consumption and subsequent behavior because they have did studies in children watching a violent move how the child act after the child mimics what he sees. Just like a child mimics his parents for instance smoking a cigarette. Filter the bad and put the good.
They know the answer…….
I agree that there is a strong influence between media and people today. There is more sex, violence, and crime displayed in today’s media. There would still be crime if there was no media to affect it. I think it is just wort with the media today.
I without a doubt believe that the shooter was influenced by the Batman movies and media in general. Do I believe he was a completely sane individual turned bad by media? No. But do I believe he was motivated by the violence and the portrayal of the villainous characters? Yes, or he wouldn’t have dressed the way that he did in order to carry out his plan. In “Media Today” Turow makes the claim that product placement plays a big role in TV shows and movies alike. Companies will pay huge amounts of money in order to have their merchandise be featured in big name television shows simply because of the exposure to the audience, and hopefully, the increase of sales it will create. Why on earth should we believe that portraying characters in negative connotations doesn’t also sell the idea of personality to someone? That being said, I feel like we use media as a scape goat too often. Producers and Directors shouldn’t have to make their content G rated simply because people can’t decide that dying their hair red, and opening fire in a movie theatre isn’t a good idea.
the tragedy was horrible, media cant be blamed for it though. to be honest its the people for not giving in to see a good movie, but instead holding back and not watching it just to show honer for the people who died in the theater. blaming the media is a simple minded thing to do. i think the people should blame it on the shooter. it wasn’t the media who told him to go into the theater and shoot it up. it was his own decision to do that. If someone has a job and they had to go in to work and their friend told them they should call off, would it be their fault for calling off or their friends fault for telling them they shouldn’t go to work?
The media has a lot of violence we all know that. But that is what sells. The media can not be blamed for happened in a Aurora. Just like Teen Mom can’t be blamed for a teenager getting pregnant, if we are to compare the two. The Dark Knight Rises is a huge Batman franchise that has brought in a lot of money and Nolan did a really good job on the film. The Aurora shooting made the movie suffer because people were refusing to see it in honor of the people who died or were injured at the premier in Denver, including myself. Aggressive speech online can have affect on people and cause controversy. There may or may not be a link between the Dark Knight Rises, the aggressive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and the Aurora shooting, or there may not be. But if there were, the producers and writers can not be blamed for this in anyway. They’re trying to do what their audience wants and what will sell
I think that people should take responsibilities for their actions. It’s too easy to just simply place blame onto the media. We should be able to know the difference between reality and fiction. While the shooter may have been “inspired” by the batman film, he would have turned to violence regardless of any film’s influence. The shooter was already mentally unstable and to blame media for his actions is unfair to those who see these films for entertainment.
I think that the filmmakers, the directors, and all the staff that worked with the film industry are not responsible of the shooting that happened in the movie theater in Aurora. I don’t think that movies are made for people to do what is in the movies. The idea of making movies is to entertain people. There are many people that are weak minded. But think about this, a lot of people do what they see in the movies, so why wouldn’t they try to do the negative stuffs too? The blame shouldn’t go to the filmmakers because there are movies that are way more violent than the “Dark Knight Rises”. The blame just goes to the guy that took a wrong role in his life. I believe that there is a relation between aggressive speech and aggressive action. If people are always around aggressive speech, they will end up being aggressive. On the other hand I also believe that people have totally control of their mind. We know when something is wrong or right.
I personally believe that the filmmakers, producers, screen writers, actors and others associated with the film industry have no responsibility for the Aurora theater shooting and similar atrocities. All of these people in the industry have no intention of making movies so that crazy people can reenact scenes of movies, or in the Aurora theater shooting’s case, dress up as a character and hurt many people. I can think of many movies that are more violent and disturbing than The Dark Knight Rises. Although, I do understand why people do blame Hollywood films for these atrocities because they are what can potentially plant an idea in someone’s mind to harm people. On the other hand though, we cannot control the certain types of people with, for example, mental health issues from viewing certain movies because we are unaware of what their issues may be. If a person with a mental health issue views a violent and disturbing movie then it is up to them to choose their reaction to the movie. It is fair to say that there is a reason to suspect a link between aggressive speech and aggressive action. The main reason why people wear certain clothes or act a certain way is because they have seen others wear those clothes or act a certain way. What is viewed in movies is a great example of this. In the Aurora theater shooting’s case, “The Joker” could have very much been influenced to do what he did because of what he had viewed in a movie.
There are more movies out there with more intense shooting scenes than the Dark Knight Rises. The reason Holmes picked this one was so he could put on a show dressing as the Joker. Yes, the media can impact people, but he knew exactly what he was doing with planning and timing. This justifies that media does not create tragedies, but it is how people portray media and act on it. It is only the responsibility of producers, actors, screenwriters, and filmmakers to make a good movie. It is not the film’s fault. They don’t need to take in account of the content. The ones who take it personally and literally are the people you have to be concerned about. There is a link between aggressive speech and aggressive action because aggressive speech causes pain, hurt, and anger. Therefore, if someone takes aggressive speech personally, they could use aggressive action to deal with their anger.
When you go to the movies, you are going because you are aware of the ritual that you will most likely have. You’ll wait in line trying to find the right movie, buy your ticket, get your snacks, and sit in a dark theater while you watch and critic the movie. Afterwards you get up, head out and talk about what you liked and disliked about that movie. Sadly for the people involved in the Aurora shooting got more from their movie experience than expected. It is truly horrible what had happened to everyone there and that it was in my hometown, but I believe the film writers, producers, screenwriters, actors and directors are not the people to blame for this tragedy. Everybody wants to point the finger to someone because knowing who’s to blame or whodunit, is better then not knowing at all. People like to be critics and judge what they see because they are unable to be to do something other than run their mouths. I think they forget that movies aren’t real! They are written, directed, and over exaggerated for entertainment and ticket sales. What happened in Aurora was not the filmmakers or anybody who was involved in The Batman franchise fault, but a psychopathic individual, James Holmes, who had planned it and played the part. Nobody persuaded him to do so, he knew what he was doing, and because he did it at The Batman premiere, he knew he would get fame from it. Simple as that!
I think that actors, producers, screenwriters, and anyone else involved in the creation of this movie are not directly responsible with influencing these sorts of actions, but it does not go without a sense of a guilty conscious. Actor Christian Bale not only gave his condolences, but he also went to Denver to go visit the victims of the shooting. The premiere of the film was also cancelled in certain areas shortly after the shooting. It can be believed that Holmes was influenced to do such a horrible act by the use of excessive violence in the media, but this can only be taken to a point. Sure he was dressed in character of the Joker, but his own mentality was more of a major factor in his own decision to do it. Media shows us what violence is, but it is not (and should not be) used to incite violence. Still, the fact that this had happened in a movie theater with the certain movie premiere, the main partners of the Batman films are sure to have some sense of responsibility.
I went to school with Caleb Medley, a victim of the Aurora Colorado Shooting. All though I wasn’t close to him, I was use to seeing Caleb in the halls at school and seeing him around. His wife, who was with him, I also grew up knowing. So my initial reaction when I heard the news that Caleb had been shot was overwhelming anger and fear. I always was sad to hear about these mass shootings that happen, but to actually know someone directly impacted from an act of violence really shook my comfort levels.
I can see how people would want to blame the entertainment industry and it’s contents for the actions of the public. They need something to point their fingers at and blame their problems on. But the fact of the matter is that its crazy to think that media content produce violent outcomes. If that was the case, what source of media is to blame for WWII genocides? Or to take a simpler position, lets look at the history of crime in the U.S. Jesse James, Bonnie and Clyde, Ted Bundy, The Zodiac, etc. These figures in crime history reflect different generations, generations that are considered to be safer than ours today. But still there was episodes and acts of violence. Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.
The difference in past generations and today’s is the outlet of the internet. But the internet is just a safety glass to say stuff to spark attention in the safety of their own homes. i agree with Chris when he says people aren’t afraid to say hurtful things behind user names and computer screens. I believe that this is misuse of the internet. Instead of using the internet’s power for bad, it should be utilized for good.
I believe that the writers, actors, and the overall film industry don’t have any responsibilities in this situation or others like it. The man was not in his right mind and had been planning the event for some time, he was in the situation that he was going to do this no matter what and the fact that he dressed up like the joker has nothing to do with the industry and shouldn’t pull away from the true tragedy. No matter what the killers persona was there was going to be blaming he could have dressed up like mickey mouse and committed the crime and it wouldn’t change the horror of the event or the fact that it happened. The fact that he decided to use the character of the joker is a reflection on his unstable mind and possibly an attempt to become infamous, and has little to nothing to do with the previous batman film’s portrayal of the character. The film industry, while they shouldn’t completely ignore these events, should not be held responsible for the mans actions as he would have commuted them regardless of the joker connection or not.
In regards to the comments and physical action I believe that most comments on the internet are just that written comments. The internet allows insecure people to post hateful comments without the physical or personal retaliation by hiding behind user names. However there are some people who use the internet to express their true feelings and actually have intent on following through with the physical actions that they write about. In relation to the overall population of the “trolls” or hateful commenters the people involved should be aware that some can be actual malleable threats while others are just people typing at a computer desk.
I feel the Aurora shooting was a tragedy that we all think about when we walk in movies theaters, not that it will happen again but you never know. When I heard the news, I was in shock. Who shoots up a movie theater, with innocent people and families. Families and friends that were expecting that night to be alot different, they planned to go enjoy a movie and have a good time… But instead, they were running for their lives that night. The shooter was dressed up as the joker, the famous villain from the Batman franchise. I feel movies are meant to entertain us, not to create violence. The thing that bugs me is, these were just innocent people, just ordinary people who weren’t expecting this happen.
I feel like with a shooting such as the Aurora shooting in the case of the premier of the third Batman movie it just brings excuses and room to point fingers. People want to blame Hollywood for what happened. They think filmmakers are encouraging violence and actors are making it seem real and okay in society. However, any right person knows movies are not real they are not an acceptance letter of what is right and wrong nor do they portray what is socially acceptable. They are in their own world. Writers are writing simply to entertain. The film Industry as a whole is there to entertain and make money that is all. No one should be taking responsibility. We need to face the facts this was simply a tragic event that took place in a weird coincidence to this movie and the industry but there should be no blame, controversy or connection.
I think the incident in the comment section on Rotten Tomatoes is simply people hiding behind the internet. Do I really believe that someone would “beat Fine to death with a thick rubber hose?” Of course not. From personal experience, I know that people have a false sense of confidence when talking to others, especially strangers, over the internet. I would guess they were trying to use colorful language to express their distaste in the reviewer’s post.
The Aurora shootings however, I think are very different. In my opinion, the media does glorify violence. You see so many people dying, especially in action movies like batman, but the movie doesn’t show each and every family grieving for years and the emotional toll it has on them. It can’t. Could you imagine going into that much detail in a movie where thousands of people like that? It would be hundreds of hours long just to show every victim’s family, and it would be the least enjoyable film in the world to watch. We are all well aware of how much pain comes from losing a loved one; no one wants to see that in a movie. And for the most part, people know how unrealistic movies can be. The grey area comes in with people like James Holmes, who are already crazy. I don’t know what finally made Holmes make the final decision, but I think the movie industry has to be careful with how unrealistic they are about death. They need a happy medium between unrealistic and completely realistic. While most people will realize that the violence in a lot of movies is over exaggerated, I believe that if we expose ourselves to enough of anything, we will become comfortable with it. I know that I don’t want a society that is comfortable with the idea of so much murder. It’s hard to say how people will react to anything when they are mentally unstable, but I think a little more caution from the film industry wouldn’t hurt anything.
Filmakers, producers, screen writers, actors and others associated with the film industry do not have any control over what is done after a film is made or anything produced by the industry and showed to the public. People in the world are highly opinionated and at times take turn their opinions in violent actions. Agressive speech can lead to agressive actions most of the time but it can also be looked at seperatly , not everyone has an agressive action to what is said .The harsh comments said on Rotten Tomato did not lead to people hurting others but the film about batman lead to the student killing and hurting all of those people. People interpret the things they see in their heads differently and we cannot blame the industry for what is being done in the world.
When a movie is made a person has the right to either watch it or not. When a producer makes his art/movie he is entitled to all the right to make the movie how he so chooses. While the audience might not enjoy the movie they are entitled to their opinions. They can’t judge somebody because not all the general audience will enjoy it. It’s created for entertainment purposes to try to convey a message to the audience or targeted group. In movies I noticed that there’s excessive aggressive behaviors. In my opinion I believe it influences people to act as they see it. Reson being when you watch something many times you become numb to that feeling therefore more likely to tolerate the actions or do them.
The internet creates a wall between users, and some people use this to their advantage. Because users aren’t communicating in person, they are more inclined to speak their mind. However, it is very unhealthy when people us online communication boards, in this case movie review sites, to argue, threaten, or demean other users. The harsh comments on the negative reviews of the Dark Knight are not the responsibility of the movie producers, but instead of the website administrators and the users themselves. Nobody is really able to moderate the internet, instead users need to moderate themselves. I don’t think this kind of behavior should be taken too seriously, however; the people who made those comments were just using the internet to vent. There isn’t a solution to this issue because the internet is grounds for free speaking.
I believe it’s the film makers and those associated with the film, are responsible to console those affected by the tragedy .There is no way they are responsible for the shooting. As for the aggressive speech that’s out of their control as well. We can’t always make a link between aggressive speech and action, It’s like flipping a coin you can’t know the outcome.
Violence and film are the norm now, even Lion King has violence in it. I do not think movie studios should share in the blame for acts of violence that happen off screen. I think it is comparable to asking the porn industry to be accountable for sexual assaults. There are so many other factors that contribute to people acting violently like in Aurora. It was shortly after the shooting in Denver that the school was shot-up in New Hampshire. People failed those two young men, not Hollywood. Hollywood did what Hollywood has always done, put out a form of entertainment. I do not remember an invasion of Cuba or a rise in violence against Cubans or Russians in America after the release of Red Dawn in the late 1980’s. The young man in Denver knew the theater would be packed with people on opening night of the latest Bat Man movie, he knew he would not seem out of place dressed the way he was dressed when he began his rampage, he planned, he executed his plan and he was successful because he took advantage of peoples sense of security not because he called himself by a characters name. Violent movies are just like any other sort of media, if you want to watch it, watch it, if you don’t want to see it don’t, the one thing we can’t do is shift blame to movies for the actions of a few. I do believe that media has some responsibility to the public, but we also have a responsibility to help ourselves and the people in our lives.
I think that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. The reaction that the viewers of Rotten Tomatoes had to the negative review was nothing new. People complain about things all the time and threaten people all the time, if you want the experience of having death threats constantly blasting you in the face just play online video games. I am not saying that these threats should be taken lightly because for the most part you can never tell if the threat is false or not. I think that every threat should be taken seriously to protect the people who are being threatened. I don’t think that anybody in the movie business can do anything to prevent negative views. Not everybody is going to like the same product, so the only thing a movie company can do is create a movie that gets the nod from the majority of the viewers. I think that the majority of these threats are a way of attracting attention to the person making the threats. What the threat maker does not know is that if their threat is taken seriously they could end up in jail.
Phillip DiLoreto
This is not the medias fault for this. I agree with Rouseline, its not the movies fault for some crazy guy that goes on a rampage and kills a bunch of people in a theatre. James Holmes should have this on his shoulders, and nobody else’s.
People cannot point figures or blame someone else to their own actions. I agree with Codey Gaylord, Aggressive speech does lead to bad behavior but it also not main idea of the movie rating system. The producers or the industry should not get the blame for someone else’s actions. I do not think it is fair that every time there is a tragic event the media is the first to blame. If someone decides to go on rampage, then that’s their own personal, psychological issues. A movie doesn’t make anyone do anything, it is up to the person to say and do what they want to do weither it is right or wrong.
Producers, Screen writers should take in account what they put in the films, because you don’t know how the audience are going to take from it. The actors shouldn’t be in the argument because they don’t mean to offend anyone ,they just play their part by acting. It goes to show how aggressive the film industry as well as the audience can be. Fans of movies should take in account that and understand that movies are for entertainment. They don’t have an influence to make us do things and if they do they should be positive acts, not aggressive one that leads to violence. Movies may have messages in them aren’t caught by the naked eye but that doesn’t mean that they are put there by the director, producer , and so on. It is how the audience reacts to these messages from a movie that is non-fiction or fiction and most are fiction anyways.
I believe that the Dark Night dent influence people to kill anyone and that the filming industry has nothing to do with what people see as long as they don’t make a movie deliberately to kill people. Action movies are made to entertain people and people can be mentally ill and take things literally
The movie industry can be exaggerate a lot when it comes to the quality of a movie. I think that by building people up it does create tension when people do not agree. However, I do not believe it is the fault for the violent attack in Aurora. It could have been but I think that it is more realistic that this was a very mentally ill person. There is a link between aggressive speech and aggressive action. Someone who was just in a verbal fight is more likely to swing a fist than someone who just had a pleasant conversation.
I personally do not think that the movie Batman itself should be held responsible for the tragic shooting that took place in Aurora. Perhaps the mean world syndrome can be justification. In my opinion, no PhD student can be considered psychotic simply by planning and following through with a public massacre. He deserves the full death sentence for what he has done. Even if he is considered psychotic, he should still be prosecuted.
The movie industry can be very vicious, doing something as simple as writing a bad review for a movie can bring along death threats and violence. I feel like producers, directors, screen writers, and actors are always the ones people point the finger at when something bad happens. The movie may of influenced the shooter (who knows?), but I believe it is wrong to blame the media for these horrible acts. Aggressive speech often results to aggressive behavior, but that is the primary point of the movie rating system. Film makers should not have to take into account what horrible acts of violence their movies may inspire, instead they should focus on making meaningful films. If the Dark Knight movie really did influence the shooters decision to murder tons of innocent people, then that is clearly his own psychological problem. Its called fiction for a reason.
My thoughts on the shooting and review situation is that reviews are posted to be able to comment so many will have a different opinion in how we liked or dislike the movie. We all engage in rating movies because we did or did not like it. When the shooting happen it was very tragic for the city of aurora and I remember how everyone blamed the movie and how it had inspire him to dress up in such a manner and conduct the actions that he did. We tend to blame the media for making something seem right and the audience turn the cards around and blame the producers, actors, and makers of the movies. The aggressive speech showed just how it was being to be but did not chance in any way the aggressive of the actions that the audience were making into pleading threats to the reviewers of the movie.
I believe there is a reason to suspect a link between aggressive speech and aggressive action. because the negative comments or feedback what we made which could have influence the author to become passive or violent. The responsibility that filmmakers, producers, screenwriters, actors and others associated with the film industry are to make sure that they are doing their job to make the film for us to see and the film does not have any hidden agendas behind it. When tragedies happen that everyone pointing at media and filmmakers, but actually is not media create the tragedies. It’s how people use media that created it to happened.
I feel that the responsibility of the producers, actors, screen writers, and film makers, is only to make their movie and to make sure that their movie doesn’t have any hidden agenda’s. I don’t necessarily think it is the films fault at what happened. The people that react in violent ways are either mentally ill or sociopathic. I do believe the criminals are to blame, when atrocities occur. However, aggressive speech and action can result in aggressive behavior, because people can become very passionate after they witness aggressive speech or action. For instance, when someone is bullied, they either become passive or act out violently.
When you are allowed to openly write a review on a public website, you are going to have a couple negative comments. The comments may have influenced the shooter, but he also had many problems of his own. I do not think the writers, or producers are to blame for the shooting at all. They had no idea anything was going to come out of those negative comments. When the shooter began to shoot up the theater, he took responsibility for his own actions, I do not think media is to blame.
I agree with what Marissa Alvarez said. I necessarily wouldn’t blame the media for the actions of others, but maybe for the ideas. Movies are made for entertainment, and what did you do every time you saw a movie as a child, you would try and be the characters you seen in the movie. This man was an insane possibly drug addict who knew exactly what he was doing.
I feel as if every time there is a mass shooting or some sort of public violence, the media always seems to be the first to blame. Cultivation theory is at work when people are affected by the media in a way that leads to violence. In my opinion, the people to blame are the criminals not necessarily the producers, actors or screen writers. This is because everyone that watches these films are not affected in a way that makes them want to kill people. On the other hand, I do believe that aggressive speech and aggressive action are closely related, many times the first step to aggressive action is aggressive speech.
I believe there is a reason to suspect a link between agressive speech and agressive action. I say this because the comments that where made could have influenced the shooter. He might have been one of those people that did not like to her negative feed back. Whenever a tragedies happen people always want to blame the media and start pointing fingers at them. How media has gotten so violent. That’s what influences kids to do things like this. But i do not think their at fault. The media was not the one to make the shooter play the role of the Joker. This man knew what he was doing. So if we are going to point fingers point them at the person who did it.
The hoopla around the commments on Rotten Tomatoes is pure craziness. I get that people will say/type the most awful things when their identity is invisable to the world. I don’t get the intensity that all of those people felt when they acted like a mama bear protecting it’s young. The media may influence kids in subtle ways when the children see the same images over and over in a good light. But it takes someone with serious mental issues to actually act out the violence shown on the movie screen.
I think that the movie could have influenced the shooter, though there is really no way to prove that. I also think that anything can influence anyone such as a movie, a book, or a videogame. How that person acts following being influenced, is the issue. If the shooter was influenced by the movie to create such a horrible act of violence, then clearly something is not right in their head. The Batman movies are not responsible for this man’s awful actions. Movies and storylines are fictional, they aren’t real. We as people know that they are not reality, so I don’t think we can blame this shooting on the actions of the characters in the movie. When that shooter decided to do what he did, he became fully accountable for his actions, whether he was mentally aware of it or not. I have heard a lot of different opinions about this shooting. I have read about many conspiracy theories that link to the shooting. I have read about what people think happened, that have nothing to do with conspiracy theories. I will never know exactly what the suspect’s motives were or if there was anyone else behind this crime, but I do know that the shooter is fully responsible for his actions and the movie creators or anyone else are not at fault.
I began this blog with reference to the uncivil behavior in an online forum. Some might argue that this online incident is indicative
The shooter, we now know, was a very unstable person to begin with. Any movie could have had this kind of an impact. But it’s also worth noting that he specifically did pick this movie. Was there something about the dark unsettling vigilante justice in The Dark Knight Rises that brought about this manifestation? Perhaps time will tell. But what’s also worth looking at is that these technologies do allow for deindividuation and allow some of our more uncivlized and primitive natures to be exposed in a rather public manner. Would the shooter (whose name I know but refuse to use in an effort to deny him infamy) have reacted the same way if our movies and media were different? I think not. But this is merely a chicken and the egg scenario. Our movies are a reflection of the sickness of our culture. We should better analyze who we are as a society and how we can use technology to our benefit and not our demise.
I don’t think it’s right to blame the media for why this man took the role of the Joker so far. This tragedy, and others, was a unique situation where one person responded and acted poorly on, as thousands of others anticipated the release of what promised to be a great movie. As you can see in Rotten Tomatoes debate, people get worked up movies long before they release. These people made extremely threatening comments to those who gave negative review, but only one person acted out in the Aurora shooing. Although other people had over the top responses, how many of them would have actually physically harmed anyone for giving a bad review? There’s no way to justiy what Holmes did, but it isn’t fair to blame the media before blaming his psychotic state and his past.
This is a case of public brutality that has taken on a completely different meaning when connected to the identity of the general public. While the Batman movies make light of the violence that is a part of reality this shooting has numbed the public to the reality of death. Anyone who is in a younger generation will remember this event as the moment they realized the power of a villian, whether it be fictional or not–and how this event shaped their involvement with the media. The media has fed this situation to new heights, in my opinion, on a lower yet disarming level as that of 9-11. When there are constant shocking situations the public will eventually become fear mongers.
When tragedies like this occur, people always point fingers. “it’s violent video games!’ or “The movie inspired him!” or other things like that. This ALWAYS happens when tragedies strike. People point fingers at everything except the trouble person that did it. I don’t care what he says his motive is or was, even if it was video games or the movie, he obviously had exterior influences and motives. People need to point at the correct cause of the tragedy, the man that commited this attrocity.
I believe that the media did have an effect on why the Aurora Shootings happened, but I also believe it was partly because he was crazy. Violence in the media is so lax nowadays. I believe he was also crazy just because he knew exactly to an extent of what he was doing. He even set up home made bombs in his apartment knowing that it was going to hurt other people. He went in with the a gas mask and a bullet proof vest knowing he was going to do something wrong. I just feel like the media just provoked it. People need to be aware that anything can stimulate something in anyones’ brains into doing something unjust.
The Aurora shooting really hit home for me because I basically grew up in that area going to school there and spending a lot of time in the area with family. It was a terrible event to occurr and I think the media did a terrible job in the broadcast of the incident. This incident is just one of thousands of incidents of shootings that happen around this country every year. I think producing these kind of movies takes a lot of guts because of the current situation that America is in. People in America are not responsible enough to go and watch a movie and not use good judgement in how they react. I think our lack of true parenting and education has a role to play in this as well as the media. The media today disconnects us from reality and I think this may have been one of those cases also.
I agree that media has some role to play in the way criminals may depict their crimes, but it is my belief that the media is not the reason they kill.. Killers are sick and need no provocation to act out twisted fantasies like the Auror shooter. Fans may trash talk or even get into a fist fight but fans don’t kill each other,(not even die hard sport fans kill the fans of the team that they just lost too.) In this regard I believe the Auror shooter wished to make an insanity plea, what better way then to claim you are the joker.
In regards to the shooter in Colorado, he had problems before “the Joker made him kill people”
The Dark Night Rises commenters are to blame for the anarchy on Rotten Tomatoes. These commenters though hadn’t seen the movie yet are already sold on the movie. They could be Batman fans, Christian Bale fans, Director fans; the point is the movie not being out yet gave the commenters nothing to go off of. So of course they’re going to lose their mind and threaten to shove a bomb where the sun don’t shine if a movie critique posts a negative review. Is it unnecessary for commenters to go as insane as they do? of course. But people have a right to voice their opinion as crazy as it might be, and its funny that things happening like this are still a suprise to people.
I don’t really think television or even the movie Dark Night Rises could have influenced this individual that much, I believe we all have that part of our brain that tells us what’s right and wrong. I believe the shooter, chose the little red devil on his shoulder over the white angel. There are alot of sick people out there and maybe you do began to wonder if all the chemicals we put in our bodies through manufactured foods we now eat has any play in the chemical balance of the brain. Either case, I think people are getting away with that whole insanity plea a little too much any more. We all have a little insanity, it’s how we as individuals choose how to express it that makes us different.
Yeah, here comes this ridiculous topic — again.
So crazy is crazy, and all we need to know about what influenced this Ronald-McDonald-on-acid lookin’ buttwipe is that he is crazy — period! This shallow and easy to disregard debate over whether media made this moron do what he did is beneath any intelligent person. Mass media pervades our culture with such depth and breadth today that were it true that violent, indecent, hyper-sexualized, and otherwise “threatening” imagery makes our citizenry predictably homicidal — we couldn’t set foot outside our homes without being shot Call-of-Duty-style by hormonal teenagers. It takes a full-fledged boot camp plus nationalistic military brainwashing movie propaganda to make kids do that sort of thing. And our government is more than willing to facilitate this type of teenage mental development with farcical “patriotic” drivel like the film Act of Valor — released early this year. That’s the type of highly contrived nonsense culture warriors feigning worry about media effects should question. But no, instead we get, ” oh my, did that guy really want to be the joker from those frightening Batman movies?” said the slack-eyed, drooling nincompoop who’s scared of EVERYTHING anyway.
Simple math exercises prove media inundation doesn’t conduce to widespread violence, and if anything such media stifle it. In fact, that media make the citizenry more malleable, docile, and controllable instead of ferociously rebellious and violent couldn’t be more obvious. Digital media have especially decreased crime statistics across the board, not to mention democratic participation along with them. Everyone is now plopped down in front of a glowing screen and marveling at magical electronic images that “breathe and pulse with life.” Too distracted are “We the People” to muster the intellect and willpower needed to take action against the white-collar criminality that has sky rocketed in recent years. And that’s stating it politely.
Although these types of home grown terrorist incidents in the U.S. are happening more and more frequently, the ratio of vile acts such like the Aurora theater massacre to the sum of our population due to media exposure is laughably small. Have fun debating nothing useful, fraidy cats.
On the other hand, there is no greater need for discussion than the notion that America is irrefutably and intractably witnessing the entropy of it’s beloved rapacious economy, which WILL DIRECTLY CAUSE more acts of violence among us proles; and then ask the common “educated” person so attuned to media these days about: LIBOR, Energy ROI, or Inverted Totalitarianism, the consolidation of resources by central banks and all you’ll witness is an ordinary consumer holding an iPhone muttering “… DUH.” And I work with a lot of college-educated folks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db0Y4qIZ4PA&feature=related
This event was very sad No one is supposed to get hurt at a night out at the movies they are supposed to take us to far away lands, show us what true love is, and make us laugh our cares away. To have this happen on our doorstep is unfortunate. The biggest thing that worries me however, is the thought that when something like this happens, it can become contagious. People think that this man got some attention, why not them? Last night I saw the Dark Knight Rises and was a little scared. Everytime someone got up and left the theater or entered, a little part of me was getting ready to run. Every time there was a gun scene, I ducked down in my seat just in case. I am not afraid to go see movies, nor am I afraid of the Dark Knight Rises, I’m afraid of people. People can do some crazy things. But, there is some hope. I heard a story of a family going to the Century 16 Theater and seeing the film the very next day. It is sort of what Bruce Wayne said about the people of Gotham, that they are a brave people will prevail, Colorado will too.
The events of Friday’s shooting brings me to tears. I don’t understand how such a horrific act could be carried out like that. As a mother of 2, I view things like this differently than I would have 3 years ago. It makes me wonder what kind of a world we are bringing our children into and scares me. I don’t know if there are more crazy, deranged people in the world today than there were 50 years ago, but technolgy and media sure has made it easier for them to act out on larger scales. Our world seems to be obsessed with technology, violence, and media and while I’m not sure you can point blame in one particuliar direction or at one person/company, what we have evolved to doesn’t help. You can learn a lot of things you didn’t know, get a lot of things you couldn’t normally get, and connect with a lot of people you wouldn’t be able to connect with when using today’s technology/media. This makes it easier for those sick people to do unthinkable things and encourage others to do so as well. So while there may be many factors when someone does something horrific like the Aurora shooting, today’s media/technology is one of those factors; a big factor.
People don’t like to have minds of their own anymore. We let the media shape and distort what we see, believe and how we feel. People get so hyped up for the simplest thing, everyone is who they would like to be behind closed doors. I don’t think that the shooting in Aurora is anywhere in comparison. The fact that this man actually carried these actions out is on a whole different level then a group of home bodies who have nothing better to do.
I read the WSJ report and it was very disturbing that people would get so upset and make death threats over a review. Yes, over a review of a movie. To have a person feeling so strongly for a movie or a character is really scary. We as people who enjoy a movie need to step back and look at the flim and that everyone will have a different opinion about a movie.
And for the tragedy that happened in Aurora this was very sad and very confusing. A well educated student to cause such a crime because he thinks he is the “Joker” thats even worse. I hope the media will step back and let this town mourn those who have died.
The incident of the batman shooting in Aurora is really unfortunate. Its devastating that a movie such as batman can bring out violence in people. Whether that being comments from rotten tomatoes which then turns into threats to actually going through and killing people. With the world becoming so corrupt and people wanting to cause harm on people it makes one think that maybe we should not have violent movies available to the public.
After hearing about this tragedy I was deeply sadden. Reading about and seeing footage only made it more real. I think that this guy is sick. Its crazy because people can say that he did not know what was reality and what was not from him claiming to be “The Joker”, but I think he clearly knew what he was doing. In this article the writer talks about if the movie had any influence on his actions, as I was watching everything that was going on and new information being released I could relate it to The Dark Knight. In the movie the joker lets the cops arrest him without a fight, same as the gunman in Aurora. The joker sits in a jail cell but is happy about it because it is all apart of his plan and even occasionally laughs creepily. This is also how I picture the gunman sitting in jail, not caring and proud of his “work”, while he knows the city of Aurora is in chaos and cops are trying to get into his booby trapped apartment. Like it’s a game, a game the joker would play. These are just a few similarities I was thinking of as all of this was happening around us. I do not think that batman or the producers of the movie have any fault in this. I just can not imagine what kind of person could do something like this.
It is very interesting how certain things in the media can make someone do something they may have never thought about doing before. Whether we realize it or not, the media controls large parts of our lives. The Aurora shooting is just terrible and having grown up in Aurora, it is scary to think that an event like this occurred at a place I used to go to as a kid. This is huge tragedy and is way more shocking than the media has played it out to be.
Given the evidence from Rotten Tomatos its obvious that certain things (like batman) can Influence peoples reaction in negative ways. But comparing the Aurora shooting with the comments from Rotten Tomato has no ground. Media may influence peoples ideas on a subject like, liking a movie they havent seen then threatening someone who does not have the same opions as them (this sounds like a troll). But the Aurora shooting is an isolated case ONE shooting! As I recall there were many comments (people) that were threatening on the blog.
But given the fact that the Shooter adressed himself as the “Joker” does show an amount of media influence this person could of easly portrayed himself as any REAL villain like Osama Bin Laden, but he chose a “VERY CUNNING” Super Villain that gets away with everything and kills a ton of people.
For people to leave comments threatening people’s lives over a movie (Rotten Tomatos) is sickening – and need to be taken seriously and need to be held accountable for their words, actions, etc. This behavior should be punished – or the tirade will continue to happen. There is so much more out there than going “psycho” about a movie – any movie. It’s okay to have an opinion, even a strong opinion… But planning (or threatening) to place a bomb up someone’s unmentionables is unacceptable.
That brings me to the unspeakable tragedy of the Aurora incident. Hasn’t this poor state (Denver in particular) had enough heart ache with mass shootings? I don’t want to speculate over what the motive was as there is only one (two in my opinion) person that knows truly what the reason Holmes walked into that theater guns blazing – and he’s not talking.
Do I think that the movie had anything to do with it? Not the movie itself, but I think Holmes knew that the theater would be jam packed full of victims at his mercy (too scared to move, lined up for his pleasure). Far too often television, music, games, etc. are to blame for human behavior. I’m not arguing that you can’t learn things from these things – but the blame game is always played.
It’s far too soon for me to have an opinion on much of this situation. All I am feeling is sorrow, disbelief, and like so many questions are unanswered. May the fallen victims of this tragedy rest in peace, the injured find healing, and the families, friends, and community find peace and stand strong together.
Joseph Frank says that Samuel is correct in stating that all of this will no doubt raise questions and political posturing. After watching the above video I see the religious zealots are off and running! Matt Atchiity(editor of Rotten tomatoes) got a lot of hate tossed his way and Eric Snider found that leaving a negative response, even tho joking, can get down right ugly! Now as far as James Holmes is concerned, I can only say “Check out the hair, the glassy eyes, and the little horns protuding up from his hairdo! Hey, after Psych 101,I can even figure this one out!
I read the WSJ report. While it shows people are “fanatics” and sometimes cross the line,I honestly cannot believe that being such a fanatic is what caused the shootings in Aurora. I think this person had “issues” from the get go and this was his pathetic excuse for making a name for himself. He had been planning this attack for months. I would like to say he was crazy but I think this was just a plain evil person. Yes, people get upset over reviews of movies, but it’s probably someone hiding in their parents basements – hiding behind their computer screens. MOST people would not go on a shooting rampage. The person responsible for taking the lives of innocent people, is just evil. I do not believe it’s the movies or society that drove him to this – it’s his pure evilness.
The events that have happened in Aurora, Colorado this past weekend are just sickening. Being born and raised in Aurora, it is hard to believe that such a tragedy has occurred in my backyard. In my opinion, media has little if any influence on acts like these. The digital world and world of reality are not hard to distinguish, and anyone who can commit such acts are more ill than anything. Killing 12 and injuring more than 70 is unjustifiable regardless, and the man responsible should receive the maximum punishment possible.
The incident in Aurora was a shock. I found out about it on, yes you guessed it, Facebook. When I read the article on Rotten Tomatoes and what had happened with the comments people were making, I was astounded. I understand people love movies and are big fans of certain franchises/movies, but is it really necessary to go as far as physical violence or the thought of violence? I have a few movies I like and if someone says something negative about it I let it go. That is that person’s opinion, who am I to say that they are wrong and then threaten them with violence. Either you like the movie or you don’t. Does violence in movies cause people to be violent? That’s a good question. If a person is unstable a violent movie could impact them and their decisions. It’s not the movie, it’s the person. Same thing goes with video games and football games. People get too involved and even make it personal that they do not realize it’s just a game.
After reading both the WSJ article about the Rotten Tomatoes debacle of comments and then the article that Ashton posted I don’t know what to think. Does the media influence us? Yes of course it does, but it is not the main fault whatsoever. There will always be personal circumstances that affect people that we may not understand. It’s too hard as a regular every day person to really evaluate someone’s motives, but either way it’s disappointing and tragic to see a good, fun, anticipated movie ruined by a selfish person. My condolences go out to all affected.
This tragedy is sickening. Iv been following this horrible act very closely and I’m not truly convinced it was caused by media. It is to early to be saying “yes its because of the batman movies” or not. In my opinion we will find out what truly was the cause of this within the next few weeks. I read an artical that is pretty crazy but it seems a lot of people are backing it up.
http://www.naturalnews.com/036536_James_Holmes_shooting_false_flag.html
Its crazy that people actually think these things but a even worse case of bad media for this terrible tragedy is this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECj1QrG8WFE
This tragedy is one of the worst ones of our generation so far and to be honest i dont think it had anything to do with movies in general. Some people grow up with this deformaty in their brain that when they hurt someone or something they enjoy it and want to do it more often. This man may of been kind as said by the professors at his school but there was obviously a demented mind behind it since he was able to come up with 2 different plans. if the first one failed he was going to blow up his apartment building and kill all the residents. As to what motive he has to wanting to kill all these people is still unknown but be assured when he does release a statement on that i will be watching no matter where im at because this is something you dont just copy out of nowhere.
The constant debate of whether or not the media (television, video games, the internet, viral videos, etc.) is damaging the minds of it’s consumers. I can’t and won’t begin to try and explain the man’s motives, but he was obviously compelled to call himself the Joker due to the movie. That may have been a last minute grab at a “cool” alias, but, taking the hair into consideration, I’d guess that the shooter had this “Joker Vs Theater” mindset, preset.
Here’s an article I ran across pertaining to his possible motives..
http://connecticut.cbslocal.com/2012/07/20/did-batman-comic-book-inspire-aurora-theater-shooting/
Where does fantasy end and reality begin? Or should the question be where does reality end and fantasy begin? Where are the priorities? I am disheartened by the conception that people would allow themselves to be so immersed in a movie that hostility controls their actions whether with a pen or a gun. I don’t want to hear excuses! I just want people to take responsibility for their deeds.
The Aurora incident is a devestating incident to me because my best friend was close of being in that theater. She was going to go to the movie but since it was sold out she ended up going to a abr down the street. She claims she heard the sirens and is still in shock from it. She lost a friend in the shooting. I don’t understand how someone is capable of doing that. I think the shooter must have some psychological disorder to have caused him to do it. A san person knows to differentiate from nonfiction and fiction events. From other articles that I have been reading one of them talks about how Holmes mother knew they had the right guy when the police arrested him. This shows he probably has some psychological issue. On a bigger note as Police do more inverstigations we shall know what was really going through Holmes when he decided to do such a horrific event. My thought and prayers goes to those family and friends who were affected by this shooting.