I was having a look at a selection of old movies made in America via my social media algorithm. I noticed that there wasn’t this fixation with guns to the extent there is today. There were a lot more movies featuring storylines about things other than shooting people. Obviously, there has been a concerted trend toward films featuring gun violence. Popular culture in the US keeps spreading this false message about guns being the answer for every problem. In reality, most people do not come into contact with guns in their normal day to day lives. Why then is there this obsession in the Hollywood fantasy realm about guns?
America’s Obsession With Guns & Gun Violence
Why do Americans make endless volumes of movies about gun violence? Why the childish obsession with toy guns on screen? Is it a lack of imagination or something more sinister? Does the gun lobby and gun manufacturers finance Hollywood? Why do script writers and producers make movies about guns and gun violence? Do they endorse the proliferation of guns and gun violence in their own lives? Do they champion the gun death massacres of children in America? Where is the civic responsibility of the entertainment industry in the US? Are they really all scumbags and totally shallow folk?
Movie Business Complicit In Gun Violence
Living a life devoted to making money and having no civic standards is in the end a pretty poor life. Actors, directors, writers, techs, and producers are all complicit in the promotion of the false message about guns in the lives of human beings. Guns don’t solve any real problems they only make things worse in the long run. Guns and bombs are the instruments of cowards. They are not indicators of courage, as perpetrators hide behind their guns. The movie business has become one long promotion trailer for the gun industry. Americans seem stuck in a childish zone watching movies about pretend tough guys shooting their toy guns.
Maybe the fact that America’s presidents are all old men is trying to tell the populace to grow up. It is time to put aside your childish obsession with toy guns and playing shoot em up. Grow up America! Find some standards beyond making money. Rein in Hollywood and its infantile obsession with pretend gun violence.
Take a stand in 2024 and stop watching movies with gun violence at their core. If we all stop watching these dumb movies they will stop making them. Take a stand folks!
“Children in the United States frequently have access to unsecured firearms and frequently consume media containing guns. This experiment shows that children who see movie characters use guns are more likely to use guns themselves.”
“Several researchers have described an increase in violent content in movies, despite a national rating system. For example, studies have found that 91% of movies on television contain violence, including extreme violence.11,36 Although film ratings and advisory labels can help parents decide on movies to avoid, certain labels, such as “parental discretion advised” and the R rating, have been shown to attract children, especially boys.33,35,36 In 2003, 10 million adolescents aged 10 to 14 years, including 1 million 10-year-olds, had been exposed to that year’s most popular R-rated film.11 One study found that between 2012 and 2017, there were twice as many negative themes—most commonly associated with violence—as positive themes depicted in the 25 top-grossing R-rated films.50 Researchers have also noted that the amount of gun violence in top-grossing PG-13 films has more than tripled since the introduction of the rating in 1985.51 In 2012, PG-13 films actually contained more gun violence than R-rated films.52 Further, violence is even present in movies that are not considered to be violent, such as animated films.53”
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters: Navigating Credit, Debt, and Financial Freedom.
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