There was a widely read book in the 1950s called “Seduction of the Innocent,” which argued that the lewd violence of comic books was turning America’s youth into juvenile delinquents. The connection between comics and behavior was never proven, but the argument goes on. The recent Aurora shooting, explicitly tied to the Batman comic book spin-off “The Dark Knight Rises,” inevitably prompts questions about the link between big-screen mass violence and acts of mayhem by crazed individuals. The Colorado shooting suspect, who made himself up as “the Joker,” inserted himself into a fantasy world that was conjured as light escapism — forcing us to measure the true weight of such entertainment.
Apocalyptic fantasies have been a staple of creative expression at least since the Book of Revelation, which, in the West, defines much of the language of the genre: salvation through destruction, cities under attack, angels versus devils, the end of history, and so on. “The Dark Knight Rises,” with a plot hanging on the detonation of a nuclear bomb, efficiently follows the ancient form, with a 21st Century resonance. We bring our real-life anxieties into darkened theaters, so why shouldn’t movies pluck dissonant chords tied, consciously or not, to nuclear dread or 9/11? Perhaps bringing such doomsday anxieties into movie houses is a way of not unleashing them on the world.
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It's not the movies, or the video games. All over the world, people feel they are justified in killing. The most dangerous idea is one that people know is absolutely right, in other words, they feel they are in possession of the ultimate truth. This idea is fostered by many organized religions, including christian. Couple this with easy access to weapons, loosening of moral inhibition, inflammatory media personalities and other forms of rhetoric and we see the outcome. Even our politics are infected with this scorched earth philosophy. People who are only now emerging from medieval sensibilities and coming into contact with more modern societies are particularly vulnerable and feel justified using violence. One message should be pronounced universally, "No-one human is in possession of absolute truth."
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Is that a drone overhead?
I believe there is some truth behind this theory. I remember going to see one of the airport movies during the 70's and at 17 or so was so impressionable that I wanted to be a pilot in the worst way. I even started taking flying lessons but later found out I would need hundreds of hours of expensive flying time. When we mature we know more who we are. But for those kids from poorly structured homes or whatever, seeing is believing. Lastly with today's special effects the violence seems so real and so sexy without showing the pain and suffering that goes with it.
SystemWorked, Please see Pvalen's post.
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