Some people are in a frenzy about going to see Joker when it hits the theaters in a couple of days, but others are simply shaking their heads and not about to bother. Either way, the movie is stirring controversy since at this point there is the reality that some places, such as NYC, will be stationing a police presence outside theaters when the movie opens, and even during screenings. You read that right, there will be an ARMED police officer, or two or three, protecting theaters in New York City, and possible in other cities, when this movie comes out. One would think that the violence in the movie is enough to inspire utter madness in the crowd much as happened in an episode of Gotham when the Joker’s madness began to spread. But in a big way it would seem that the paranoia is being whipped up by those that seem to think that violence on the screen has something to do with violence in real life, as Michael Kennedy of ScreenRant alludes to. It’s kind of laughable really since attributing the rise in violence throughout the nation to violent movies is a connection that has yet to be fully made, but has been brought up on multiple occasions. More than once it’s been stated and found that violence doesn’t need a model to exist. Human nature is enough to commit acts of violence that disrupts a society, there’s no assistance needed from a movie that might be seen as a bit fringe but at the same time isn’t about to send out overt messages that the audience should get up and start shooting up the place.
Of course one big reason why this is happening has to do with what happened in Aurora, Colorado when The Dark Knight came out. Another big factor is the fact that mass shootings have become something of an epidemic in recent years and people aren’t taking as many chances as they used to. No one is banking on human decency these days and it’s pretty obvious why when you see something like this happening. Some people are already worrying about what might happen in the theaters since the public has been whipped into a frenzy when it comes to the paranoia that’s been allowed to spiral out of control when gun violence is concerned. The funny thing, ironically, is that the Joker is a character that is all about violence, and as a result that seems to be the concern here. But amazingly enough, no one thought about this during the release of The Dark Knight, at least not initially. Plus, no one thought about this during the Tim Burton version when Jack Nicholson revolutionized the character yet again. Fortunately back then no one had to think of it since people hadn’t started going this insane quite yet. Something has definitely shifted in the country if we’re worried about getting shot wherever we go, especially when it comes to a movie theater.
Ever hear the old-timers talk about how they knew the difference between TV violence and reality? It was true for the most part, as a lot of us growing up can attest to the fact that we might have seen violence and other types of adult material here and there in cartoons, in TV shows, in movies, and yet we didn’t feel the need to emulate what we saw. Some might say this is because we had parents that told us the difference between reality and make-believe, or at the very least made us pay the consequences when we decided to try some of the things we saw. It’s not that way any longer, or at least good sense isn’t as prevalent as it used to be in some cases. For whatever reason bullying is affecting people in a more profound way than it ever has, people are thinking that guns are the solution to their problem, and as a result gun violence has become a serious problem. Unfortunately what’s happening is that violent movies and shows are being blamed for this since they happen to show the type of violence that happens to be going on in the world at this point.
Colleen Shalby of the Los Angeles Times has also stated that the LAPD will be maintaining high visibility during the release. Joker is just one in a long line of violent movies that could have caused the escalating violence that’s been a problem in this nation for a long time now. From the moment when movies became a big deal in the theater to this point there have been plenty of movies that have shown and even seemed to glorify violence, and few of them have ever been ripped apart for ‘causing violent acts and inspiring gun violence’. The fact is however that we’re going to see armed police at the movies for this movie at least, but hopefully it won’t be a growing trend.
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