I know that thousands of people are writing/blogging about the recent Colorado shooting, and here is my two cents.
For God's sake - OPEN YOUR EYES!!! If people in the theater thought that a masked, armored, and armed gun man kicking open a door and throwing tear gas into a public theater before he opened fire was a stunt, our society is in a whole lot more trouble than we realize. I recognize that if I was in that theater, I would have likely thought the same thing - "Oh the theater is pulling a stunt." But how do I convey that I feel nauseous when I saw Dark Knight, and I wanted to run to the closest well lit place and scream? Scream out my frustration with Hollywood, with society and their apathy, and my horror at what was being portrayed as entertainment. Had I been in a theater that actually did a stunt like that (and let's be reasonable, it's not a far flung idea.... no one is yelling 'fire!'....................) I would have left. Invoking terror is not entertainment. It's terrorism. And yet, we still pay $15+ to go see it at midnight because "it's not really real." Well, it wasn't until Thursday night in Aurora, Colorado.
Here is where I make my stand. Violence, cruelty (especially human to human cruelty as depicted in the most recent batman movies), and over sexualization of people are unacceptable. I have walked out of movies without embarrassment because I felt they were violent. As a society, the fact that these movies are 'okay' and are sold out for midnight showings is disgusting. Yes, the effects are cool, the cinematography is awesome, the costumes intricate, and the acting well done. But the fact that big screen horror and reality merged in such a gruesome way on the opening night is a telltale sign that society is reaping the effects of apathetically sitting by and accepting this crap as entertainment.
I have posted the following conversation which I had on Facebook about the topic. If you're going to read it, please read it through to the end, as I feel by the end I make myself fairly clear. I have since deleted it from FB - fyi.
To end on a personal note: My heart goes out to ANY family who has lost someone. When I was seventeen my sister died unexpectedly. Regardless of how someone dies, it always hurts. Each story is tragic and heart wrenching. Also, for most of 2011 I lived about ten minutes away from this theater and visited it often. I have a dear friend who was in one of the adjacent theaters that night, and woke her up via texting to see if she and our other friends were okay. Thankfully, they were.
"My sympathy goes out to everyone - my tolerance for violence does not."
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