“The day after Columbine, I was interviewed for the Tom Brokaw news program. The reporter had been assigned a theory and was seeking sound bites to support it. “Wouldn’t you say,” she asked, “that killings like this are influenced by violent movies?” No, I said, I wouldn’t say that. “But what about Basketball Diaries?” she asked. “Doesn’t that have a scene of a boy walking into a school with a machine gun?” The obscure 1995 Leonardo Di Caprio movie did indeed have a brief fantasy scene of that nature, I said, but the movie failed at the box office (it grossed only $2.5 million), and it’s unlikely the Columbine killers saw it.
The reporter looked disappointed, so I offered her my theory. “Events like this,” I said, “if they are influenced by anything, are influenced by news programs like your own. When an unbalanced kid walks into a school and starts shooting, it becomes a major media event. Cable news drops ordinary programming and goes around the clock with it. The story is assigned a logo and a theme song; these two kids were packaged as the Trench Coat Mafia. The message is clear to other disturbed kids around the country: If I shoot up my school, I can be famous. The TV will talk about nothing else but me. Experts will try to figure out what I was thinking. The kids and teachers at school will see they shouldn’t have messed with me. I’ll go out in a blaze of glory.”
In short, I said, events like Columbine are influenced far less by violent movies than by CNN, the NBC Nightly News and all the other news media, who glorify the killers in the guise of “explaining” them. I commended the policy at the Sun-Times, where our editor said the paper would no longer feature school killings on Page 1. The reporter thanked me and turned off the camera. Of course the interview was never used. They found plenty of talking heads to condemn violent movies, and everybody was happy.”
Nah lo, nah lo.
*Bagi yang belum nonton, Elephant adalah film fiksi yang terinspirasi oleh penembakan Columbine.
5 comments:
Satujuuu, pikiran gw pas pertama x denger kabar tragedi Colorado adalah 'yah jgn disiarin di sini deh tar ada yg niru amit2 deh'
Sama jg ky pergaulan abegong masa kini yg gw blg bkn dari sinetron tapi dari infotainment ya g sih
I went, "who is this Sindy she speaks abou— OH."
Elephant salah satu film favorit gue, karna scene-nya susah oy bikinnya hahahaha..
Pas nonton waktu jaman masih jadi anak kencur di kampus, gue gk tau kalo Amrik tuh seserem itu.
Org gila basically dimana-mana ada, tp such a pity kalo Amrik yg udh tau bahwa banyak citizen-nya saikopat gitu gk merevisi UU ttg pembelian senjata.s
Mirip sama komen suami gw begitu denger kabar ini 'kita di sini kl masuk mall diperiksanya kaya apaan tau gara2 Amerika tapi disana senjata bebas2 aja dibeli&dibawa2'
Lincrut: Liiin, dirimu sampe komen dua kali? Kikikik... Tapi emang, izin senjata api di Amerika menurut gue konyol. Dan permainan media yang heboh bener-bener glorify all these things huhuhu...
Amy: Bangeeet. Mata gue terbuka pas nonton Bowling for Colombine huhuhu
Sindi: LOL!
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