Dark Knight Shooting and Bowling For Columbine

As I look back on my very first paper for this class, my analysis of Michael Moore's Bowling For Columbine and his argument that violence in America is highly attributed to violence in the media and the "culture of fear" surrounding Americans, I cannot help but make an unfortunate yet valid connection between Moore's claims and the horrible shooting that occurred in Aurora, Colorado last Friday.  Going to the movies and watching violent acts on the big screen used to be for pure entertainment.  Twenty years ago, a movie like The Dark Knight Rises  would be futuristic and seemingly impossible as innocent lives are taken in seconds and heartless villains seek to destroy the world one inhumane act at a time.  Unfortunately, some of the events that occur in this film are not only plausible but have occurred on a smaller scale in the last ten to fifteen years.  Movies are no longer pure fantasies and perhaps our mere exposure to violence on the big screen can be blamed for that.  The event that took place in that movie theatre is absolutely devastating and unsettling and yet, if we really look at the messages our film industry relays to audiences through violent films like this one, it almost seems as if the media is almost encouraging and rewarding acts of violence by trivializing them.  I mean think about it, evil people must have some sort of inspiration for their irrational acts and what better 'inspiration' as twisted as it may be, than the media? I can only hope that the shooting that took place teaches a lesson to filmmakers and American media to take a more critical look at the messages being relayed to the audience and the consequences of internalizing this violence.  As I said in my previous post, the media is the message and the messenger.  Maybe we should look a little more closely at the messages we are sending.....