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Memorial for Shooting Victims
In an earlier blog entry, I discuss how I often focus on the phenomenon of “movie as equipment for living.” The basic idea is that movies are not just entertainment that float through our lives for a couple of hours and then disappear. Sometimes movies matter; they become part of our sense of self, and they influence the way we live our lives. Usually when I advance this perspective, my bias is that of a positive psychologist who wants people to live fuller, richer lives. The first examples that come to my mind include: the way people draw strength from the character of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird; or how viewers speculate about the nature of the infinite in response to 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Sometimes, however, people use movies in ways that I may not think are healthy. For example, after watching movie after movie in which marital affairs are played for laughs, a viewer may assume that everyone is doing it and conclude that it is really not that big of a deal.
And then sometimes movies become part of people in ways that are deeply terrifying and disturbing. I am writing this less than three days after James Holmes opened fire in a crowded movie theater during a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises, killing and severely injuring dozens of innocent people. As of this time, the motives for this horrible act have not been released. The explanation for the shooter's behavior will emerge in the months to come and will likely be a complex mixture of individual, familial, cultural, and neurological factors (although, as always in these cases, none of these factors will ever “add up” to satisfactorily explain what is ultimately incomprehensible).
Holmes’s perception of the Batman movies themselves will almost definitely be one of those factors. I want to make it clear I do not believe the movie makers behind The Dark Knight Rises are responsible for Holmes’ deranged behavior. I am a fan of director Christopher Nolan’s series, and I think the films have a lot to say about the fine line between heroism and repressed anger. Obviously, many millions of people have seen these films without resorting to senseless violence.
At the same time, it is naïve to suggest that there is no connection between the films and the real life events in Aurora. Even if it turns out that Holmes did not have a pathological identification with the Joker (as some of the early new reports suggested), he has (like most Americans) almost definitely watched the scenes of mayhem, murder and destruction that are so spectacularly portrayed in the films. These images are etched in the public consciousness. At the very least, we have to admit that this is not inherently a good thing. In one distorted way or another, these images must have been present in Holmes’s mind when he planned and executed his own mayhem, murder and destruction.
Like the Columbine shootings, this tragedy will become another part of the ongoing debate about a host of social and legal issues—gun control, psychiatric illness, the nature of evil, terrorism, and the regulation of media and entertainment. I won’t presume to answer these complicated questions here. (Although, for the record, I am opposed to governmental restrictions on access to art and entertainment for adults, but I support limitations, particularly when imposed by parents, on the consumption of media by children.)
I do want to reiterate that movies do matter however. They are not merely neutral reflections of the world as it is. They have their own reality and that reality sometimes alters the way we live, for better and worse. Given that observation, I would like to encourage a moment of reflection on the movie images that are bouncing around in each of our own heads.
Do these images help us live better, more virtuous lives? Or do they leave us hopeless, unsatisfied and agitated?
Furthermore, how should our answers to these questions impact the choices we make about the movies we choose to watch in the future?
(Skip Dine Young's Psychology at the Movies is available at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0470971770)
