Pulp is no Fiction

Of all the discreet, respectful observance in Hollywood of the horror of the Sandy Hook school massacre, the figure who has been the least unreserved has once again been Quentin Tarantino. It's no coincidence that for generations the rise of American cinema has been synchronous with that of its increasing obsession with guns. (The very first Hollywood films were Westerns because of the proliferation of cowboys and gunfighters from the Wild West.)

Up till now, the most infamous case of film violence inspiring real life violence was that of John Hinckley, who actually went out of his way to build a personal arsenal and attempted to assassinate an influential politician (President Ronald Reagan) just like Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, out of their mutual obsession for Jodie Foster.

The argument that movies are movies and real life is real life is starting to wear a little thin, particularly in the case also of the horrific massacre earlier this year at a Colorado cinema (before the opening screening of The Dark Knight Rises - see below). This was not just someone influenced by the romance of violence in films, but by a particular film.

Filmmakers have a responsibility, not only to the past (where history is often rewritten to suit American tastes), but also to the present, to show this society in, if not a whitewashingly positive light, then certainly not such a dark, negative one.

Is publicity like this supposed to entertain, or to give bad people bad ideas?