Peter Bogs Down A Bit

A lot of people have been writing think pieces about the massacre in Aurora, and now, notably, director Peter Bogdanovich adds his voice.  He might seem a fitting person to discuss the issue as his first feature was the cult classic Targets, generally based on the Charles Whitman story, about a sniper who ends up shooting people at a drive-in.

Unfortunately, Bogdanovich has the same sort of response that so many (understandably) have had, one which ignores the facts.  He starts his piece with this:

People go to a movie to have a good time, and they get killed. It's a horrible, horrible event. It makes me sick that I made a movie about it.

(I shouldn't be flippant about a tragedy, but the easy response is he shouldn't be sick about making Targets, he should be sick about making Nickelodeon.)

He goes on:

Violence on the screen has increased tenfold. It's almost pornographic. In fact, it is pornographic. Video games are violent, too. It's all out of control. I can see where it would drive somebody crazy. [....] The fact that these tentpole movies are all violent comic book movies doesn't speak well for our society.

Really?  He thinks that's what did it with this guy, even though tens of millions live in the same environment and don't go crazy?  Crazy people have been around forever, and have been set off by all sorts of things.

As I wrote a few days ago, any such discussion should include the actual stats about crime in America.  In the last twenty years, as graphic, violent video games have become more popular, and gangster rap has been huge, and we've had a steady diet of violence in movies and TV, crime has been dropping significantly in America.

In fact, the general trend with violent crime is there was a steady increase (with a few ups and downs) starting in the mid-60s and peaking in the early 90s.  Then, for the past twenty years, rates have been regularly going down.  Homicide in particular cratered, with 2010 rates the lowest America has seen since 1961.

Why this is happening I can't say.  There are a number of sociological arguments (more and better policing, harsher punishments, more awareness, better gun laws, changes in demographics, changes in where people live, potential violent criminals being aborted, people tiring of the violence, etc) though I don't know if anyone has satisfactorily explained the decline.  Much easier to explain is people believing there's no decline until they check (if they ever do)--that's just how people are.

I can't blame Peter Bogdanovich for wringing his hands.  He saw horrible personal tragedy when his girlfriend, actress and Playmate of the Year Dorothy Stratten, was murdered by her estranged husband.  Still, we shouldn't set public policy based on emotion, especially when it leads us astray.  Sometimes we're looking for an explanation when all you can say is no matter how much you plan tragedies will still happen--we should at least be pleased they're happening less and less.