HARVEY WEINSTEIN HYPOCRITICALLY CALLS FOR INDUSTRY SUMMIT CONCERNING HOW ON-SCREEN VIOLENCE CAUSES REAL LIFE VIOLENCE
“Weinstein, behind some of the bloodiest films ever made, says Hollywood should discuss its role after ‘Dark Knight’ massacre in Colorado,” reports the NY DAILY NEWS.
‘Harvey Weinstein — the legendary movie mogul behind some of the most violent films ever made — says Hollywood should look in the mirror in the wake of the “Dark Knight” massacre. Weinstein is calling for an unprecedented summit of the industry’s top filmmakers to address how on-screen violence might be leading to real-life bloodshed. “I think as filmmakers we should sit down — the Marty Scorseses, the Quentin Tarantinos and hopefully all of us who deal in violence in movies — and discuss our role in that,” Weinstein told the Huffington Post. Weinstein insisted that the Hollywood elite can’t “shirk our responsibility” for potentially inspiring the rampage in Aurora, Colo., that killed 12 people and wounded 58 others.’
This is an obvious political/PR move if I’ve ever seen one. Harvey and his brother have made their fortunes on violent films. Their very first production, in fact, was the fantastic 80′s slasher THE BURNING. It’s Tipper Gore and Joe Lieberman all over again. Some of the other genre films the Weinsteins have made a lot of money on that were incredibly violent, gory flicks were:
HARDWARE, DUST DEVIL, THE CROW: CITY OF ANGELS, SCREAM, NIGHTWATCH (the Ewan McGregor one), MIMIC, SCREAM 2, THE PROPHECY 2, PHANTOMS, HALLOWEEN H2O: 20 YEARS LATER, THE FACULTY, THE CROW: SALVATION, SCREAM 3, PROPHECY 3: THE ASCENT, DRACULA 2000, MIMIC 2, Project Greenlight which produced FEAST, HALLOWEEN RESURRECTION, DARKNESS, CURSED, DRACULA 3: LEGACY, THE PROPHECY: FORSAKEN, VENOM, PULSE, GRINDHOUSE, HALLOWEEN (remake), ROGUE, THE MIST, HELL RIDE, FEAST 2: SLOPPY SECONDS, PULSE 2: AFTERLIFE, PULSE 3, FEAST 3: THE HAPPY FINISH, HALLOWEEN 2 (remake), PIRANHA 3D, SCREAM 4, APOLLO 18, and PIRANHA 3DD.
This list doesn’t even include all of the gory action/thriller films he’s been a part of, making buttloads of cash in doing so. So for him to do something like this is hypocrisy at its finest. The Weinsteins have their hands and money soaked in fake blood and gore. This is just ridiculous. Additionally, every on-the-level study done on violence in films vs. real life violence has shown that there is no connection whatsoever. There are things out there that do desensitize people to violence and slaughter: Slaughter House employees, for example, become incredibly desensitized and detached. The incident in Aurora Colorado was a hideous, tragic event, but it had nothing to do with the violence in the Batman films (which are rate PG-13 for cryin’ out loud!). It had everything to do with a crazy person doing a crazy, horrible thing. The MPAA already comes down hard enough on artists and their ability to create their films how they wish, and now we have a major Hollywood player who has made his fortune on violence suddenly wanting to bring everyone in the industry together to say “hey, maybe we shouldn’t make violent films), this WHILE he’s producing DJANGO UNCHAINED, a film I’m sure will be full of roses and butterflies. What a load of shit.
