This Needs To Be Addressed

Anybody who knows me personally knows I live at the movies.  I receive solace in spending my entire day at the movies, hopping from one film to another, buying hotdogs, sipping from a giant jug of soda, and spending time with the ones I love.  Ever since I was a young boy in Miramar, Florida, my mother would take me to the local Sheridan AMC where we would sit to watch the matinee show and stay well into the midnight screening of the latest release.  It was a family affair that I will never forget and will give the joy of passing that to my children.  However, the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado might change the minds of many people.  If you don’t know, a man, whose name I feel isn’t as important as the names of those deceased, opened fire in a crowded midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises killing twelve in the process.  The shooter referred to himself as The Joker, a well know and popular villain in the Batman mythos.  But many people have become concerned about the movies over the past weekend and rightfully so.  But what exactly does this mean for the director of TDKR, Christopher Nolan and the superhero genre in general?

The reason this story received so much traction is because the solace one feels upon entering a movie theater.  Just like one’s home or church, people dial down on their fears to enjoy a film.  No one ever expects, in a million years, a tragedy to unfold right before his or her eyes.  At least, off of the silver screen.  What this man did was unspeakable, wrong, and scary.  Many people who frequent theaters have now put up shield and have become more vigilant when attending their local Regal or AMC.  The key to overcoming this fear of what may happen at the movies is to go to the movies. 

I live in Florida where civilians are allowed to carry arms as long as they carry a license.  While watching the news, many people who were interviewed declared that this incident would possibly never happen again because of the ‘heat’ they are carrying.  And that is the wrong way to go about this.  Gunplay is always fun in the movies, where you suspend your belief in what is and isn’t possible. By carrying these weapons to a place of common complacency, you disrupt the balance of peace and put everybody, including you in an uncomfortable position.  What needs to be done is not take away gun laws but to educate the public further about the danger of firearms and for theaters to have metal detectors.  Or just tighter security. 

What does this mean for director, Christopher Nolan?  Each film in The Dark Knight Trilogy, some form of controversy has arisen from it.  Most notably the death of Heath Ledger.  Reportedly, he died of an overdose because of attempting to dive deep into the mind of a psychopath.  And now a real-life psychopath decided to shoot up a theater, referring to himself as The Joker.  However, this has nothing to do with Nolan and will not affect his career in anyway. But for the parents who don’t quite understand, may shun their child away from comic books or superhero films in general. 

What this idiot did and wanted to do was to inflict fear into the hearts of millions and he achieved that by shooting a theater and referring to himself as a fictional character. 

Many parents will look at this and shun their children away from comics in the same way they tried to shun their children from video games.   What the news keeps on repeating is that this man is referring to himself as The Joker.  They need to stop; they are becoming the catalyst and escalating the fear even further.  Will this tragedy affect superhero films?  No, I don’t think so.  This is an isolated incident and will not affect the grosses for superhero films in the future. 

What needs to be done is to inform the children of such evil, not evil that stems from comics, games, books, films, and television shows, but to inform children of those people who do evil deeds. 

My heart goes out to all of those who were affected:

Jessica N. Ghawi, 24


Veronica Moser-Sullivan, 6


John T. Larimer, 27


Alexander J. Boik, 18


Jesse E. Childress, 29

Jonathan T. Blunk, 26


Rebecca Ann Wingo, 32


Alex M. Sullivan, 27


Gordon W. Cowdon, 52


Micayla C. Medek, 23


Alexander C. Teves, 24

Matthew R. McQuinn, 27

Their families will be in my thoughts and prayers.  Christopher Nolan couldn’t have said it any better myself:

Speaking on behalf of the cast and crew of The Dark Knight Rises, I would like to express our profound sorrow at the senseless tragedy that has befallen the entire Aurora community.

I would not presume to know anything about the victims of the shooting but that they were there last night to watch a movie. I believe movies are one of the great American art forms and the shared experience of watching a story unfold on screen is an important and joyful pastime.

The movie theatre is my home, and the idea that someone would violate that innocent and hopeful place in such an unbearably savage way is devastating to me.

Nothing any of us can say could ever adequately express our feelings for the innocent victims of this appalling crime, but our thoughts are with them and their families.

This is a tragedy that we can all learn from and to become more alert when attending a place of solace.  So, hug the one you love because this incident has taught me one thing:

I was reminded that we don’t know when or where our time on Earth will end. When or where we will breathe our last breath. 

n   Jessica N Ghawi.