Batman Theater Massacre Discussion

If you have been watching the news lately you have heard the disturbing news that James E Holmes walked into a movie theater showing of The Dark Knight Rises and gunned down and murdered 12 people and injured 58 people (according to the Huffington Post).

This massacre is an atrocious act against humanity. I thought it would be interesting to discuss a few points around this. My friend and partner in film making Ryan Estabrooks is here to talk about these points with me. We each took a look at the questions and didn't discuss them together but rather separately to give more perspective and less influence on each other.

Why do movies have such power to bring someone to do something like this?

Ryan: I don’t think the movies are the starting point for something like this. The starting point is from within their minds, where something is seriously wrong or completely off. The reason why he dressed up as the Joker at the theater probably had more to do with what the Joker represents (anarchy, chaos) and how that fits with his mind frame, not the other way around. I don’t think movies bring anyone to do anything like this on their own.

Josh: This is a testament to the power of movies. Clearly this is a horrible testament to it. Usually a movie like Battle of Algiers or Schindler's List will motivate people to make humanity better. The underlying power that movies have is clear. Propaganda is hugely motivational in film. It can start a war. Movies can make you cry, feel love, and make you laugh. At the end of the day we all know it's not real but at the same time you allow your mind to make it real depending on how good the movie is of course. The power movies have is a reflection of the human mind. The things you learn in a movie and see in a movie can have more meaning and impact than reading something or being told something or being shown something. Movies are the end all immersion into another world, until we invent The Matrix and cause the destruction of Earth. The line is clear for most humans on Earth that movies aren't real but when you're under stress or depression your views can become distorted and adding drugs to that mixture can clearly cause even worse things to happen.

Is it in our nature to do evil things?

Ryan: No, because ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are merely words people slap on things, of which the meanings differ from person to person. When you think someone does something evil, odds are they have a reason or some elaborate explanation mapped out in their head. This can be caused by chemical imbalances in the brain, some severely twisted logic that has been warped over the course of years, or mental illness. But I don’t believe it is caused by nature.

Josh: Yes it is, but it is usually a simple decision not to do them.

Is there something going on in Colorado that we don't know about?

Ryan: No, this is certainly not the only place to have a recent shooting spree. Just a year ago, Norway had a shooting where a gunman killed 69 people, more than 5 times the amount of people killed in Aurora. Hell, just 3 days before the Aurora shooting there was a shooting in Tuscaloosa, Alabama where 12 people were injured. In 2011, there were 3 shootings that happened in California, Nevada and Arizona, one of which happened at an IHOP. So even though Colorado seems to get more attention now and then, they are far from being the only ones with problems.

Josh: I sure won't be visiting Colorado any time soon. It does make me wonder though. Colorado is getting the headlines, Columbine and now this. Are people more driven to extreme measures there? I would like to know why if so. It would be interesting to see some sort of psychological study done on each of the 50 States and the average living conditions.

Does Batman bring out the best or the worst in people?

Ryan: It’s all relative. I would say generally, those who go to see Batman movies aren’t cheering for Batman’s death. If they were, they probably wouldn’t bother. So in general, I’m sure overall Batman is uplifting for folks.

Josh: Obviously this one instance brought out the worst in James E Holmes. I like to think that the new takes on Batman bring now more than ever the questioning nature of good vs evil and directly applying it to real life such as the Police Force, Criminal Organizations, Politicians, The Haves, The Have Nots, The Army. It generally has you asking questions about the Society we live in and is it good and right? Is Batman good and right? It's clear to me that Batman brings out both the best and worst in people. I can't imagine a prisoner watching Batman and gaining more from life than if he had not watched it.

Will this discourage people from going to movie theaters?

Ryan: A small few. I have already heard from some friends about how this will definitely keep them away from theaters; however, those friends haven’t been to the theaters in a long time and do not regularly attend. It is hard to say what the ultimate impact is of this shooting, especially since it has received so much press coverage. Over the past weekend, I was stopped TWICE at grocery stores where the clerks randomly asked me what I thought about the event. Although there have been shooting at restaurants and beaches before, this one seems to be getting much more attention from the media. I think in the long run, it will not deter that many people from the theater more than what Netflix and VOD has already done.

Josh: This massacre didn't prevent me from going to the movie theater. There was one moment I looked down at the front of the theater and fully expected to see someone come out with a gun, but that's the part of the mind you can't fully shut out from the rest of the mind. 10 seconds went by and I got back into enjoying my movie going experience. I think if this happened again soon then I would reconsider going to my Theater. But I like to think I live my life without fear of something like this, after all what control do you really have of when it's your time to go?

Should he get the death penalty for this?

Ryan:  Does he deserve to die? Probably, but that’s not our judgment to make. I hate what he did and I wish we would have been able to prevent it but I wish death upon no man and do not believe in the death penalty.

Josh: It would seem sometimes something that bad would prevent someone from committing acts of murder. Then there are falsely imprisoned people who have been sentenced to death when they didn't actually deserve it. Because of this it seems to me that a perfect system is not possible and we should indeed not allow the death penalty. As far as whether someone deserves death for murdering another person I just can't fall on the side of being executioner.

The man bought his weapons at a Bass Pro Shops. Should we change this sort of access to guns?

Ryan: It’s a weird thing to think about because, according to reports, he bought guns/supplies at a local shop 4 separate times and had a background check each time, which he of course passed. I do believe that we need better restrictions on gun shows, which are much more lax. The other thing I would want to change is access to supplies on the internet. He was able to purchase full body armor and 100 round magazine clips without anyone blinking an eye (in comparison, Marines typically only use 20 round clips. The ban on assault weapons that was lifted in 2004 during George W. Bush’s tenure could benefit from being put back in place. If it was still enforced, this man would not have been able to purchase his semi-automatic assault rifle, nor would he have been able to purchase 100 round clips. This potentially could have lessened the impact of his shooting. At the very least, people need to go through background checks when obtaining these types of supplies online; even if it would not have helped in this scenario, it may help in the future).

Josh: They do background checks whenever you buy a gun. There is no way that changing the access to the guns could ever predict or find something from your history as to when someone would lead up to something like this.

What do you think his motive was?

Ryan: I think there had to have been some sort of anger or disgust against the general population. Based on his collegiate studies, I also wonder if part of his motive was simply to see the reactions, to see how the people would respond to a catastrophe like this. It is highly unlikely he was targeting any one specific person. I think it could also be his ego wanting fame and notoriety, knowing that this would garner him a lot of attention. All of this could have been mixed up in a totally unbalanced brain.

Josh: Something horrible had to have been going on in his life and he saw that moment as the moment to reach out to the most people and say what he had to say. It's unfortunate that he didn't find an outlet to discuss whatever was going on with him and find the help he needed before making the plan he made and executing it.

Will this incident have an effect on the box office grosse for ‘The Dark Knight Rises’?

Ryan:  Although it will be impossible to tell, I’m sure it will have a minor effect. Although the first weekend grosses were huge and bested that of ‘The Dark Knight’, they were nowhere near what ‘The Avengers’ made, and a lot of people pegged ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ as having more audience interest than that. It may put a damper on things and prevent it from smashing major records but it will still be a high flying success regardless.

Josh: This is a rather dark outlook but I did ask myself how could they ever top the Heath Ledger death from The Dark Knight? I think this massacre helped more than hurt for the box office growth. People thought it was just a stunt at first. Then word got around it was real. I said earlier that if this happens again soon meaning like while The Dark Knight Rises is still in theaters I think that would hit home for everyone across the board and it would wake them up from the headlines and make them realize there is real danger here.

Can any preventative measures stop something like this happening in the future?

Ryan: The previously mentioned ban on assault weapons and high ammunition cartridges would be a step in the right direction. The man was able to wound so many people in such a short amount of time due to this access that would not have been possible prior to 2004. Sure, he had a shotgun and a pistol but with a shotgun, he would have had to constantly reload and with his pistol, he would have needed to be a better shot and would not have been able to fire off so many rounds that quickly. I think stronger restrictions for online purchases are a must and I would like to see background checks on anything related to weapons or high-grade protective gear, even if you’re buying a box of bullets. All in all, you cannot completely prevent these shootings because no one is a murderer until they kill someone. People always seem normal until they snap. The only way to prevent it would be to live a life in fear and never venture into the outside world. That’s simply a risk we take when we walk outside and especially when we climb into our cars, unless we invest in some of those future police people from ‘Minority Report’.

Josh: Adding a guard to the Exits of the Theater is indeed a good idea. But regardless of whatever security measures you add there will always be someone that will find a way around them to do what they're going to do. That's not to say they shouldn't add something like a guard to the Exits. But this is life and bad things are going to happen. We should be addressing the root cause as to why James felt compelled enough to do what he did.

Check out www.ryanestabrooks.com to see more from Ryan and myself too.