|
|
|
|
Ok, first off, I'd like to apologise. I don't mean to make anyone feel bad or scared or offend anyone or anything. So if I will, I'm sorry.
Also, if you haven't seen the film, you should. And if you're going to, maybe you shouldn't read this, because I'm propably going to give away most of the plot. Or, if you want to read a summary of the plot, go here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0288439/ and follow the link under plot summary.
I just finished watching Bang Bang You're Dead on DVD. I bought it earlier today, because Randy Harrison is in it and I wanted to see it for that reason. I didn't really have any idea what the film was about.
So what's the movie about? A school shooting. Kinda like Elephant by Gus Van Sant, but I liked this one more. Unlike Elephant, this one got me thinking.
As I understand, atleast one school shooting (= a bunch of students bring guns to school and start killing people) has happened in the US. And there's movies made out of it, Elephant, Bang Bang You're Dead and isn't Bowling for Columbine about it too? What I want to ask is, what for? For Money? Of course, 95% of things in this world happen for money, or so it atleast seems pretty often. Or to make a point? I'd like to think that's atleast a part of the reason these movies have been made, but I don't know if it is. But let's assume the movies are made to make a point. To prevent it from ever happening again.
Does it work? Well... yes and no. I mean, sure, the film got me thinking, so I feel it's natural to assume it gets other people thinking too. But does it really change anything? I hope so, but... I'm not holding my breath on that one. Think about it. Have you seen a film like these, heard the news? What did you do about it? Feel compassion for the kids who actually have to go through something like that? Well, good for you, kinda squat for the kids. Think "But it's just a movie" or "But I live in Finland (or what ever country you live in), it's not like that here, that could never happen here"? Not so good for you, and again, kinda squat for the kids.
Maybe it couldn't happen like that where you live. Maybe guns are a lot harder to come by than they seem to be in other countries. But here, in Finland, where that could never happen - not just because of guns being harder to come by, but because "Finnish schools aren't like that" - here there was a news article about kids... around 11 years old, so let's say 10-13 year-olds. During recess, a bunch of them had pinned down on the ground a kid their age, and tried to push a ballpoint pen into his eye. Atleast blindness, maybe even worse; as I understand it, there's not much bone between an eye and the brains. Good thing someone intervened. So Finland is like that, after all, I guess. Maybe not exactly, but doesn't sound all that much better. I know I'd rather be dumped in a trash can than get a pen in my eye.
Now, what does actually get done about it? I'm not talking about putting the shooters in jail or anything like that. In fact, I'm not even talking about the school where it happened. I'm talking about the school in the neighbouring city, in the next county (or equivalent there of), on the other side of the country. What gets done there?
Also, I'm talking about you. What do you do after seeing the movie, hearing the news? Think about it for a moment and then move on with your life? Maybe. That's what I'm going to do, most likely. I've got my own problems to worry about. I need to find a boyfriend, and pass some exams. After that, it's work for the summer and then more classes in the autumn. Prolly more looking for a boyfriend too. So, as you can clearly see, I don't have time for someone else's shit. I've got my own problems to worry about. But for some reason, they don't feel all that big anymore. But I'm sure the feeling will pass, after all, it was just a movie... And even if it wasn't, that could never happen here, Finland's not like that.
That which is dreamed can never be lost, can never be undreamed.
-Master Li in Neil Gaiman's Sandman
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
timmy
|
 |
Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
|
|
|
I may be missing the point, maybe I am on it.
Sometimes we get desperate. If enough people provoke us, either for real or in our imahgnation we lash out, we hit. If we have a knife we stab or slash. A gun is less persoanl. Death is not up close. So we point our agression and shoot.
A school is a hothouse of issues. People cannot avoid their colleagues; bullies bully; the bullied hurt. And so we loop back to my second paragraph.
Does it make me think, that type of film? No. I see only box office dollars. Yet "Pay it Forward" made me think because it, too had meaningless violence, but it was personal. And that was for money, too, like almost all such things.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
smith
|
 |
On fire! |
Registered: January 1970
Messages: 1095
|
|
|
Bang Bang is a pretty good example of the bullying that goes on in high schools now. It always makes me think of a sick version of "culling a herd". You know, where the strong and powerful cut out the weaker ones. In the case of kids in school, the weaker ones: shy, artistic, minority, gay, smart...in any way different from the norm...are subject to ridicule and physical abuse.
Usually, the big conflicts occur out of the actual building.....in the parking lot, at the local hangouts. Smaller ones in the hallways, the restrooms, the lunchroom where the caste system was the most obvious.Most kids hang tough and ride it out till they can escape to college and life but a few take it to the building, to the students and teachers. Everyone becomes the enemy. At Columbine in real life or in 'Bang Bang' in a film, the kids who finally lost it had been tormented from elementary school on up.
Do we react to films like this? This is sad to say but I kinda think we watch and just thank God we're out of high school. I never got my head crammed in a toilet but the jocks totally came down on the sk8rs and there were fights on and off the school grounds.
Adults have no idea what kids are thinking. It's sad that a kid spends so much time alone in his room, music blaring and parents can't/don't/are scared to know what's going on his head.
Can anything be done about school violence? Well, metal detectors don't work. Suspending kids doesn't work......just more time on the street. I have no answer. I wish I did. Do the films bother me? Yeah, cause I was just there and I saw it everyday.
((hugs))
smith
|
|
|
|
|
Goto Forum:
|
] 
A Place of Safety
Search
Help
Register
Login
Home
Bang Bang... You're Dead 
