Violent: To Be or Not To Be

By John Daly

Any sane and responsible parent must want their kids to grow up with a set of values that will guide them in the future to a happy and prosperous life. The Hollywood community is no exception. All of us throughout the world should want only the best for our children, so why does the powerful Hollywood community continue to make violent movies? I presume not for educational purposes nor for a better world, but only for a profit.

We all know that we live in a tough, violent world, so surely the film industry can do something other than just add to it by making violent films, hoping for a "profit." And what is the profit for? I presume to keep making more of the same? Every new film released each weekend seems to be a formula for explosions, exploitation and violence. Producers seem to be like hamsters on a treadmill. And if it's just a quest for profits, why do companies bother to be in the film industry? There are surely better opportunities for them to make money elsewhere. The manufacturing of military weapons would seem a perfect match for most of them, or the inventions of torture equipment. I understand that these industries also have festivals to display their products. Perhaps they even give awards.

Now, admittedly, the film industry has always had an element of exploitation in it. But today, exploitation has become much more than an element - it's taken over. The so-called "star" producers today are valued not for the quality of their work but for their ability to assemble violent films with a vastly overpaid cast. The occasional miraculously non-violent film does sometimes break out and succeed at the box office, but there aren't enough of them from quality producers/directors to create a loyal following or change the stream of violent product that is polluting the industry.

Obviously, one needs to make a profit to stay in business. But we seem to be convinced that if good quality films are made, audiences won't turn up. Perhaps because movies are so very expensive there is a greater need to try and make sure of a profit. But we do not need to spend $150 million per film to tell a good story. And there are great stories out there to be told - all kinds of films that could help educate young people rather than titillate or corrupt them with "expensive" thrills of murder and mayhem.

There have always been popcorn movies. But the popcorn movie used to be Doris Day singing her heart out. Now we've got popcorn movies in which an action star is killing 100 people or more. Life has become very cheap in Hollywood films. In the old days, you could be entertained and held to the screen if there was just one murder driving the plot; now it seems there must be a minimum of 100 murders per film, with people dancing up and down doing balletic kicks, with swordplay and guns blazing, killing people by the hundreds. There's no thought about who's being killed. Who cares? Mass murder has become the staple diet and message we're feeding our children, all in the hope of making a "profit."

There is an exception: Once a year, there is a scramble to find something of "quality," something completely contrary to what's been made all year, that can then be presented in the annual Oscar race in the hope of getting some kind of Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. The Oscars represent, for one night, the way our industry would like to show its "face." The way the industry would like to imagine itself, the way the industry would like to be thought of - and then, after the Oscars, it's straight back to "violence & mayhem."

Am I a hypocrite? Yes, because there has been violence in some of my films. I helped produce The Terminator, after all. But if you spoke to James Cameron, to this day he would swear it was a futuristic love story. He always wanted to make a love story. He finally got his wish with Titanic.

Also, Salvador and Platoon were violent, but it was not manufactured or contrived violence. They were based on real situations. And those films were "responsible" and anti-violence in their message.

So, what is the answer? I don't know - but I do care!

All I can hope is that the industry will make more responsible films that can become pathfinders for young people. Let's encourage the search for more unique stories that have traditional values - values that I think every parent, whether they're in show business or not, would want for their children. Values, indeed, that we should all want in a sane, responsible world. Death is sad. Violence is ugly. In today's world, there is too much of both.

Of course, I have no right to preach - especially to the people who make these films. But I think that there are a lot of potential moviegoers out there who do stay away from these violent movies. Yes, we know these movies do well in the "foreign markets," but I wouldn't want to rely on "foreigners" to guide our children's future in this turbulent century.