Bill Maher Turns His ‘Real Time’ Guns On Hollywood’s Action Movies As A Root Cause Of Violence
11.06.2022 - 07:37
/ deadline.com
In the wake of mass shootings in Buffalo and Texas, many people are crying out for someone to “do something.” Yet some of the loudest voices in that chorus are among the biggest hypocrites when it comes to creating an atmosphere that promulgates violence among the feeble minded.
Bill Maher gave Hollywood a shot across the bow in his Friday Real Time on HBO, calling on the entertainment industry to look at its own culture of violence as a stimulant that creates justification for violent actions in some minds.
Maher noted how the average American kid sees an estimated 200,000 acts of violence before age 18. “Hollywood is the wokest place on earth,” Maher said, pointing out the good done under those principles. “But when it comes to romanticizing gun violence, crickets.”
Hollywood loves extolling vengeance, as noted by the dozens of films with that word in the title. “Because no impressionable young male would ever imitate that,” Maher said, sarcastically.
He pointed out that on a pie chart detailing the causes of mass shootings – issues such as mental health, easy access to guns, social media creating envy and anger – there’s also a consideration of “crazy amounts of gun violence in movies and TV. You’re telling me these cool dudes don’t influence them?”
Guns are presented “over and over again” as the best soution to life’s problems. “They call them action movies,” said Maher. “They should call them revenge movies.”
“Getting revenge on them that wronged ya” is the theme of most action movies, which are “made for and loved by young men.” The trope of a nice guy who is pushed too far just doesn’t create a culture of violence, Maher contended. It creates “a culture of justified violence, Maher said.
Hollywood largely condemed the