With the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), Hollywood's largest union, representing 160,000 film and television actors, joining the ongoing Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, perhaps it's a good time to trot out another of my unpedigreed theories. These are thoughts I have that are neither bolstered by expert opinion nor checkable by fact-checkers nor taught in schools nor defended by polling. Here goes: it is my opinion that the greatest, the best, the most meaningful, the most insightful, and the most accurate piece of criticism of television and movies ever created or expressed is this short segment of the TV show "The Office":
I am waaaay, way past being sick to death of the eternal shoot-'em-up. Sure, when it's called for. Sure, now and then. Sure, when it's appropriate. But wall-to-wall, 24-7, never-ending mayhem and gore for all ages and in every situation? We're like gun-aholics. Maybe somebody involved in the strike could negotiate for the improv class teacher's dictum to Michael: "No more guns." Just for a while. Steve Carell's Michael Scott in this scene is Hollywood in a nutshell. Even if you love violence for some reason, you've got to admit it's true.
While we're at it, could we put the same moratorium on video games? I'm just sayin'.
Mike
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During my time as a classroom teacher, I experienced a deeply unsettling incident. The mere thought of what could have unfolded had the guy been armed sends chills down my spine.
It is depressing to recognize the current culture we are immersed in, where violence seeps into numerous facets of our lives, including music, language, and the constant barrage of news coverage.
The right to freedom, the challenges posed by mental illness, and the relentless pursuit of greed often intersect with the presence of firearms. God help us all.
Posted by: darlene | Friday, 14 July 2023 at 04:14 PM
Oh man, ain't that the truth.
Posted by: Robert Roaldi | Friday, 14 July 2023 at 05:37 PM
I was recently reminded that in the first Mission: Impossible movie, there was very little shooting, and the protagonist himself never fires a bullet, which I think is unusual and commendable for the testosterone-action genre.
However, to direct the sequel, Cruise picked John Woo, best known at the time for action scenes involving comically large amounts of bullets and elaborately choreographed handgun duels.
Posted by: robert e | Friday, 14 July 2023 at 05:59 PM
439 "Kills" in the four John Wick movies, mostly with guns, but a few with swords, etc.
Posted by: John Camp | Friday, 14 July 2023 at 07:37 PM
What you watch is your choice. No-one is holding a gun to your head 😉
Posted by: c.d.embrey | Friday, 14 July 2023 at 10:46 PM
The American version of The Office unintentionally taught us that making way too many seasons isn’t funny.
Posted by: Sean | Saturday, 15 July 2023 at 09:26 AM
Ain't gonna happen.
Society, and the government, won't let it.
When I was a kid watching Saturday morning shows, Roy Rogers & Gene Autry & the Lone Ranger shot the bad guys, but we knew it was all fake, we were absolutely sure it wasn't real because there was never any blood.
Viewers today demand realism.
The "blockbusters" that come out of Hollywood are violent action flicks, many based on comic books (that aren't comic). Television is full of crime shows, and the shows that began decades ago as 'investigative reporting' shows now only highlight profiles of murders.
In the entertainment industry death is a magnet.
Our government, the world's largest arms dealer, wants to take away our guns, but refuses to sign treaties banning land mines and cluster munitions. We have msm convincing us we should support and cheer for the Ukranian good guys, while not explaining the truth about how this war actually began in 2014, or about the 15,000 Ukranians killed in Donbas by their goverment.
I remember breaking up with a girlfriend during Desert Storm, an action I protested, because she sat there watching news of the attacks and cheered as if she were watching a sporting event.
The age we are living in is violent. And who is protesting this violence?
Ain't gonna happen.
Posted by: Porter J. Abner | Saturday, 15 July 2023 at 01:06 PM
I agree about shoot-‘em-up. American TV and movies is very in your face with that. I began following European shows and they have a much lighter hand with murders, mysteries, detective stories, etc.
Posted by: Ross A | Saturday, 15 July 2023 at 06:44 PM
Unlike most of you I actually have worked in Hollywood. Knight Rider, a fantasy, was the only show that had any guns. Mostly I worked on music shows like Rock Concert and the Beach Boys at the Queen Mary special.
Creators create what the public wants. Stop wanting guns and violence and it will go away. Simple as that.
Posted by: c.d.embrey | Sunday, 16 July 2023 at 02:46 AM
To most of the rest of the world, America is one big daily shoot-em-up special; it appears to have a literally insane obsession for one big gun-filled free-for-all. Mass shootings in schools, malls, churches, etc. don't cause Americans to even lift a finger to deal with the problem; in fact their "solution" seems to be more guns.
Hint: The problem isn't video games or movies. The rest of the world has these as well.
Posted by: TC | Sunday, 16 July 2023 at 03:54 AM
As an Australian watching a mix of local, English, U.S. and world TV, I have to agree. The natural inclusion of gun-toting law enforcement agents is the "flavour" of American TV for us. The Brits have lots of cop shows, but guns rarely make an appearance. Unfortunately much of the news we watch here from the States is gun violence, which we find quite alien. A single gun killing in the whole country here makes headline news, where it rarely does there. more guns are not the answer to guns, unless you have a country so saturated in them, that maybe they are now.
Posted by: Rod | Tuesday, 18 July 2023 at 01:43 AM