The Hollywood Myth of the "good guy with a gun"

[zebonaut]

Where does it come from?

[tularetom]

1. Now that was entertaining!

Matt Dillon shooting it out with the bad guys among the Joshua trees in the Upper Sonoran Desert region of Dodge City.

[ret5hd]

2. And don't forget...

Wagon sideboards are just as effective at deflecting bullets as massive boulders.

And pistols are just as accurate as rifles (if not more so).

[-none]

4. Reality TV.

Yeah, that's what it is.

For what it's worth, I used to live in Dodge City. I don't remember any desert. I do remember the smell of money from the East side though.

[Mendocino]

5. Gee Marshall

I guess we're not in Kansas anymore.

[KansDem]

6. Don't forget the mountains...

Lots of mountains around Dodge City, Kansas.

[DAngelo136]

3. So what's the difference between

this portrayal as well as the Hollywood portrayal of gangster shootouts and the real thing that occurs in cities all over this country? The difference is that there are young Black kids doing the shooting.

I find it funny that, conservatives can talk about "Black on Black Crime" but conveniently skirt around the underlying issue of gun violence that pervades American society as well as the Black community. After all, the Black community is NOT separate and distinct from the rest of American society but merely a subset of it.

Have you noticed that the NRA almost never does go into Black neighborhoods and other communities of color for membership drives? But yet, will talk about how "pervasive" crime is in the Black community. As suggested by FBI statistics, the vast majority of of victims of homicide occur between people who are familiar with one another. So if we can talk about "Black on Black Crime" which is a nefarious in and of itself, why can't we talk about "white on white crime" as well?

[KansDem]

7. Ah, and then there's this classic!

[zebonaut]

8. Always notice the color of the Villain.

[DAngelo136]

9. What I find funny about this is that

the "coward" in this instance, played by then unknown, Charles Bronson, would go on to play urban vigilante "Paul Kersey" in the "Death Wish" franchise. A franchise that forever implanted in the minds of Americans the image of the urban jungle called New York City.
Having grown up in the South Bronx myself, I was always asked by my college roommates who came from other states whether "it was really that bad in NYC?" In actuality, it was no worse than most other cities during the late 60's through the mid 80's. Now, while it's relatively "crime free", New York City is not quite as interesting. That's gentrification for you, I guess.

We have to reexamine our cultural love affair with firearms and the garbage that gets thrown at us about it. Historically, very few people ever owned firearms, especially in the cities where they were effectively banned. As a matter of fact, it was the NRA,itself that supported the Mulford Act (a.k.a. 'The Panther Bill) that prevented open carry in California. And guess who signed it? Governor Ronald Reagan, himself. Go figure.

"John Wayne" (you know why I put his name in quotes),"Dirty Harry", "Marshal Matt Dillon" have never been the reality of the American West nor of the urban inner city. I mean, really, who in his right mind would fire a .44 Magnum in the middle of one of the most densely populated cities in the United States? Americans live in an antiseptic society within an isolated bubble. We don't see REAL LIFE or REAL DEATH. We experience our lives through our TV's or our smart phones. We don't live in a "shining city on the hill" we live in a gilded cage and the bars are becoming more apparent every day.

[DAngelo136]

10. Did I miss something?

Did Marshal Dillon goad an unarmed man who wasn't willing to fight into a gunfight? And then MURDERED him? And HE'S the "good guy"? No wonder I hated this crappy series when I was a kid. Is this the Hollywood instance of a law enforcement officer shooting someone because he was "in fear for his life"?
I guess "past is prologue", for real.