Movie Posters Featuring Stars Posing With Guns

[Yavin4]

I was at the theaters yesterday, and I counted five different movie posters showing the stars of the various movies posing with guns. Jodie Foster's new movie. A new gangster movie co-starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, and a new movie called, "Shoot 'em Up", starring Clive Owen. Every poster features the guns prominently.

Heck, navigate to http://www.fandango.com and see exactly what I mean.

What's with this culture that says it's okay to promote violence?

[LeftyMom]

1. Uh oh, you've dared to question gun culture

Gungeon swarm in 3... 2... 1... :popcorn:

[Dr. Strange]

2. At the risk of starting a serious discussion...

If you want to change the culture of violence, forget the guns on movie posters; take them away from cops. That's the single biggest reason why the public thinks that violence is a solution. Once the government starts solving problems without resorting to violence, maybe the public will stop looking to violence.

This is going to get moved to the gungeon isn't it?

[CBHagman]

3. My first thought was that...

...at least now a woman (Jodie Foster) is depicted with a gun, as opposed to clinging to the gun-wielding leading man. Remember how Ellen Barkin and Dennis Quaid were depicted in the non-steamy poster for The Big Easy?

But then I saw the poster for the Jodie Foster film, The Brave One, and she's looking more distraught than confident, whereas the pistol-packing men are in action hero or bad guy form.

To make matters worse, I saw the poster for The Brothers Solomon, which depicts two idiots having fun decorating a woman's pregnant belly. I sometimes think movie ad campaigns either haven't progressed an inch from yesteryear, or perhaps they've gotten worse.

[Deep13]

4. "What's with this culture that says it's okay to promote violence?"

Wow, what a gigantic jump to a conclusion.

First, no one needs to say it is okay. People can make films and print posters for whatever they want.

Second, can you demonstrate that movies promote violence? Violence is a social reality. It always has been and always will be. Our whole society (globally) is based on it. Perhaps they just reflect violence that exists anyway. Perhaps it is just a dramatic, escapist fantasy for two hours to a place where life is more primal and less mundane than it usually is. Perhaps it is a release for violent urges we all have.

[Yavin4]

5. Well, Sex Happens A Lot More Frequently Than Violence

But we don't see movie posters featuring nude stars on them.

[Deep13]

7. We certainly see posters with sex implied.

For some reason our society is stuck in its Victorian values. It is okay to show someone getting shot on TV, but not screwing. Of course the "getting shot" has to be a sanitized version with little blood and no exit wounds. I cringe at depictions of death and war as easier and cleaner than they are more than depictions of graphic cruelty. I don't like the idea that people are being programmed to think war is not that bad.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. Guns are cool.

So is violence in movies.

:shrug: