Gun Control As a Culture Role in Cinema

Hollywood may not like to admit it, and gun enthusiasts may not either, but the fact remains that something remains to be said about the long time influence of the entertainment industry on the promotion of firearms in the United States of America.

Take the Lone Survivor movie of 2015, for example, which was based on the similarly named book by Marcus Luttrell. The book was based on a team of Navy SEALS who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan in 2005 during Operation Red Wings. In that movie, Ben Foster acts as Matthew “Axe” Axelson, who uses a Berretta M9 pistol as backup when his main rifle runs out of ammunition.

This product placement was boasted by the Los Angeles-based Brand-in Entertainment, the brand integration company that orchestrated the whole thing. The included clips from the movie on their website a caption that read “Brand-in Entertainment successfully integrates Berretta into ‘Lone Survivor’”.

Some sources claim the Berretta paid Bran-in Entertainment up to $250,000 for the product placement, though this is unconfirmed by both Universal Studios and Berretta.

The truth is that, whether a firearms company pays for the product placement or not, a popular television show or movie can greatly influence the sale of a firearm featured in it. There are many examples of firearms featured in movies, and while gun manufacturers won’t talk openly about it, the featuring of their products in movies greatly influences their sale.

Tom Drewford, a writer and owners of a gun store based in Florida, said that he saw a huge spike in the sale of Glocks at his store after the 1990 film Die Hard 2 became popular.

“Glock wasn’t that popular as a gun brand in America before that movie blew up. After it became popular, everyone in the USA wanted a Glock handgun. The amazing thing is that the gun used in the movie, the Glock 7, didn’t even exist. It was entirely fictional!”

Reports indicate that the placement of the Glock was out of pure luck as the movie’s prop master chose it randomly. However, ever since, the Glock has become a mainstay in Hollywood films and television shows, including hits like “The Bourne Ultimatum” and series like “Prison Break” and “24”.

Hollywood Celebrities

Interestingly enough, many Hollywood celebrities have openly decried the use of guns in Hollywood movies and spoken in favor of gun control. Hollywood has put itself in a tricky situation. Many Hollywood celebrities being pro-gun control and yet the industry itself is propped on the gratuitous depiction of guns and other types of violence to gain traction among audiences.

The conversation about gun control has never failed to feature Hollywood. A quick look at some gun control essays at Samplius shows the similarity between cases of horrific public shootings and scenes involving guns in the movies. In fact, without strictly showing hard evidence, once intuitively feels that many of these mass murderers fancy themselves in some kind of movie where they are the star as they carry out these acts.

By simultaneously loving gunplay in its films while also hating firearms in the real world, Hollywood has put itself in a shaky situation, with many finding it hard to take the industry seriously whenever it makes a contribution to the ongoing national conversation on gun control.

It has got even worse over the past couple years, as celebrities have taken an even more hard line stance against organizations like the NRA (National Rifle Association), calling them a terrorist organization. In fact, actors like Michael Keaton and Sally Field have blamed the NRA directly, along with the Republican Party as whole, for major shootings, such as the one at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, where 17 innocent lives were lost.

The irony comes in when the same stars staunchly defend violent content in Hollywood. Take Jennifer Lawrence, for example, who at the premiere of “Red Sparrow” said that she thinks the problem is guns, rather than the entertainment industry.

As hard as it might be to believe, given the industry’s rampant inclusion of gun violence in its productions, Hollywood stars who are pro-guns are very rare. Keanu Reeves, the star of hits like “The Matrix” and “John Wick” famously told the Independent newspaper that he didn’t see a problem with citizens having a weapon, though he admitted that it’s probably not the wisest thing due to the complications involved and that he himself did not own a weapon.

A Great Disconnect

And so it seems that the entire industry is plagued by a massive disconnect between the content it promotes and the message it publicly sends out. While students are forced to learn self-defense in an atmosphere where gun violence is very likely, the movies they watch seem to make gun violence feel normal. This disconnect only seems to grow wider with time as the topic of gun control continues to occupy center stage in the nation. It can all be summarized in one word: hypocrisy.

Conclusion

So where does this all lead? Of all the TV episodes broadcast, over 60% of them continue to feature some form or other of violence. Gun violence continues to filter across MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America), with many movies that are rated PG-13 showing gun violence that would be associated with R-rated movies from a few years ago. We can only watch to see what direction the industry takes as a whole, and we can only hope for the best.

Author Bio

James Collins is a writer and editor with a focus on social issues, technology, and education. He enjoys exploring popular topics from different angles and getting a ‘hmm… I didn’t see it that way’ reaction from his readers. When not writing, James enjoys playing the guitar in his home in the mountains.