Is it ok to make a fictional movie about school violence? (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

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[jcroy]

Anyone who makes a film is opening themselves up to criticism from potential audiences. You're not going to be able to tell everybody who looks at your film to "please view this from the autism spectrum - I'm autistic."

In a more general sense independent of "autism" issues, this has always been true in a (relatively) open society for anybody who is a public figure (ie. actors, rockstars, writers, politicians, celebrities, royalty, etc ....). One should not be in the public sphere if one cannot handle criticism. (ie. Metaphorically, don't attend the "debutante ball" if you don't want your name in the local rumor mills).

In a less open society, such criticism manifests in less overt ways such as subtle humor or ambiguous figures of speech with "multiple meanings" in personal face-to-face conversations.

East German jokes - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Jake Lipson]

I'm not profiting off of my film.

None of which nullifies what I said. I think you are missing my point.

Unless you are making something exclusively for yourself with no intention of ever showing it to other people, you are opening yourself up to criticism if the film is released. You should be prepared for whatever response might come.

 

[Jacinto]

Interesting thread. The average person won't care at all, and as long as it is entertaining/engaging would be fine with the story. The problem is that those who would care, will care A LOT, because they have been traumatized by school violence in some way and will find the subject matter tasteless, lacking in empathy, and triggering. I also believe such people can and should avoid any subject matter that may elicit such a response from them. Artistically speaking, I believe creators have the right to make whatever they want, but I feel artists have the responsibility to be thoughtful and purposeful about what they are creating, and be aware of the possible ramifications of their creative choices.

That said, I am a teacher at Columbine High School. I walk those halls every day, and I don't know what you mean by the school looking like a fortress. The school was originally just a rectangular building when it opened 50 years ago, but has since had several additions. It looks like your average suburban high school. For what it's worth, several of my coworkers were in the building 25 years ago and I know they, like the majority of the community around the school would no doubt take issue with the film (as would the communities surrounding every school that has suffered through such an event, no doubt).

 

[Avery623]

Interesting thread. The average person won't care at all, and as long as it is entertaining/engaging would be fine with the story. The problem is that those who would care, will care A LOT, because they have been traumatized by school violence in some way and will find the subject matter tasteless, lacking in empathy, and triggering. I also believe such people can and should avoid any subject matter that may elicit such a response from them. Artistically speaking, I believe creators have the right to make whatever they want, but I feel artists have the responsibility to be thoughtful and purposeful about what they are creating, and be aware of the possible ramifications of their creative choices.

That said, I am a teacher at Columbine High School. I walk those halls every day, and I don't know what you mean by the school looking like a fortress. The school was originally just a rectangular building when it opened 50 years ago, but has since had several additions. It looks like your average suburban high school. For what it's worth, several of my coworkers were in the building 25 years ago and I know they, like the majority of the community around the school would no doubt take issue with the film (as would the communities surrounding every school that has suffered through such an event, no doubt).

Compare it to Dr. M's fortress in Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves. Dr M's fortress has a lot of strategic areas for all types of security-based devices besides tall walls like spotlights, sentry guns, naval mines, etc. set up around the Cooper vault which is on an odd shaped mountain.

With a school that has a unique exterior and interior shape like Columbine High set on an odd shaped set of landscapes or hills, it allows for a unique setup in terms of heavy duty type security devices like sentry guns mounted to different corners and areas of the rooftop, provided you take the time to visualize the structure as a sci-fi/movie structure architect.