Photo by Maxim Hopman on Unsplash
By Geoff Carter
According to the “Internet Movie Firearms Database”, which lists every type of firearm ever used in a Hollywood movie, over eleven types of pistols, seven types of revolvers, seven types of rifles, eight types of submachine guns, seven types of shotguns, two types of machine guns, and six other various sorts of weapons were used while filming Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. These weapons ranged from Glocks to UZIs to RPGs. Over course, these are only differenttypes of firearms. Some of these guns were possessed by more than one character at any one time. Who knows how many total guns were onscreen during the entire film?
The Dark Knight is hardly the exception. Blockbusters like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Scarface, the John Wick franchise, and The Bourne Identity series, and many, many others feature dozens of guns. It is an integral part of the Hollywood mystique. Who can forget Tony Montana (Al Pacino in Scarface) standing on the staircase screaming, “Say hello to my little friend!” (an AR-15 equipped with a grenade launcher), Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry) pointing an impossibly massive Smith and Wesson Model 29 at a perpetrator and saying, “Go ahead, make my day”, The Ringo Kid (John Wayne in Stagecoach) standing in the road holding a Winchester 1892 “Saddle Ring” Carbine, or John McClane (Bruce Willis in Diehard) confronting a terrorist with a Baretta 92F surreptitiously taped to his back? There are dozens and dozens of other shining examples of Hollywood’s—and by extension—our society’s love affair with guns.
A web search shows how deep this infatuation between Americans and their movie guns goes. Articles, YouTube videos, and websites like “Famous Guns in Movies—Cinema’s Most Creative Gun Moments”, “Famous Guns in Movies: The Essential Guide to Film Weapons”, and “The Five Most Expensive Guns in the Movies” crop up in any superficial search of the web. Websites like “Pew Pew Tactical”, and, of course, the “Internet Movie Database of Firearms” present in painstaking detail what brands, models, and modifications of firearms are used in almost any specific movie. The National Rifle Association maintains a museum of Hollywood weaponry at its headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia.
According to the website OSU.EDU, gun manufacturers sometimes pay huge amounts to feature their products in prominent films, reportedly ranging up to $250,000 per placement. The exposure of these weapons to the viewing public can result in significant sales bumps. In fact, according to OSU.EDU, “In 2010 the firearm company Glock won a “lifetime achievement award for product placement,” with a citation noting that Glocks appeared in 22 box office No. 1 films during that year.”
While concerns about the effects of gun violence on society, particularly on younger viewers, has been voiced for decades, little has been done. In fact, it is more prevalent than ever before. The American Academy of Pediatrics reported that incidents of gun violence in PG-13 movies had doubled between 1985-2013. An Amerian Academy of Family Physicians article states that, “researchers have also noted that the amount of gun violence in top-grossing PG-13 films has more than tripled since the introduction of the rating in 1985.51 In 2012, PG-13 films actually contained more gun violence than R-rated films.52 Further, violence is even present in movies that are not considered to be violent, such as animated films.”
The question of whether or to what degree children and adolescents are affected by gun violence is still being debated. While psychologists have noted a “weapons effect” on children that seems to suggest levels of aggression are raised by the mere sight of a gun. In a 2017 experiment, children who have recently viewed film footage depicting gunplay were more likely to handle guns more often and for longer lengths of time, sometimes even displaying dangerous behavior during experiments like pointing guns at themselves or others and pulling the trigger. (JAMA Pediatrics).
In the United States today, gun death is the leading cause of mortality for children and adolescents, surpassing automobile accidents and disease. According to a report from the USC Annenberg’s Norman Lear Center, “a study from 1992 found that the typical American child saw 40,000 simulated murders by age 18. And today, with the advent of cable, streaming, YouTube and other social media platforms, the new Lear Center report says that “it’s likely that number has increased”, and also makes the case that children are mimics who tend to imitate behaviors they see on television or the movies. This report makes the case that the Hollywood creative community has the power to change the narrative by—literally—changing the narrative. Devalorizing the act of firing a weapon and showing more realistic consequences for shooters are only a few of the suggestions prescribed by this study.
But as all movie fans know, firearms are intrinsically woven into the fabric of cinematic and TV narratives. Cop shows, mysteries, espionage movies, horror flicks, thrillers, and even science-fiction films rely heavily on guns to both advance the plot, create excitement, and to enhance drama. Whether it’s a man coming through the door with a gun in his hand, two cowboys facing off in a dusty street, or a protagonist blasting his machine gun through herds of bad guys, guns often seem to be the unsung heroes of the screen. And, in another metaphorical sense, guns pretend to be the great American levelers. They appear to give a victim the power to face a stronger and more ruthless adversary. They do allow for instant justice—painting moralistic dilemmas in an all-too-simple black and white format. John Wayne shoots a bad guy. Clint Eastwood guns down a maniac. End of story.
Yet the reality of gun damage sometimes intrudes even in the fantasy land of Hollywood. Last year, during the filming of the film Rust, a cinematographer was killed, and a director was wounded when a gun (that should have been unloaded) misfired on set, an example of the myriad of consequences arising from gunplay. One woman is dead, a man is wounded, and charges of involuntary manslaughter are pending against the film’s armorer—or gun supplier—a reality rarely seen onscreen.
In fact, as described in The Hollywood Reporter , the relationship between the film industry and the gun lobby is—at best—a complicated one. Actors like Matt Damon and Liam Neeson, extremely vocal gun-control activists, have ironically made their careers blasting bad guys all the way from The Bourne Identity to the seemingly endless Taken films. NRA president Wayne LaPierre has repeatedly targeted Hollywood for depicting what he calls “irresponsible gunplay”, yet his organization reaps the benefits of millions of viewers seeing their products in action and producers make insane profits from firearm product placement.
If, as evidence would seem to suggest, children and adolescents are adversely affected by being exposed to guns in film, it would make sense to follow some of the Lear Report suggestions and start adjusting narratives to more realistically portray the real and peripheral damage done by gun violence, but it seems as if those who make (and view) movies cannot look away from the muzzle of a firing gun—even if it’s pointed directly at them.
Notes
- https://news.osu.edu/hollywoods-love-of-guns-increases-the-risk-of-shootings–both-on-and-off-the-set/
- https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article-abstract/139/2/e20162891/60259/The-Continuing-Rise-of-Gun-Violence-in-PG-13?redirectedFrom=fulltext
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5710374/
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/get-psyched/201301/the-weapons-effect
- https://deadline.com/2023/05/hollywood-gun-violence-report-norman-lear-center-1235376350/
- https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/HHS-Gun-Guidelines-Final.pdf
- https://www.imfdb.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight#Batpod
- https://www.nramuseum.org/guns/the-galleries/hollywood-guns.aspx
- https://abcnews.go.com/US/charges-dropped-alec-baldwin-fatal-set-rust-shooting/story?id=98734243