A Note on Violence, and the Gun That Triggers it

I'm fairly late to the party, but recently Jim Carrey decided that he's not going to support "Kick Ass 2". If you haven't seen or heard about Kick Ass, it's a pretty violent movie which focuses on an anti hero, who is basically a teenager with no experience in crime-figthing that goes on a mission to be a superhero. I actually loved the movie and the comic book that it was based on, and this summer when I heard there would be a sequel, I was super excited. Even more excited when I heard Jim Carrey would be in it. I'm actually a huge Jim Carrey fan, and have watched all his movies, interviews, stand up comedies, and videos. But I just can't stand his statement and arrogance to not support the movie because he thinks the movie would trigger violence, leading to elementary school shootings and such.

Chloe Grace Moretz, who plays Hit Girl in the film, spoke against Jim Carrey. "It's a movie," Moretz recently told a reporter. "If you are going to believe and be affected by an action film, you shouldn't go to see 'Pocahontas' because you are going to think you are a Disney princess." If a violent movie influences you to hurt others, you were a psychopath way before watching the movie. Something was bound to trigger you either way. Mark Millar, the guy who wrote the comic book, also shared his opinions on Jim Carrey's decision. "For your main actor to publicly say, 'This movie is too violent for me' is like saying, 'This porno has too much nudity. We'll have to go and see this now.'

  Besides, Kick-Ass involves comic violence in which vigilantes kill bad guys. Surely a film that involves the torture of innocents, like the main character, is more of a concern. Anyways, maybe I'm making too much of a big deal. Jim Carrey is an amazing actor, but that doesn't mean I have to agree with his opinions. It's the exactly like the Clint Eastwood situation. I think people these days just need to focus on the work itself, not anything else, and not judge the movie because the actors spoke against it, or because it's coincidental that a terrible shooting happened during the movie's production, or because the director has different political views.

I'm getting a little too far from the topic (like most of my blog posts) but I think the bottom line is well stated by a reddit comment "the bottomer line is that Jim Carrey is a known bipolar whose emotions fluctuate greatly. That's part of what makes him such an amazing character and actor. In short, to an extent, the dude is crazy. Disagree with him but don't hate him for it. It's his view point even if it's not mainstream or even politically correct."

I hope you watch Kick Ass. It's pretty violent though.

Have a good day,
Sam