Two
notorious producers,
John Grisham and
Oliver Stone, address
violence in the movie industry, and who should be accountable for its effects. Both are known for their
controversial movies.
Grisham writes books that have been made into films, and
Stone is a
writer and
director who is acclaimed for
Platoon (1986),
JFK (1991), and
Natural Born Killers (1994). One case in particular receives scrutiny by them. It involves two adolescents who killed two other people at random. The teenagers then sued
Stone, claiming that his movie,
Natural Born Killers, had caused them to go out on a murderous rampage. Ironically,
John Grisham, who is also a practicing
attorney,
promotes this case. In
Grisham's essay, "Unnatural Killers," he
criticizes Stone for making such a violent movie and believes that filmmakers should be held legally responsible for the
repercussions of their works.
Stone disagrees and responds with his rebuttal entitled, "Memo to
John Grisham: What's Next - 'A Movie Made Me Do It'?"
In "Unnatural Killers," the author, John Grisham, begins by stating his personal involvement in the case by knowing one of the victims involved, Bill Savage. He goes on to describe the two perpetrators: a girl, Sarah Edmondson, and a boy, Ben Darras. Edmondson came from a well-to-do family deeply involved in law-making, had a troubled history of serious drug abuse that started at a young age, and was put into psychiatric treatment. Darras, however, grew up in a life of poverty, had an alcoholic father who divorced twice and later committed suicide, and shared a past of drugs and psychiatric rehabilitation. These two are compared to the "heroes" in Stone's film, who also go on a killing spree across the country. Despite Edmondson's and Darras’ background, he says that they have "no history of violence [ ... and that ] their crime spree was totally out of character" prior to watching the movie (Grisham 571). Grisham concludes that although "the film wasn't made with the intent of stimulating [ ... ] young people to commit a crime [ ... ] such a result can hardly be surprising." (572).
Conversely,
Oliver Stone declares that
Grisham's search for shifting the blame is akin to a
witch-hunt. He points out that
many factors are involved in influencing someone, so no solitary thing can be said to be the cause. Some of the
components that
Stone mentions are a "
negligent or abusive upbringing [ , ... ]
defects in their psyche [ , ... ] parents, school, and peers." (577). Unlike in
Grisham's version, the effects of Edmondson's and Darras’
turbulent histories are acknowledged. They had been
abusing themselves and
rebelling against their families since youth, and, likewise, the relationship between them was strained by the potential for violence.
Stone maintains they would have been
inevitably triggered into committing the crime, " [ ... ] whether they had seen
Natural Born Killers or
The Green Berets or a
Tom and Jerry cartoon the night before" (577).
Consequently,
Grisham upholds that the film should not have been made, and
Stone should be held responsible for provoking Edmonson and Darras because "
… there exists a direct
causal link between the movie
Natural Born Killers and the
death of Bill Savage." (573). He offers two solutions for
regulating the movie industry and filmmakers like
Stone:
boycott or
lawsuit.
Grisham states that a boycott will be ineffective,
so the only choice left will be to sue the makers of a movie. He also argues that only after many lawsuits are filed and large sums of money given in settlement will Hollywood begin censoring itself.
Stone counters and
asserts, "
An elementary principle of our civilization is that people are responsible for their own actions." (577). He thinks that if
Grisham is allowed to enact
his vision of the world, stifling both art and artists, it will be
apocalyptic.
Grisham and
Stone agree that the
media can be powerful. Both have strong opinions about how much
influence a movie has and whether
responsibility should rest with the movie industry or on the
viewers.
Grisham champions the two teenagers' cause to hold
Natural Born Killers at fault for their crimes, with grander implications of all of Hollywood being
liable for
copycat crimes.
Stone vehemently disagrees, saying that what
Grisham suggests is the very worst kind of
censorship -- "that a particular work of art should have never been allowed to be made." (578). He also says that
responsibility lies with those who
choose to act on what they see. These two influential artists
elucidate the extremes of the
murky issue of
violence in the media.
Grisham, John. “Unnatural Killers.” “Patterns for College Writing.” Ed. Laurie G.
Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston, Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2001. p. 566 – 573.
Stone, Oliver. “Memo to John Grisham: What’s Next ¾ ‘A Movie Made Me Do It’?”
“Patterns for College Writing.” Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston, Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2001. p. 576 – 578.