Films Today

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The British tabloid press is famous for jumping on any bandwagon that supports popular opinion. Before her death the Princess of Wales was hounded on a daily basis for nearly two decades by the paparazzi to feed the insatiable appetite of the word for her picture.
This lead, putting conspiracy theories aside, directly to her death. Now these very same newspapers are feeding the publics bottomless pit of an appetite with stories of her life and loves. A day never goes by with out some mention of her charity work, her past lovers and even the dresses she wore when on royal duties.

Top: British tabloid newspaper The Sun which campaigned to have all video nasties banned for the sake of our children. Right: A graphic scene from Don
Coscarelli's Phantasm.

The only bandwagon that comes close to matching that of the Princess of Wales is the effect that films, video films in particular, have on the viewing public. When The Omen was shown on British television in the early '80s reports came in that people had to seek spiritual guidance in order for them to come to terms with the images they had seen on the screen. Some even reported that knives and forks had somehow become bent and twisted as if overtaken by evil forces. Had their cutlery really become possessed by the devil or were they attention seekers trying to get their fifteen minutes of fame? The newspapers were quick to latch on and appointed themselves as our guardians against the vile influx of film and video. Films were blamed for all of our faults, it wasn't his fault if a man raped a woman because he was following what he had seen in a video, and it wasn't their fault if children used foul language because they had heard it in a film. But I have to keep asking myself one question; isn't it about time that we took the responsibilities for our actions? If a man, or woman, commit a crime then it is not the fault of some Hollywood filmmaker but the responsibility of the said individual. We all like someone to blame. The worlds pollution is the fault of the motorist so lets tax them out of existence, the fact that little
Johnny bunks off school and can't read or write is the fault of the teachers, or the government, but never the parents who don't know how to control their own children.
Isn't it about time that we stopped passing the buck and admitted that WE are to blame when WE do something wrong.

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