In recent lawsuits, filmmakers are being singled out as the cause of violence in our society. The connection between violence in the media and societal violence has been an ongoing controversy. Violent murders are complex and cannot be narrowed down to one factor alone, such as a movie. Just because a person watches a movie, it does not mean the creator can be held responsible for a crime someone tries to copycat. People are driven to violent crimes for a number of reasons, not just because of a violent flick. Movies are made to attract a certain audience and are made for entertainment purposes only and producers have no control over the actions of their viewers. There has been no solid evidence between the relation of violent movies and violent murder.
People will commit crimes whether or not they watch two hours of the most gruesome pictures. It is through years of substance abuse and deeply disturbed childhoods that make them turn to violent behavior such as homicide or suicide. Ben Darrars (18) and Sarah Edmondson (19) are good examples of this theory. Both children had histories of substance abuse and psychiatric treatment. Ben had an alcoholic father that committed suicide after divorcing his mother twice. In fear that Ben might hurt her, Sarah carried a gun around with her. They were two deeply disturbed youths who happened to watch Oliver Stone's movie Natural Born Killers before deciding to go on a murdering spree. Years of hurting family members and themselves turned Ben and Sarah into ticking time bombs until the anger finally detonated, driving them to kill. Instead of taking the blame themselves, they unsuccessfully tried to point their fingers at the producer himself. .
Filmmakers create films solely for the entertainment of the public, not to coerce people into committing violent crimes. In addition, "movies are meant to be seen, just as guns are meant to be fired" (Zimecki 613).
