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Friday’s devastating shooting in Newtown, Conn. has prompted several actors and filmmakers to speak out about whether violence in films inspires violence in real life. The team behind Django Unchained – a bullet-studded revenge fantasy from violent virtuoso Quentin Tarantino — has been especially forthcoming.
Naturally, the shooting came up during Django‘s press junket in New York City on Saturday. According to the BBC, Tarantino dismissed the idea that the movie will lead to real-world gun violence. “I just think, you know, there’s violence in the world, tragedies happen, blame the playmakers,” he told the crowd. “It’s a western. Give me a break.”
Django star Christoph Waltz agreed with the director’s general sentiment, arguing that “the media’s responsibility is greater than the story teller’s is.” Waltz also said that while he “find[s] violence…to that degree [in Django] repulsive,” he also believes “Django is violent, but it’s not inspiring violence.” His cast mate Kerry Washington pointed out that the film uses violence as the means to an end, including it in order to depict “the wrongs, the injustices, the social ills” of slavery.
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