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Posted: 12/11/2005 1:54:26 PM EDT
Why do people glamourize criminals, thugs, conmen?

I have noticed that many movies depict the bad guys as "the cool ones"

I have also had some conversations with people in video stores where they were telling me
that the "really liked" movies about the mob........I never got that

I like action movies and comedies because, to me, they are interesting and\or funny
Most dramas and movies about thugs, gangs, drug dealers and thieves are not

I don't get a thrill out of seeing a movie about illegal racing\stealing like fast and furious
or illegal drug running like easy rider.

In the Bruce Willis movies, the good guy wins, and the bad guys get what they deserve
Kind of like the old Westerns and shows like Batman and Leave it to Beaver

I know it would be boring if the good guy always won, but surely there are other alternatives

Is it naive of me to think that our entertainment influences our society, and that we have a problem?

I see kids on the street dressing\acting like "gangstas", It seems strange to me to imitate the criminals
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 1:58:50 PM EDT
[#1]
Robert DeNiro carried a SIG P220 in "Heat!"
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 1:59:45 PM EDT
[#2]
Playing by the Rules is constricting by nature.



Gansta's are "Free", so to speak
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 2:05:51 PM EDT
[#3]
Everybody has a part of them that doesn't want to play by the rules and get huge rewards.

A great mob movie that shows the other side is Donnie Brasco, Al Pacino's character is a mob underling, just getting by.
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 2:06:16 PM EDT
[#4]
Because they always seem to portary the crimilas as just misunderstood people who are only trying to save their brother, cousin, sister, wife, husband or best friend.
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 2:07:36 PM EDT
[#5]
Excitement
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 2:27:00 PM EDT
[#6]
People glamorize all kinds of bad things.....................smoking, drinking, tatooes, swearing, bad behavior in general.  

The funny part is they do these things to be "individuals" when in reality they are just following the crowd...............

Being a good guy, which we should all stive for, is shown to be down right boring by the media.  

Even some women like the "bad boy" that is until shes been with him for a few months and keeps beating the crap out of her until the cops (good guys) come to her rescue.  
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 2:33:16 PM EDT
[#7]
The media does it because it sells tickets. $$$ counts.  In the days of our founding fathers, a criminal was shunned by the community and if he was placed on a pedestal, it was because he was going to be whipped or hung.
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 2:51:53 PM EDT
[#8]

Quoted:
The media does it because it sells tickets. $$$ counts.  In the days of our founding fathers, a criminal was shunned by the community and if he was placed on a pedestal, it was because he was going to be whipped or hung.



Yeah, and back then everything was better.

There wasn't crime, or rape, or abuse, no one owned slaves, everyone was wealthy and lived a long, fruitful life.

Anyway, anti-heroes are as old as stories, and it's human nature to identify with the rule-breaker, because at heart people identify with the wrongdoer, and like to believe that even the wrongdoer has within him the chance of redemption.

That's the psychology, anyway.
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 5:17:14 PM EDT
[#9]

Quoted:
People glamorize all kinds of bad things.....................smoking, drinking, tatooes, swearing, bad behavior in general.  



That was the question.......WHY, is it because people are stupid? people want to be evil? people have poor role models?

I remember some philosophy lessons, they had pretty crazy theories back in Socrates time

One of the philosophers said that evil was caused by ignorance
"To know good is to do good"  I have seen NO evidence of that

Most of the people that I have seen do bad things, seem almost pleased with themselves
and they have full knowledge that they are doing something that is wrong\hurtful to someone else
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 5:23:20 PM EDT
[#10]
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 5:27:53 PM EDT
[#11]
Movies glamorizing criminals go back to the beginning of moviemaking..
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 5:28:47 PM EDT
[#12]

Quoted:

Quoted:

Quoted:
People glamorize all kinds of bad things.....................smoking, drinking, tatooes, swearing, bad behavior in general.  



That was the question.......WHY, is it because people are stupid? people want to be evil? people have poor role models?

I remember some philosophy lessons, they had pretty crazy theories back in Socrates time

One of the philosophers said that evil was caused by ignorance
"To know good is to do good"  I have seen NO evidence of that

Most of the people that I have seen do bad things, seem almost pleased with themselves
and they have full knowledge that they are doing something that is wrong\hurtful to someone else

People watch movies and TV shows because it takes them out of their life and shows them something new. What else does fictional entertainment do?



But, don't you choose your entertainment based on your wants and desires?
I like to do some things that might be considered "on the edge"
I like to tell jokes and make people laugh

I don't want to summon demons or be involved in a freddie\friday the 13th situation

The gang\drug\thief movies\videos\games are getting pretty explicit and for lack of a better word, EVIL

Is this a foretelling of our future(I think so)or is it just a harmless outlet for forbidden fantasies
(columbine, waco, la riots, no riots, riots in schools with no refugees, ect, ect, ect)
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 5:31:27 PM EDT
[#13]

Quoted:
Movies glamorizing criminals go back to the beginning of moviemaking..



But, why do "we" still spend money to celebrate the bad guys, is that a good thing?
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 5:34:28 PM EDT
[#14]
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 5:39:18 PM EDT
[#15]

Quoted:

Quoted:

Quoted:

Quoted:

Quoted:
People glamorize all kinds of bad things.....................smoking, drinking, tatooes, swearing, bad behavior in general.  



That was the question.......WHY, is it because people are stupid? people want to be evil? people have poor role models?

I remember some philosophy lessons, they had pretty crazy theories back in Socrates time

One of the philosophers said that evil was caused by ignorance
"To know good is to do good"  I have seen NO evidence of that

Most of the people that I have seen do bad things, seem almost pleased with themselves
and they have full knowledge that they are doing something that is wrong\hurtful to someone else

People watch movies and TV shows because it takes them out of their life and shows them something new. What else does fictional entertainment do?



But, don't you choose your entertainment based on your wants and desires?
I like to do some things that might be considered "on the edge"
I like to tell jokes and make people laugh

I don't want to summon demons or be involved in a freddie\friday the 13th situation

The gang\drug\thief movies\videos\games are getting pretty explicit and for lack of a better word, EVIL

Is this a foretelling of our future(I think so)or is it just a harmless outlet for forbidden fantasies
(columbine, waco, la riots, no riots, riots in schools with no refugees, ect, ect, ect)

Harmless outlet for fantasies. If you've ever liked Batman, did you want to go insane because you watched your parents die and turn into a psychopath who hunted down criminals and killed them?
Should I now view you as somebody who is going to go out hunting down criminals?
Am I racing ahead of your thought processes?




Whoa, I don't remember Batman killing criminals, him and the Boy Wonder just biffed and bammed most of them and then had them arrested

And, since you asked, I did change my job to one where I get to do JUST THAT
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 5:40:36 PM EDT
[#16]
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 5:44:08 PM EDT
[#17]

Quoted:
Batman in his original incarnation was a psychopath. He would be viewed as a criminal himself nowadays.



No doubt he would be called a "vigilante"

But, you wouldn't argue that rooting for him was rooting for the bad guy would you?
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 5:46:56 PM EDT
[#18]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Movies glamorizing criminals go back to the beginning of moviemaking..



But, why do "we" still spend money to celebrate the bad guys, is that a good thing?


Because it's interesting?

Link Posted: 12/11/2005 5:48:05 PM EDT
[#19]
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 5:56:38 PM EDT
[#20]

Quoted:
In the Bruce Willis movies, the good guy wins, and the bad guys get what they deserve



Last Man Standing? Bad guy... that kills other bad guys... hmmm. Who's good in that movie?

I get your point though.

Personally I love "root for the bad-guy" and hitman movies. Leon, Heat, The Jackal, Last Man Standing, etc.

Do I think it glamorizes that lifestyle? Absolutely. I'm a sucker for it. Not so much that I'll actually go out and start living a life of crime but I think it's certainly desenstized me to the idea of it. Well, that and being in the military. To the point that if I were put in a situation like, for example, my wife and son being killed by some shitsack, I'd more than likely have no reservations about delivering justice on my terms.
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 5:57:00 PM EDT
[#21]
I have never understood peoples facination with the "mafia" .

I believe that hollywood has made the mob out to be something that it is not. Glamourous and exciting.

Link Posted: 12/11/2005 5:59:48 PM EDT
[#22]

Quoted:
I have never understood peoples facination with the "mafia" .

I believe that hollywood has made the mob out to be something that it is not. Glamourous and exciting.



Yeah.

I don't exactly consider "whacking" people exciting.  
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 6:29:21 PM EDT
[#23]
In a word our nation has a history of outlawry. In the early days the United States was peopled by European outcasts whether they were religious outcasts or indentured servants. Our national mythology was forged by the fires of revolution (yes treason was a crime). The Wild West was full of outlaws and gunmen and the lines of crime and law were blurred. W. Earp probably was not a nice guy and he often ran around with less desirable elements of the population. Doc Holliday was not an upstanding citizen. This trend then continues into the twenties and thirties where we have the modern day outlaw, the gangster. During the depression gangsters interested people because they essentially gave it back to the system.
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 6:38:59 PM EDT
[#24]

Quoted:
In a word our nation has a history of outlawry. In the early days the United States was peopled by European outcasts whether they were religious outcasts or indentured servants. Our national mythology was forged by the fires of revolution (yes treason was a crime). The Wild West was full of outlaws and gunmen and the lines of crime and law were blurred. W. Earp probably was not a nice guy and he often ran around with less desirable elements of the population. Doc Holliday was not an upstanding citizen. This trend then continues into the twenties and thirties where we have the modern day outlaw, the gangster. During the depression gangsters interested people because they essentially gave it back to the system.



Great answer.
Even the movies that often show "good" cops fighting crime, they often have to bend the rules to get the bad guys.

Even in the 1860's, Jesse James was a scoundrel to the banks and railroads while being a hero to the Missouri farmer.
Link Posted: 12/11/2005 6:39:26 PM EDT
[#25]
I look at it like this, I like "Spooky" movies about haunted houses (NOT "Slash-N-Bleeds") and things that go bump-in-the-night but I don't really believe in ghosts or pretty much anything super-natural.

It's fun to suspend disbelief for a couple of hours at a time.

I see "Mob" movies about the same.  They're a fun diversion (For ME) into a world I would never want to be a part of from either side (Victim or victimizer).  

Movies are fantasy. You can jump-in for 120 min's and return to reality while the credits roll.  About like playing air-guitar to your favorite riff, all the glory () without the HOURS and HOURS of practice
Link Posted: 1/4/2006 7:47:18 PM EDT
[#26]

Quoted:

Quoted:
In the Bruce Willis movies, the good guy wins, and the bad guys get what they deserve



Last Man Standing? Bad guy... that kills other bad guys... hmmm. Who's good in that movie?

I get your point though.

Personally I love "root for the bad-guy" and hitman movies. Leon, Heat, The Jackal, Last Man Standing, etc.

Do I think it glamorizes that lifestyle? Absolutely. I'm a sucker for it. Not so much that I'll actually go out and start living a life of crime but I think it's certainly desenstized me to the idea of it. Well, that and being in the military. To the point that if I were put in a situation like, for example, my wife and son being killed by some shitsack, I'd more than likely have no reservations about delivering justice on my terms.



Ooooo.........Last Man Standing......you got me, I rooted for the bad guy......Leon too
Link Posted: 1/4/2006 8:01:26 PM EDT
[#27]
the only thing that confuses me are the people who bash rappers for talking about the criminal lifestyle, yet at the same time think the sopranos is the best show ever.  
Link Posted: 1/4/2006 10:30:40 PM EDT
[#28]
Beause this whole country was founded by a bunch of guys who didn't like the rules imposed on them by someone else.
Link Posted: 1/5/2006 12:15:44 AM EDT
[#29]
Every society has that little "outlaw" thing. In columbia, the stories about the bandits appear. Robin Hood was a bandit too. In case of Robin Hood, his story is about lashing out at the time's hardship and its government.

In addition, there is some who want to push the limits, whether it be of physical nature, or social norm. Sometimes they are considered as revolutionaries, and sometimes as deviants.

And this is my guess as why the glorification happens.
Link Posted: 1/5/2006 12:41:11 AM EDT
[#30]
Everybody isnt gonna like the same types of movies.  Myself, I'll watch almost anything, some of my pansie-ass friends wont.  Watch what you like I guess.
Link Posted: 1/5/2006 2:08:02 AM EDT
[#31]
Entertainment.........................
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