The Double Standard: Movies vs. Video Games

by Jon Minners

There is a great buzz going on over the recent Sundance Film Festival and the incredible, if not dark, films featuring A-list celebrities that are proliferating the annual movie-lover’s wet dream.  At the same time, the 13^th Annual Slamdance Festival is receiving a buzz for very different reasons. 

Over at Sundance, the film getting a lot of attention is Black Snake Moan, featuring Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci like you have never seen them before.  The film also features Justin Timberlake in a role that truly separates him from his boy band roots, more than I’m Bringing Sexy Back could ever hope to accomplish.

Set in a small Tennessee town, the film focuses on Rae (Christina Ricci), a 22 year-old, who for intensive purposes, is a slut who cannot control her sexual desire.  After a night of partying, Rae ends up beaten, abused and tossed on the side of the road, left with the rest of the garbage.   Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson), an ex-blues guitarist who has seen a lot of shady things in his lifetime is on a search for redemption and sees an opportunity to right his wrongs through Rae.  Lazarus holds a scantily clad Rae prisoner, and sets out to cure her of her wicked ways, complete with chains.  Ronnie (Justin Timberlake) is a Guardsman who was supposed to be headed for Iraq, but comes looking for Rae, his girlfriend.   Their lives will all intersect in what many are expecting to be one of the rawest, most graphic movies of the year. 

There is another movie called Hounddog that depicts a rape scene involving the 12-year-old Dakota Fanning.   Both films are receiving critical acclaim.

At Slamdance, the video game getting all the attention is Super Columbine Massacre RPG.  The game was created using RPG Maker and allows gamers to play as Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold through Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, the date of the Columbine shootings.

In the first part of the game, the events unfold as they are believed to have occurred the morning prior to the attack.  The second part of the game takes a fictional turn as the two characters battle their way through hell.  It is obviously the first part of the game that is getting all the attention. 

Daniele Ledonne, 24, of Alamosa, Colorado, took six months to create the game and claims he did so, because he himself was a bullied child and the events of Columbine had stuck with him.  He described the game as an “indictment of our society at large.”

“The game does not glorify school shootings," Ledonne told The Washington Post. "If you make it far enough into the game, you see very graphic photos of Eric and Dylan lying dead. I can't think of a more effective way to confront their actions and the consequences those actions had.”

Already, the game has been downloaded well over 100,000 times and its popularity led to its selection to be a part of Slamdance.  However, the controversy occurs when the game was selected as a finalist. 

The organizer, fearing lawsuits and other negative press, pulled the game from the competition after allowing its entry in the first place.  As a result, the USC Interactive Media Division withdrew its sponsorship, and several creators of other finalist games removed themselves from competition in protest of Super Columbine's removal.

The action has created great talk as to the double standard between movies and video games.  While such films like Black Snake Moan and Hounddog are receiving critical acclaim despite some overtly dark themes and questionable scenes, Super Columbine Massacre is sparking an outcry over censorship throughout the video game industry. 

Shows like 24 are depicting very real tragedies.  The events of 9-11 and the war in Iraq have inspired very realistic episodes featuring suicide bombings and a shocking nuclear explosion that left everyone’s draw dropped.  The scenes that have left many transit riders paranoid about those around them have led to critics praising this season as the best of the 24 saga. 

There has not been an outcry from politicians to withdraw the show from the airwaves.  Politicians have become more concerned with video games and the false notion that everyone who plays them will grow up to become criminals. 

First of all, the notion that video games are strictly for kids is preposterous.  A survey compiled by the Entertainment Software Association and published in USA Today found that a slight majority of video game players are now over 18 years of age with the average age of game players being 29 and the average age of buyers being 36.

With more gamers closer to 30 than 18, it makes sense for games to become more mature.  It doesn’t mean they have forgotten about children.  In fact, there is a wider selection of family friendly games on the market than there are on the big screen.  How many cartoons are released in theaters each year?  Now take a look at store shelves and see how many gamers are for sale with the younger demographic in mind. 

But just like there are R-rated movies, it makes sense for there to be more mature oriented games out there for the older connoisseur.  And while Super Columbine Massacre is not on my list of games to play nor is it one I am happy to have seen made (I personally find it disgusting), I fully support the rights of the creator to make such a game and I applaud the fact that it has brought the debate of video game censorship back on the table. 

Those brought up on Pac-Man have to learn that we have all grown up.  The generations raised on the first wave of video games still want video games, but their tastes have changed.  Pac-Man is still fun, just like GI-Joe is still fun to watch, but new games, just like the television shows and movies we enjoy have to grow with us.  And just like Law & Order can rip ideas straight from the headlines, so, too, can video games. 

If you want to take an in-depth look at video game content, I suggest you reexamine the entertainment industry as a whole.  No double standards.  No scapegoats.  No political platforms.  I’m tired of being played with.  I’d rather be doing the playing.  Know any good games?

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