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Media Spectacle and Domestic Terrorism: The Case of the Batman/Joker Cinema Massacre

2013; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 35; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10714413.2013.799364

1556-3022

Douglas Kellner,

Gothic Literature and Media Analysis

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes See my detailed analyses of how school and other mass shooters resolve their crises of masculinities by producing media spectacles of mass carnage in Guys and Guns Amok (Kellner 2008 Kellner , D. ( 2008 ). Guys and Guns Amok: Domestic Terrorism and School Shootings from the Oklahoma City Bombings to the Virginia Tech Massacre . Boulder , CO : Paradigm Press . [Google Scholar]). For an ever-expanding “Time Line of Worldwide School and Mass Shootings” since 1996, see http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0777958.html (accessed on December 20, 2012). For a global “list of rampage killers,” see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rampage_killers. Thomas Peipert and P. Solomon Banda, “James Holmes, suspected Aurora, Colorado ‘Dark Knight Rises,’” Associated Press, July 20, 2012, http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/national/james-holmes-suspected-aurora-colorado-dark-knight-rises-shooter-i-am-the-joker#ixzz2GScyG7hf; see also Shelia Marikar, “Was James Holmes, Suspected Aurora Shooter, Inspired by Batman?” ABC News, July 20, 2012, at http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/james-holmes-suspected-aurora-shooter-inspired-batman/story?id=16822504. Marikar reports, “Law enforcement sources confirmed to ABC News that Holmes said ‘I am the Joker’ when apprehended by authorities.” By diagnostic critique I refer to a mode of cultural criticism that uses media, cultural, and social theory to provide context and tools of analysis and interpretation that can help provide understanding of events like the Aurora Theater Massacre, or the Sandy Hook Elementary Slaughter, reveal the social pathologies involved, and suggest solutions; on diagnostic critique, see Kellner and Ryan (1988 Kellner , D. and Ryan , M. ( 1988 ). Camera Politica: The Politics and Ideology of Contemporary Hollywood Film . Bloomington : Indiana University Press . [Google Scholar]); Kellner (1995 Kellner , D. ( 1995 ). Media Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity and Politics Between the Modern and the Postmodern . London and New York : Routledge .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 2010 Kellner , D. ( 2010 ). Cinema Wars: Hollywood Film and Politics in the Bush/Cheney Era . Malden , MA : Blackwell . [Google Scholar]). Holmes' medical records have been sealed so we can only speculate concerning his specific personal reasons for undertaking the monstrous massacre (see Note 11 below). The description of Holmes' life here conforms to the Wikipedia entry “James Eagan Holmes,” at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Eagan_Holmes; each event of Holmes' past is rooted here in mainstream media sources. Yet in the absence of a serious scholarly work on Holmes and the Aurora shootings, Holmes' life remains something of a mystery. Daily Mail Reporter, “Batman mask and movie poster found in apartment of Dark Knight ‘killer’ who called himself The Joker … Authorities say 100-round drum magazine gunman attached to his assault weapon jammed,” Mail Online, July 23, 2012, at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2177532/Dark-Knight-Rises-shooting-Aurora-Colorado-Batman-mask-poster-James-Holmess-apartment.html#ixzz2GMvKe0vz. See Poppy Harlow, “Robots reveal ‘unique’ setup in suspect's apartment,” CNN, July 21, 2012, at http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/20/us/colorado-shooting-suspect-apartment/index.html. Associated Press, “After Colorado theater massacre, fear prompts people to buy guns and puts moviegoers on edge,” July 25, 2012, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/after-colorado-theater-massacre-fear-prompts-people-to-buy-guns-and-puts-moviegoers-on-edge/2012/07/25/gJQApV1F8W_print.html. In fact, gun sales proliferated throughout the country after the Aurora shooting. As the article cited above noted, “Seattle … saw nearly twice as many requests for concealed pistol licenses than the same timeframe a year ago. Connecticut processed 38 percent more gun-related records over the past several days compared with the same period two months prior. Florida recorded 2,386 background checks on Friday, up 14 percent from the week before. Oregon checks on Friday and Saturday were up 11 percent over the month past. Four days of checks in California were up 10 percent month-to-month.” See Chris McGreal, “Gun sales surge across US after Newtown amid fears of crackdown. From Oregon to Connecticut, gun shops reported soaring sales over the weekend as national attention returns to gun control.” The Guardian, December 18, 2012, at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/18/gun-sales-surge-newtown-crackdown?INTCMP=SRCH. The psychiatrist was identified as Dr. Lynne Fenton, but on July 26, 2012, a Federal Judge ordered a gag order on any information concerning Holmes' time as a University of Colorado-Denver student, so his school records are effectively closed off for public scrutiny. See “Sources: Colo. massacre suspect has made “half-hearted” suicide tries,” CBS News/AP, November 14, 2012, at http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57550077/sources-colo-massacre-suspect-has-made-half-hearted-suicide-tries/. Jenny Deam, “Theater Shooting trial inches ahead,” Los Angeles Times, January 3, 2013, A9. Ron Suskind's book The One Percent Doctrine (2007 Suskind , R. ( 2007 ). The One Percent Doctrine . New York : Simon and Schuster . [Google Scholar]) quoted Dick Cheney as saying that even if there was a one percent chance that a specific group or individual was going to launch a terrorist attack, their arrest, violation of rights, and even torture was totally justified. Later, journalist Jane Mayer titled her book on the lawless and vicious nature of Bush-Cheney administration policy The Dark Side (2008 Mayer , J. ( 2008 ). The Dark Side . New York : Doubleday . [Google Scholar]), describing, again in Dick Cheney's own terms, where the administration went in order to fight terror. Daily Mail Reporter, “Batman mask and movie poster found in apartment of Dark Knight ‘killer’ who called himself The Joker,” Mail Online, July 23, 2012, at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2177532/Dark-Knight-Rises-shooting-Aurora-Colorado-Batman-mask-poster-James-Holmess-apartment.html#ixzz2GMvKe0vz. As of December 13, 2012, The Dark Knight grossed $1,081,041,287 globally making it one of the most popular and widely-seen films in cinema history (see http://www.boxofficemojo.com/search/?q=Dark%20Knight%20Rises). Moore and Brian (2008). There are no page numbers, but I have reproduced the boldface of parts of the captions. See Andrew Klavans, “What Bush and Batman Have in Common,” Wall Street Journal, July 25, 2008, A15. Rupert Murdoch himself was thrown into crisis by media spectacle in 2011 when his media empire was caught up in hacking scandals and government investigations; see Douglas Kellner, “The Murdoch Media Empire and the Spectacle of Scandal,” International Journal of Communication, 6 (2012 Kellner , D. ( 2012 ). The Dark Side of the Spectacle: Terror in Norway and the UK Riots . Cultural Politics , 8 , 1 – 43 . [Google Scholar]): Feature 1169–1200, at http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/view/1613/754. See Slavoj Žižek, “The politics of Batman. From the repression of unruly citizens to the celebration of the ‘good capitalist’, The Dark Knight Rises reflects our age of anxiety.” New Statesman, August 23, 2012, at http://www.newstatesman.com/2012/08/people%E2%80%99s-republic-gotham (accessed January 1, 2013). Rightwing commentator Rush Limbaugh speculated on his syndicated radio show on July 24, 2012, that the name “Bane” was constructed to make people think negatively of Romney and Bain Capital, a hedge fund company that Romney had headed and which was the subject of attacks by Obama in summer 2012. As it turns out, “Bane” was long a figure in the Batman mythology and one could argue that Batman is presented more as a Mitt Romney figure, promising to save the 1% from supposed chaos of the Obama administration. See “Report: Newtown Gunman Adam Lanza Spent Days In Basement Playing Call Of Duty,” CBS News New York, December 19, 2012, at http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/12/19/report-newtown-gunman-adam-lanza-spent-days-in-basement-playing-call-of-duty/; and Barney Henderson, “Connecticut school massacre: Adam Lanza ‘spent hours playing Call Of Duty.’ The Connecticut school massacre gunman Adam Lanza spent hours playing violent video games such as Call Of Duty in a windowless bunker, according to an interview with a plumber who worked at the family home.” The Telegraph, December 18, 2012, at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9752141/Connecticut-school-massacre-Adam-Lanza-spent-hours-playing-Call-Of-Duty.html (accessed on December 26, 2012). The Norwegian killer Anders Breivik was also said to have been a devotee of Call of Duty which he reportedly played hours on end. See John D. Sutter, “Norway mass-shooting trial reopens debate on violent video games,” CNN, April 20, 2012, at http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/19/tech/gaming-gadgets/games-violence-norway-react/index.html; and Douglas Kellner, “The Dark Side of the Spectacle: Terror in Norway and the UK Riots,” Cultural Politics, 8 (2012 Kellner , D. ( 2012 ). The Dark Side of the Spectacle: Terror in Norway and the UK Riots . Cultural Politics , 8 , 1 – 43 . [Google Scholar]): 1–43. Hugo Gye, Meghan Keneally and Daniel Bates, “Dark Knight gunman faced eviction and ‘broke up with girlfriend’ just before killing spree,” Mail Online, July 22, 2012, at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2177294/James-Holmes-broke-girlfriend-just-Dark-Knight-Rises-shooting-spree-Colorado.html#ixzz2GMSS5eJn. See also Matt Sherman, “Colorado shooting: Suspect enjoyed video games, movies, school friend says,” Los Angeles Times, July 21, 2012, at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/07/colorado-shooter-enjoyed-video-games-movies-school-friend-says.html. In summer 2012, there were multiple shootings in usually calm Seattle; see Kirk Johnson, “Gun Violence Wave Challenges Seattle's Notion of Security,” New York Times, June 2, 2012, at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/us/wave-of-gun-violence-challenges-seattles-notion-of-security.html. Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President at the National Urban League Convention,” July 25, 2012, at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/07/25/remarks-president-national-urban-league-convention. “The Sandy Hook Slaughter: Turning Point for Gun Control?” Huffington Post, December 20, 2012 at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/douglas-kellner/the-sandy-hook-slaughter_b_2332744.html. Indeed, polls revealed that a growing number of people are willing to support gun control and safety legislation after Sandy Hook. See Aamer Madhani, “Gun-control poll: Most want stricter laws,” USA Today, December 27, 2012, at http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20121227/NEWS/212270325/Gun-control-poll-Most-want-stricter-laws. Madhani points out: “A new USA Today/Gallup Poll reveals that “Fifty-eight percent of Americans now say they favor stricter gun laws, up from 43 percent in October 2011.” See “Gun dealer sold to both Va. Tech, NIU shooters,” USA Today, February 16, 2008, at http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-02-16-gundealer-niu-vatech-shooters_N.htm. Interestingly, Eric Thompson's company, TGSCOM Inc., which sold Cho and Kazmierczak weapons through his website www.thegunsource.com offered customers weapons at cost for two weeks to help citizens get the weapons they needed for their own self-defense, see “Owner of Web-based Firearms Company that Sold to Virginia Tech and NIU Shooters to Forgo Profits to Help Prevent Future Loss of Life,” April 25, 2008, TGSCOM Inc., at http://www.thegunsource.com/Article.aspx?aKey=Guns_at_Cost. See, for example, Barry Meier and Andrew Martin, “Real and Virtual Firearms Nurture a Marketing Link,” New York Times, December 24, 2012, at http://t.co/Ixlio00V by nytimesbusiness 283397456211894273. The article reminds us that a “Norwegian who killed 77 said later that he honed his shooting skills by playing many hours of Call of Duty.” On the Norwegian shooter, see Kellner (2012 Kellner , D. ( 2012 ). The Dark Side of the Spectacle: Terror in Norway and the UK Riots . Cultural Politics , 8 , 1 – 43 . [Google Scholar]). Cited in Nick Gillespie, “The FCC's not mommy and daddy,” Los Angeles Times, May 2, 2007, A23. In his 2008 book, Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men, Michael Kimbel carries out a thorough and insightful mapping of the terrain of male culture in the contemporary United States but does not address the problems of guns and culture, downplays the impact of video games and media culture (152ff), and does not adequately address the problems of hypermasculinity and violence. For a critique of scapegoating youth for social problems in the contemporary era, see Giroux (1996 Giroux , H. ( 1996 ). Fugitive Cultures: Race, Violence, and Youth . New York : Routledge . [Google Scholar], 2012 Giroux , H. ( 2012 ). Disposable Youth: Racialized Memories, and the Culture of Cruelty . New York : Routledge .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). See Herbert Marcuse, “A Revolution in Values” in Marcuse (2001 Marcuse , H. ( 2001 ). Toward a Critical Theory of Society . In D. Kellner (Ed.), Collected Papers of Herbert Marcuse (vol. 2) . London and New York : Routledge . [Google Scholar]), and on the new sensibility see my introduction to the volume of collected papers of Marcuse on Art and Liberation (2006 Marcuse , H. ( 2006 ). Art and Liberation . In D. Kellner (Ed.), Collected Papers of Herbert Marcuse (vol. 4) . London and New York : Routledge . [Google Scholar]).