Assassins

5 Pages 1211 Words

Assassins
(Hitmen & Snipers)


In today’s world of entertainment media, most of the storylines for shows come from books, news, or an original screenplay. Of the three main sources mentioned, the topic of violence is one of the most widely used. It has the ability to keep an audiences attention, throughout the entire movie, because of all the nonstop action. Of all the action movies, ones based on snipers or hitmen seem to get the most attention. I believe this is because the person is acting alone and trying to take justice into his or her own hands.
Do these types of movies promote violent behavior? Do these types of movies teach people ways in which to become a sniper or do they give technique advice? These are just some of the questions that we need to look at to justify the media’s influence on violent behavior.
To answer these questions, I watched five movies that had either a sniper or hitman character in them. These movies were, Saving Private Ryan, The Professional, Assassins, The Jackal, and Enemy at the Gates. I used a method of content analysis, to gather information about the characters and their involvement in the plot of the movie. In Saving Private Ryan, there is a young sniper who plays a very important role in WWII. He is a white male, around 24 years old and is very intelligent. The type of crime is irrelevant because it is set in a time of war. In this
movie he is portrayed as a positive figure.
In almost the same type of movie as above, Enemy at the Gates is about two snipers that are trying to shoot each other. One sniper (Jude Law) is fighting for Russia in WWII and the other (Ed Harris) is fighting for Germany. Both men are white middle class men who are fighting to win over the eastern front of Russia. The movie is set in a Russian perspective, so everyone Ed Harris kills is seen as violent, whereas everyone Jude Law kills is liberating.
The Professional is based entirely on a sol...