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"The Dark Knight Rises" and random acts of violence
Published: 7/20/2012 2:28 PM
Last Modified: 7/20/2012 2:28 PM

It's frightening to imagine the visuals of what happened in Aurora, Colo., early Friday morning when a gunman at a midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" opened fire on a captive audience.

He appeared to be wearing a dark outfit, perhaps villainous in appearance, which made him fit in with this comic-book movie crowd.

He apparently released gas from a canister, which some audience members initially saw as a movie-related prank.

He began firing, and audiences in neighboring theaters thought they were hearing sound effects from an on-screen shootout.

The tragedy hits home for so many people across the country, like teens who have made midnight-movie openings of the latest blockbuster a ritual of communal viewing, lining up outside auditoriums for the privilege of saying they saw it first.

"The Dark Knight Rises" was one of the most anticipated movies of the year, and it was supposed to be a night of celebration. That was surely the case for Tulsa's midnight audiences with no idea of what had happened 700 miles away.

The violence hits home for children's parents, who increasingly protect youths to the degree that they won't allow them play in the front yard out of fears for their safety -- but who have determined that their child can stay out until 3 a.m. watching the latest Batman movie with friends.

Should they allow them do so in the future? The answer is yes, depending on the parent and the child, because nothing has changed.

There is no sense in overreacting to the shootings, where 24-year-old James Holmes allegedly opened fire in a sold-out movie auditorium, killing at least a dozen people and wounding dozens of other moviegoers.

The victims in Aurora couldn't have been protected any more than we can protect a Tulsan from a stray bullet entering a Best Buy store.

"That incident in Colorado is very disturbing, but the truth is that we can't protect people when a single person decides to start shooting people in a movie theater or anywhere else," said Tulsa Police Department spokesman Officer Leland Ashley.

"In a perfect world, we might have a police officer on every corner, but there's nothing procedural we can change about that situation unless we receive some intelligence -- something telling us that there's going to be a disturbance at a particular place."

What Ashley is describing is the definition of a random act, which is what happened, and the best that people can do is reflect, rather than overreact.

That's what Tulsa-area movie theaters were doing on Friday, as they prepared for one of the busiest weekends of the year with "The Dark Knight Rises," while noting the sadness of the situation.

No theater managers reported making any changes in security or screening schedules, including at the Cinemark chain, which has four Tulsa-area locations and owns the Century brand of theaters like the one in Colorado.

"When someone is set on doing something like that, that's all there is to it," said Mike Mendenhall, who operates the Eton Square theater where the film is showing.

"What happened (in Colorado), that is a terrible deal. But really, all we can do is carry on and hope that nothing like that ever happens here."

Reactionary comments about American gun laws were a natural to come up, and they have, and they fail any test.

A single individual last year in Norway -- which has some of the strongest gun laws in the world -- had no problem gathering all the weapons he needed to shoot and kill 80 young people at an island camp.

It was a random act, just like the one in Colorado.

"The Dark Knight Rises" opened with midnight showings at more than 3,700 theaters in North America. Tragedy struck at one theater.

Talk to your children about what happened, and then take them to the movies. Let them ride their bikes around the block, and go with them if you feel the need.

That's healthier than trying to make sense of the senseless and allowing isolated acts to change who we are as a society.

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I See Movies for Free

“I was born a poor, black child” … not me, actually, but Steve Martin’s character in the “The Jerk.” That absurd opening line is just one of the absurd number of film facts, quotes and minutiae contained in movie critic Michael Smith’s brain, at his disposal to toss out on a moment’s notice. It’s a key requirement as Tulsa World film critic to know these things. Michael learned a few other life facts along the way (seven years as a Crystal’s Pizza & Spaghetti manager) before attempting journalism and joining the Tulsa World in 1996, where he’s covered everything from a school shooting in Fort Gibson to a tornado in Stroud to witnessing an execution. A little community theater coverage was sprinkled in there, too. Movies engender many of his happiest memories, from standing in line for “Star Wars” and “Grease” at the Southroads Cinema to the James Bond and Pink Panther movies that always premiered at the enormous Continental Theater.

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