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After seeing this trailer for the documentary Playing Columbine, about the guy who created a video game based on the Columbine tragedy and which seems to take an open-minded stand on whether or not that was okay, it’s not surprising that the film doesn’t have distribution. It’s not even on Netflix, but it is available for “limited purchase” on the official site while the filmmakers seek distribution at film festivals. I think it looks fascinating:
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Im kinda torn on this one. I believe that the Columbine incident happened because of bullying, verbal/social abuse from the “popular kids,” deep psychiatric issues, unanswered cries for help, and many other reasons, not just “Manson and videogames,” but at the same time I don’t think playing to “win” by killing your classmates based on a real tragedy is the best way to focus our attention on the behaviors of school children and the catalyst for such disasters.
This has to be the stupidest shit I’ve ever seen in my life. The mainstream media tells you that you can only have a horrified reaction to a massacre? No, that’s your conscience. I want to see this movie just to make a list of people I never want to meet in real life.
Thanks for posting this! The film has new screened at several festivals and DVD distribution is in the works. These things take time, unfortunately, but there is substantial positive interest in the film, including praise from Andrew Barker at Variety:
“The ongoing debate over representations of violence in videogames is the immediate focus of “Playing Columbine,” Danny Ledonne’s gripping, troublemaking docu about the reaction to his videogame re-creation of the Columbine High School massacre. But the film goes much further, ultimately tying questions of propriety and censorship into a larger discussion of the development of videogames as a form of expressive art. While it raises far more questions that it can answer, pic serves as an impressively nuanced call for games to be taken more seriously, and it could find a healthy fest and homevideo reception from the gaming community and beyond.”
I am working hard to get the film distributed and I thank everyone for this support. It is very much appreciated!