Crime on Screen: A Dangerous Trend?

The crime rate in my country Ghana today is nothing to write home about. Just yesterday, I received news that one of my students lost his life and apparently, he was stabbed to death by robbers and dumped somewhere on campus. If someone was able to come to a whole university campus to murder a student for as much as a motor bike and a phone, then I really don’t know where the world is headed.

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I wasn’t one to watch movies while growing up but my siblings sure did enjoy it. My brother liked watching these action movies and after the movie, you’ll see him trying to act like a Chinese fighter, holding your neck, trying to kick you and all sorts of stuff just as a joke but when you think about it, he learnt all those from movies. Over the years, I’ve grown to love movies but you’ll hardly find me watching crime movies unless there’s a lot of hype around it.

I haven’t seen even one episode of prison break but trust me, I know more about that series than you can imagine. You just see young guys posting about the movie and how they admire this and that character for what they did and all of. Same applies to money heist. Even though I watched how to get away with murder and loved the whole plot twist, I wouldn’t say it doesn’t glorify criminals. These movies literally show you how to get away with crimes you commit and we think they’re just movies.

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I wouldn’t mind if the movie ended in a way such that those who committed crimes payed for them or some other valuable lesson but everything is about making money these days. No movie writer wants to write a story where the viewers are able to guess what’s going to happen next. It’s the suspense that keeps us stuck to the whole show up to the very end. So, these writers would do anything to keep the viewers with them till the last end.

We’ve spoken extensively on the crime rate in the world these days. As many countries are facing economic challenges these days, citizens
feel the impact of these challenges the most as inflation and every other thing hits them first. I’ve seen mothers encourage their sons so go into internet fraud and when you ask these guys why they do what they do , they tell you that they are taking back what their colonial masters stole from them.

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At this point, I think most people have been brainwashed to the extent of justifying their crimes. There’s really no justification to doing wrong and we need to come to terms with that as soon as possible. Even though most of us wouldn’t believe movies play a huge role in all the crimes going on, let’s not forget that we learn the most from things we always see. It’s just like you starting to smoke because all your friends smoke. Yes, peer pressure. But movies are a different level of peer pressure. It takes someone with a clear mind to not have thoughts of committing crimes when things get hard.

I think movie writers and directors would do us all good if they actually had a different plot in the movies being produced. Maybe give it a good ending or make it crime free because most of us learn from these things. Why do you think kids go to school with guns in their bags and even end up shooting their mates. Let’s all endeavour to introduce our kids to crime free movies so they can learn the right way of living and also promote a peaceful world while creating a good and safe future for our kids.

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