The question over whether or not words and images can provoke violence is a stupid one. Of course they can. Why do thousands of companies spend hundreds of billions of dollars on advertising? Why do politicians spend billions of their own? Because words and images have the power to alter human behavior, and not only in small ways, like which toothpaste they will purchase.
The image of Clark Gable not wearing one in Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night (1934) almost put the t-shirt industry out of business. Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976) inspired a presidential assassin. Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008) inspired a Joker-like movie theater massacre. David Fincher’s Fight Club (1999) inspired its own Project Mayhem. Need I go on?
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