Alarming surge in gun violence among American youth mirrors popular movies: study

Violent movies and real-life murders involving guns and young people could be linked, a new study found. 

The rising number of violent gun scenes in blockbuster movies over the last two decades closely mirrors a surge in firearm-related murders among Americans aged 15 to 25 over the same period, concluded researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. 

The analysis, which examined over 25,000 random, five-minute segments from the top 30 movies and TV series every year from 2000 to 2021, looked at how often characters used firearms to injure or kill others, then compared those rates to national data on homicides and suicides among young people. 

Researchers found the rise in gun violence in movies coincided almost perfectly with the surge in youthful firearm homicides — both rising at a rate of nearly 200% over the 21-year period. They found no parallel to suicide rates.

The 2021 hit action film “The Suicide Squad,” starring American actors Margot Robbie and John Cena, had the most gun bloodshed with 15 shooting scenes, the study found.

“American Sniper” – one of the most popular films in 2015 – followed with 14 depictions.

Episodes of the hit American crime thriller series “The Blacklist” released in 2016 portrayed gun violence 33 times, the most of any popular series in that period, followed by the 2015 season of “Hawaii Five-0,” in which there were 31 scenes depicting gunfire. 

Gun violence in television rose 40% between 2000 and 2021.

The findings suggest that Hollywood blockbusters may be modeling deadly behavior for teens and young adults, just as smoking scenes once did. 

“In decades past, the public health community was successful in reducing the portrayal of tobacco use in movies and television,” the study’s lead author Dan Romer said. “Following that lead, the entertainment industry should do all that it can to highlight the need for safe storage of firearms and to consider whether firearm use is necessary to tell compelling stories.”