subject: Vigilante Movies And Its Effect On Public [print this page] Vigilante movie, we watch it all the timeVigilante movie, we watch it all the time. Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Ironman and the list goes ever on and on. According to Wikipedia, vigilantism is when someone punishes someone for perceived offenses, or participates in a group which metes out extrajudicial punishment to such a person.
Here"s the irony, vigilantism is illegal in most countries, and vigilante movies are shown in the very countries who frown on vigilantism. In Ironman, we would cheer when the guy in metal suit kills the terrorists, and portray the inability of the legal justice system to do anything it. The judges and police actually do not Tony as a guilty man, even though he is from the States, the country who bans vigilantism. In Batman, policemen are shown as useless characters whose purpose there is just to be killed by gangsters. And the police had to depend on Mr Vigilante Wayne to put a stop to the latest evil boss who emerges. In Punisher, Castle would go on avenging the deaths of his family instead of calling the police.
In real life, we can see vigilante activities often. On Youtube, videos on purse snatches being beaten up by the public, received high ratings from viewers. Some even commented that the public did a good job. Several more videos on vigilantism can be found at Tinkrbox, a social video bookmarking site. In one of these videos, the public sets fire to a criminal. At the same video bookmarking site, we can find that a girl was given a chance to whip her rapist.
Perhaps, the effect of superhero movies actually changed the mindset of the public. We should serve justice to the bad guys because the cops would not be able to do anything to the bad guys. We should punish them because they deserve it. But then what is the difference between us and the bad guys? They rob and snatch purse. Does this mean that we can kick and whip them? Useless indeed, would be the legal justice system if this were to be accepted by the public.
