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Question of morals

R

Raymond_Pliskin

I have a quick question I'd like to throw out there - mainly to get other peoples views on this:-

I was listening to the radio earlier and I caught part of a news story about suicides in a town nearby:- Basically, there have been roughly (can't remember the exact number) 17 suicides there over the past year, and a few sparse ones over the years before.

The main concern was that no one can find a link and the parents of the departed fear the media are to blame:-

Now, this has inspired a story in my head which I would like to write down for the purpose of writing and shooting it after my current project.

Is this wrong to hopefully shoot a film based on others misery? (sp?) I know there have been films about wars and such, but this feels to me like a more personal piece of work.

NAturally I wouldn't use the exct names of people or the name of the town, but it would still be based on this event...

Is this wrong?

I'd love to hear some other peoples thoughts on this.
 
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I believe that there's nothing wrong with doing a project based on those events. The fact is you don't know that your work won't be the thing that stops the suicides. You might be the one with the answer to help.

Reality is that everything is open, as long as your gut tells you that it fits in with your morals and ethics. And after that, you either make money or lose money based upon your audiences morals and ethics. It all works in a circle. But the central issue is in the end, it's about success. I don't want to say it's about money, because there are some who don't care about money. But success, or simply people watching your work, has got to matter to the rest!

So go for it. You'll know soon enough if you've gone too far.

chris
 
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My soul mate attempted suicide several times and then did kill herself (years ago), me and some friends found her dead body, so I know some about suicide and its effects. Personally I would not have a problem with a movie based on suicides, esp if it calls attention to it. As long as the writer is sensitive to using different names, not drawing too much attention to specific families and locations of families and victims. Would not bother me at all. I am sure such a film will bother some, esp. those just starting the grieving process, very painful in the acute phase.
 
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It's a difficult subject, one that I drew upon many, many years ago when exploring these same emotions. I had a girlfriend in highschool who threatened this when I broke up with her (of course, I broke up with her because she was emotionally unstable, so I just added fuel to the fire). I often thought about turning this short story of mine into a short film, but it's a downer, so I was avoiding it.

Recreated here:

http://www.indietalk.com/blog.php?b=56
 
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I don't suppose the topic of suicide is anymore taboo than anything else.

I think if you handle it with sensitivity and if you are respectful, you might just have a compelling story. Naturally, you would change all the particulars to protect those involved because it isn't your place to tell anyone how or when to grieve, but I would think there are ways, gently or not so, to handle the subject.

One movie I would recommend on the subject:

The Virgin Suicides: a group of boys re-tell the story of a family where all 5 daughters commit suicide.
For 5 seconds I hated the ending, but it only took a moment to figure out that the film ended as it should have.

Plus, this was a very small, independent film, something that always draws me to a film.

-- spinner :cool:
 
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The virgin suicides has one of the coolest walks ever recorded on film. Done by Josh Hartnett in a PERFECT 70's swagger. I want that walk!

For this project, what are you thinking of addressing? The medias involvement or the lack of found connections or just the immense tragedy of the thing? These are all good themes for exploration. I'm sure there are many more aspects of this I haven't listed nor considered. The power of film is that you can present new information to me (the audience).
 
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Raymond_Pliskin said:
Is this wrong to hopefully shoot a film based on others misery?

NAturally I wouldn't use the exct names of people or the name of the town, but it would still be based on this event...

Is this wrong?
Click to expand...

Not in my opinion.

Gus Van Sant had "Elephant" & "Last Days". Blatantly obvious in what they are talking about, but not specifically tied to the events.
 
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Thanks for the many responses guys, I really appreciate you sharing your views.

knightly said:
For this project, what are you thinking of addressing? The medias involvement or the lack of found connections or just the immense tragedy of the thing? These are all good themes for exploration. I'm sure there are many more aspects of this I haven't listed nor considered. The power of film is that you can present new information to me (the audience).
Click to expand...

My idea is still rough (I'm working on another project so I'm trying not to get too distracted from it).

What I was thinking was writing about 4 different characters, from 4 different life-styles. The idea was going to be about these 4 pepople who have already decided that they're going to commit suicide, and that they've paid this one guy to film them up to the day they kill themselves.

So the main crux of the film is these 4 people talking about WHY they've decided to kill themselves.

It would be totally fictional, of course, but the way I was thinking about shooting it was in the style of a documentary - that way it would give it a more personal and emotional touch.

Like I said, it's totally rough.

The more I thought about it the less it was linked to that news story, so I think I'm pretty safe in that respect. Lol
 
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Do it. Sounds intriguing.

Of course, coming from my often twisted mind, that story would evolve into a horror/thriller because I can see some freak getting caught up in their moment and deciding to help them on their journey.

"It's what they wanted," he said. "God asked me to help. Share your pain with me, and I will take it from you."

Doh! :lol:
 
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Who's to say I wasn't already thinking that? Lol

I've a LOT of ideas on how to mix it up and stuff. I've a lot of crazy visual ideas. A lot of crazy character ideas.

Though the more I spend time thinking about it the less I want to carry on working on my current project. Lol

I've hit a brick wall and I don't like it >.<
 
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The only thing I can imagine that would be immoral would be if you got the parents and friends of the deceased drunk and got them to spill dirty secrets that you subsequently put in your film. That could make you unpopular ... unless you got them all drunk again, and you all had a good cry over it ... "I love you, man".

Seriously, I think awareness is the beginning of the solution. You can't possible address a problem without first exposing it for what it is. I have issues with the way the media handles these things, because the media generally tries to spin things to sell their product (at least in the U.S.).

Doug
 
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Zensteve said:
Not in my opinion.

Gus Van Sant had "Elephant" & "Last Days". Blatantly obvious in what they are talking about, but not specifically tied to the events.
Click to expand...

"Last Days" is a film I have wanted to see for a long time, neither IFC nor SUNDANCE has shown it yet. However, I went to wikipedia to look the film up and found this page, Raymond. Its a list of films on suicides:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Films_about_suicide

There aren't that many if you look at the lists of other movie genres on wiki, but there are a number you could peruse...

One called "The Bridge" in particular, its a documentary, but I don't know if I would have gone about it this way, I know I would not have handled the subjects in that fashion....

-- spinner :cool:
 
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No I think that you have to go for it, some might see it as too strong of a concept, but I encourage you to go for it! I love the concept! It looks like people have already made films with suicides it could be cool to do the same thing but with a different twist maybe they are all really good kids with completely seperate lives and look to be completely happy, but on the inside are screaming for an escape! Thats how suicide hits most people and you could do an entire movie about building a great relationship with the characters and then at the end they could all kill themselves in a quick unique way each one of them. You see the pain it brings the family etc... I think its a solid idea
 
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