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Violent behavior modeled on movies?

Editor, Index-Tribune:

    

  Thank you for publishing the letter to which you gave the headline, “Theaters have responsibility to provide uplifting films.”

  The point of the letter, which was submitted by the Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County and signed by seven other groups, including Sonoma Valley Peace & Justice, is that films that feature torture, as does “Zero Dark Thirty,” can and perhaps do increase violence in our communities.

  Of course, films of merit have shown crime and other forms of violence. Even comedies like those of Laurel and Hardy had their share. Whether anyone modeled violent behavior on seeing those movies has not, to my knowledge, been studied. Surely the possibility should make us think seriously about providing, showing and watching such films.

  Mattie Rudinow

  Sonoma