Obama asks Hollywood to not promote gun culture, violence

Washington: US President Barack Obama has asked Hollywood not to promote violence and glorify the usage of guns in its movies as they may negatively influence minds of children. [caption id=“attachment_1252329” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Barack Obama. AP image[/caption] “When it comes to issues like gun violence, we’ve got to make sure that we’re not glorifying it because the stories you tell shape our children’s outlook and their lives,” Obama said in his remarks at an event at DreamWorks studios in Los Angeles yesterday. “Earlier this year, leaders from this town sat down with Vice President Biden to talk about what Hollywood could do to help keep our kids safe. This was in the wake of Sandy Hook. And those conversations need to continue. The stories we tell matter. You tell stories more powerfully than anybody else on the earth,” Obama said. “I want to make clear, even as we think long and hard about the messages we send, we should never waver from our commitment to the freedom that allows us to tell those stories so well”, Obama said. “The stories that we tell transmit values and ideals about tolerance and diversity and overcoming adversity, and creativity that are part of our DNA. And as a consequence of what you’ve done, you helped shape the world’s culture in a way that has made the world better,” Obama said. “Even if their own nations haven’t made that progress yet, and young people in countries all around the world suddenly make a connection and have an affinity who don’t look like them, and maybe originally they might have been fearful of them, now suddenly they say, “Oh, this person is like me,” which is one of the powers of art. But that’s what you transmit. And that is a remarkable legacy,” Obama said. PTI