Clinton calls for entertainment industry's cooperation on 'rebuilding values'

CALIFORNIA — In a speech before the entertainment industry, President Bill Clinton in early December detailed his views on how movie and television violence relates to real-life violence.

In contrast to Attorney General Janet Reno’s remarks to Congress that the entertainment industry should dramatically curb dramatized violence, Clinton gave his support for some violent movies.

“I think — to mention one — ‘Boyz in the Hood’ was a great movie because it showed the truth about what happens when chaos is replaced with destruction,” he said.

But Clinton told the TV and movie industries that those who have never been taught to understand the consequence of their own actions do not benefit from hours of exposure to violent television. Children without positive role models who view TV violence often end up unable to deal with conflicts without using violence, the president said.

He asked entertainment executives to join in a partnership with him to examine what can be done to offer children non-violent ways to cope with their frustrations and to help “restore some stucture and some hope and some essential dignity and purpose to lives that have been dominated by chaos.”