With the nation still shaking its head over the Aurora massacre (wherein a gunman opened fire on a theater crowded with fans watching The Dark Knight Rises, killing 12), many are debating what might’ve contributed to the atrocity. Some are pointing to the Batman movies naturally—and more broadly movies in general. “I think as filmmakers we should sit down—the Marty Scorseses, the Quentin Tarantinos and hopefully all of us who deal in violence in movies—and discuss our role in that,” prominent movie producer Harvey Weinstein told The Huffington Post. Many studies suggest that problematic movies can impact the people who watch them—particularly children and teens. Violent films have been linked with violent behavior. Smoking on screen has been said to influence whether teens smoke in real life. Most recently, a study from the University of Missouri suggests that sexual content in film may trigger teens to become more sexually active. The first phase of the long-term study began in 1998 and lasted through 2004. Researchers asked kids between the ages of 12 and 14 what sorts of movies they watched. Several years later, researchers located the same students again to find out if they were engaged in risky sexual behavior (i.e., having multiple partners, not using condoms). Researchers found that those who had been exposed to more explicitly sexual movies were more likely to fall into sexually unwise behavior. (New York Daily News, Health Day)