In just one week, the series entered the ranking of the most watched series on the platform, thus demonstrating the popularity of works that portray real crimes.

Now, almost a year since its first Brazilian production, on July 9, 2023, the documentary “Massacre na Escola – A Tragédia das Meninas de Realengo” is being talked about on several social networks. This time, not because of the tragedy it describes, but because of a lie told that can affect the lives of other people.

The documentary

As we begin the penultimate episode, a warning is displayed on the screen to inform viewers that the person responsible for the massacre at the Tasso da Silveira Municipal School in the Realengo neighborhood (Rio de Janeiro) will not be shown throughout the episode to prevent it from inspiring other massacres.

What seems like a careful measure and a job done professionally and ethically, soon becomes just another detail swallowed up by the inaccuracy of facts shown minutes later.

In a talk about the internet and how “lone wolves” is not the best term to use when referring to the person responsible for these attacks, scenes from Counter Strike games are used to exemplify speeches about violence.

About 15 minutes into this episode, Ricardo Chagas says that the first-person shooter (FPS) game was created by the US army as a way to improve soldiers’ aim and performance. He also states that the Realengo killer trained in this game.

In the next scene, he shows his computer screen with a video titled “Free Fire’s +18 chat”, reads the description and says that it is possible to see how these people behave.

In this part of the interview, Chagas insinuates that the author of this video is one of the people who participates in these malicious chats and is indicating others.

The video actually criticizes the content that people send in this global chat and shows that these chats end up creating an appropriate place for people with bad intentions. For example, men looking for virtual sex with girls.

Up until now, we can consider it just an accident, or perhaps the video was used only as an example.

However, it is in the following sequence that the biggest problem of this episode comes to light. When talking about child groomers, the consultant mentions a YouTuber known as Core and states that “this is the largest children’s content channel in Brazil that is not for children”.

This time, he shows scenes from the video “The complete story of Five Nights at Freddy’s”, a horror franchise released in 2014.

According to the consultant, this game would have been “based on a massacre that occurred in a North American diner”. This information, however, has already been denied by Scott Cawthon, creator of the franchise.

Although he did not call any of the creators mentioned in the video recruiters, Chagas’ statements put these YouTubers in a very delicate situation. After all, no one wants to have their content linked to this type of accusation.

In the video, Henrique Marangon Core reinforces that his channel is not for children and shared that this situation has been keeping him up at night, in addition to bringing fear to his family, since there is no way to predict how people will react to this.

But whose fault is it?

It is not uncommon to find podcasts, videos and texts on the internet about criminal cases that have occurred around the world.

Perhaps human curiosity contributes to the multiplication of these materials, perhaps the internet facilitates their distribution.

However, it is a fact that, even before online media, channels such as Investigação Discovery already had an audience dealing with criminal cases. The internet has only expanded their reach.

The role of taking care of the way in which such information is passed on, however, falls to the content creator. Information needs to be verified multiple times and be passed on in a way that protects both the victim and the viewer.

Wrongly accusing a person can have fatal consequences in some cases. An example of this is the collective lynching of Fabiane Maria de Jesus, in 2014.

Because her name was linked to a fake news story that linked it to the kidnapping of children for black magic, Fabiane was tied up and beaten to death by residents of Guarujá, São Paulo.

Another important point to be raised in this situation is the role of content creators and parents in controlling what is consumed by children on the internet.

I remember walking down one of the main avenues in my city in 2022 and seeing Huggy Wuggy plush toys hanging in droves on the flowerbed. This character seems to have become popular among children under eight years old, even though it was not made for them.

In a situation where a YouTuber posts videos playing a horror game on his channel that is not recommended for children, is it up to the parents or the platform to control access?

To what extent can we point fingers without harming each person’s right to produce their work?

Unfortunately, I do not have an answer to any of the questions raised in this text. And I believe that not even those involved do. According to an article published on the F5 portal, Warner Bros Discovery is aware of what happened, but will not comment on it.

On the other hand, during a live broadcast on his Instagram, consultant Ricardo Chagas called Core and his subscribers “digital illiterates” for not knowing how to interpret what he said in the documentary and called Core insignificant.

I think it’s worth pointing out that I don’t consider the documentary to be poorly made, I just feel that there was a great tendency to incriminate video games and the internet as the source of all evil, in addition to pointing out people and their YouTube channels as gateways for predators without even thoroughly researching the data presented.

O post Fake News and Sensationalism | The Dangers of a “Badly Done” True Crime apareceu primeiro em e-Popcorn.

In 2000, he made his film debut as Rudy Prescott in the film “Stand by Me”, alongside Mark Ruffalo (Avengers) and Laura Linney (Ozark).

Two years later, Culkin played Morgan Hess in the film “Signs” written and produced by M. Knight Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense), where he became known for the classic scene with the tinfoil helmet.

With films like Scream 4 (2011) and Lord of Chaos (2018) under his belt, a path was naturally traced in his career. Where, little by little, in horror films, Culkin gained prominence with roles where “madness” needs to be highlighted.

Rory Culkin on Under the banner of heaven

The 2022 series is set in the investigation into the murder of Brenda Wright Lafferty and her baby. In the suburbs of Salt Lake Valley, Utah, investigator Jeb Pyre struggles to find the culprits of such brutality, while trying to maintain faith in his religion.

In this series, Rory Culkin plays Samuel Lafferty, one of Ammon Lafferty’s sons. Sam is loyal to his brothers and tries to protect his family at all costs. In his speeches, he shows several times that he is ready to be “sacrificed” for the greater good.

In addition to the perfect characterization created by the production of Under the Banner of Heaven, Rory also delivers a lot in his performance. Perhaps it is due to his wide eyes, the projected speech or the body posture that indicates that he is ready to attack at any moment, the actor makes it clear the potential he has to project fanaticism and “madness” to the screen.

(I tried to find videos to illustrate, but all the videos available on Tik Tok were edited with music and sensual effects, which were very questionable)

In Brazil you can watch Under the banner of heaven on the Star+ streaming platform.

Rory Culkin on Black Mirror, season 6

The episode Beyond the Sea, season six of Black Mirror (available on Netflix), has space travel as its backdrop and introduces us to a “tool” developed so that astronauts can live their domestic lives alongside their families, while traveling in space.

With the option of transporting their consciousness to their doppelgangers who are on Earth, the characters Cliff Stanfield (Aaron Paul) and David Ross (Josh Hartnett) can live their daily lives in two different realities.

When David’s house is invaded by a sect that cannot accept his existence as something natural on Earth, he can do little to defend his family. And this is where our main character comes into action.

In the series, Rory does not have much prominence. His character, Kappa, only serves to kick off the main plot of this episode.

However, in the few scenes he appears, once again, he manages to convey all the nuances of his fanaticism in his beliefs.

Although both characters are driven by the same force, religious fanaticism/belief, when watching both series, it is clear that each character was thought and developed differently and Rory does not fail to convey this in front of the cameras.

If there is a genre exclusively dedicated to religious fanatics, the youngest of the Culkins can certainly be cast in several roles and play them all masterfully.

I don’t think he is ideal only for these types of roles, but after having watched so much of his work in a short period of time, I decided to write about the excellence in which Rory Culkin plays lunatics in the movies.

Without a doubt, the best lunatic in recent times.

O post Rory Culkin | Hollywood’s Best Lunatic apareceu primeiro em e-Popcorn.