Talk:Elephant (2003 film)

message: The mentioned goof pre-supposes that kids NEVER have access to their parents credit cards or that ALL US gunshops ALWAYS perform background checks. This does not stand to reason.
This is IMO a dangerous and untrue statement: Just because fraud, murder, jaywalking and rape are against the law, doesn't mean they don't happen. And murder and rape don't have majority support amongst Americans, like gun use does. It is likely that a gun dealer thinks: I don't agree with these stupid background checks anyway, so I'm not gonna bother with performing them.--Brian Tjoe-Nij (talk) 15:00, 5 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Goof? I don't think so ... 

message: I recall that Elias was never actually shown being shot in the library, the male who is shot is wearing a shirt of a different color than Elias is. Could anyone with a copy of the movie handy verify? 68.60.48.196 22:55, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Elias Shot?

message: Just looked at it.  Michelle is shot, then a guy in a gray/black shirt, not a maroon shirt.  So, I don't think so, no.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.150.250.104 (talk) 06:12, 12 January 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Elias Shot?

message: This is currently in the "origins" section of this page:
"Author JT LeRoy, a friend of Mr. Van Sant's, was among the writers, and is credited as associate producer for the film."
JT LeRoy is not a real person, but rather a psuedonym that author Laura Albert used for a series of books. Albert denied that there was no "JT LeRoy" until several newspapers investigated and found there was no such person. I am going to alter part of that quote to reflect this.
Um, first time ive even heard of this movie and although ive left the site knowing a great deal about why its called Elephant, and that there is a homosexual shower scene kiss, i only figured out its about a spree-killing at the bottom. Can someone write a breif synopsis about the film? Otherwise it seems like just random information. Cheers
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Is it a good idea to show who dies in the movie in the article even though it has a spoiler warning? Someone spoke against showing who dies in the movie on my talk page... WhisperToMe 00:20, 2 Dec 2003 (UTC)
replies: text: I thought the argument made on your talk page (now in your archive) was a strong one. Pete/Pcb21 (talk) 10:38, 19 Feb 2004 (UTC)

text: Of course there was no character development, that was part of the point of the film. It was just a depiction of several people one hour or so before the shootings. How much character development can you have in an hour? The message of the film is, I think:
"There's a huge problem in this society which is never talked about (the elephant in the room), especially not by the Elphant, the Republican party."
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It's often true that not even those who commit crimes can say why they did it. 
Why should Gus Van Sant package up a simple solution to the complex motive(s) of the killers? Have we become trapped within "sitcom" mentality that insists on stories tied up in a nice neat bow?
I appreciated Van Sant allowing me to reflect on the interactions between American societial values, School violence and sheer chance without forcing his own values and views. Jim Jacobs 10:25, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: 'Origins' section, JT LeRoy isn't a real person

message: It seems someone accidentilly left the plot out of the synopsis?
Can someone tell us the story of the film? The description doesnt even mention killings!
Third party here asking for a plot description, even a paraphrased plot description from the back of the box?
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That is by far the worst "synopsis" of a plot I have ever read on Wikipedia. I'm very disappointed, seeing as the movie itself is actually very good though possibly controversial, and I would really like it to be cleared up and, well... actually made into a synopsis. 80.47.227.198 14:59, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I worked on it and it's a little better now. I haven't seen the movie in a while, so if someone else could expand that section it would be appreciated. Propound 09:07, 14 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  What is the plot? 

message: To me a whole lot of this article reads like film criticism and not an encyclopedic article, with lots of comments which seem to be straight from the editors, not quotes from published crtics or other outside sources.  "B-level" is kind; lots of things stand needing to be cited from their source or else removed.  Rlquall 13:55, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Unreferenced article template added. Propound 09:07, 14 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Film criticism 

message: From the article: "Benny - Kind and fearless student who rescues Acadia by helping her jump out of a window, and who attempts to stop Eric." - I believe this is a very stark misreading of the movie. The Benny character rightly gives Acadia a hand, but she would have been able to climb out of the window herself. Then he goes off to find Eric in a zombiesque way. He does NOT try to stop Eric, rather he walks up to him in the same zombie-like way and gets shot.
Elephant is not a movie about bravery in the face of danger. I believe such a reading of the film to be misleading and taking the focus away from the film's main target: a genuinly narsissistic society where all the adults fail to act as authorities and where no one is really connected to anyone else.
The idea of heroism in this context is extremely remote. There are no heroes in Elephant. --84.208.194.186 12:58, 14 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I think it's trivially easy to classify Benny's behavior as heroism. Your detailed OR synopsis includes a long explanation which overinterpretates the facts and seems to try to refute the obvious. Although the film is documentary like and doesn't contain stereotypical heroes, how Benny acted is by the standard dictionary definition heroism. Aaron Bowen 13:56, 14 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  The Benny character's "heroism" 

message: ...was removed due to copyright violation from IMDb. →EdGl 18:57, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Trivia section... 

message: Please stop redirecting Eric Deulen here.Zigzig20s 19:25, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Eric Deulen 

message: "This is the second movie in Gus Van Sant's Death Trilogy - the first is Gerry and the third Last Days; all three are based on actual events. Elephant takes place in the fictional Watt High School, in Portland, Oregon, and chronicles the events surrounding a fictional school shooting, based in part on the 1999 Columbine High School Massacre. The end of the film stresses the "similarities to actual events are purely coincidental" disclaimer."
If we are going to point out the disclaimer about the movies similarities to actaul events being purely coincidental then we cant go and say that it is based on actual events in the same paragraph.202.4.74.65 15:03, 7 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  based on actual events 

message: How is this a German language film? Crushti (talk) 06:04, 23 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  German 

message: This series, at least from what i had been told, is all about the life and death of the
frontman of the band Nirvana, Kurt Cobain who was also a good friend of Gus Van Sant - 
as I read somewhere (maybe even here on wikipedia!). And its even sounds right - because kurt thought he was gay when he was in high school, probably influenced by a friend of him (again, information I collected from books, movies and internet). I only saw the movie "Last Days", and i can tell it is clearly based on Kurt's last days. The events are a little loose, but still. I searched the movie in here, and I noticed Kurt's name doesn't appear here even once.
Someone?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.138.41.79 (talk) 10:55, 15 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Kurt Cobain 

message: Does anyone know how much this movie cost to make? Stephen Rasku (talk) 18:26, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Financing 

message: The article mentions the scene in which Alex and Eric kiss "caused many people to question the sexuality of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris." Although it may be factual, it is problematic because Alex and Eric's sexuality is not revealed, nor is it our place to assume it. If it is going to remain in the article, I think it needs citation. Willhig (talk) 18:53, 20 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sexuality 

message: This article is one of the few movie articles on wikipedia with no section on criticism, anyone interested in writing it? Noformation (talk) 06:34, 13 January 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Critical response 

message: There is also a 2010 Russian movie called Elephant (Cлон) - Not much in English online about the movie (and it is a redlink on the Ruiisan Wik, but here is something:  https://www.amazon.com/Elephant-Sergey-Shnurov/dp/B00GAK0RFW Kdammers (talk) 04:02, 19 August 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Russian film