October 29, 2006
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The Bridge
About 1,300 people have jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge since it opened in 1937.
Now a movie is being released called “The Bridge.” The producers of the movie taped the bridge for a complete year and caught about two dozen people jumping from the bridge to their death.
The movie is exploring different issues of suicide. The producers have said that they were trying to answer such questions as “Why do people commit suicide?” They interviewed family members of those who committed suicide. They also show letters from those who committed suicide.
Critics have said that the film will cause more people to commit suicide. Others are concerned of the suicide footage being played for voyeuristic purposes.
Do you think that showing people jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge will help in understanding why people commit suicide?
Comments (147)
It’ll show how.
Yes
maybe
You cant make someone commit suicide by making a movie about it.That is just stupid. This wont promote suicide just maybe help explain it.
I dont think showing them actually jumping off the bridge will do anything about the issue, but I think that it could show people who may be suicidal, what they are really doing to themselves.
No.
Quite honestly, I’ve been on the edge a lot myself.
And my best friend attempted suicide.
It’s different in every case.
But the vaguest answer is stress.
Oftentime, I just wonder if they finally figure out that everything is pointless…
Hm.
well.. just showing them jumping off won’t explain anything.
isn’t that just a more tragic way of dying?
people will always have their own ways of thinking.
though i wonder what the movie will be like…
Perhaps…
No, it’ll just show them the best way to jump.
no, the only thing it will do is show how often people commit suicide
^oh, and how completely unoriginal they are!
no, they are just shoing the effect, waht we want to know is the cause. we know people kill themselvs but we don’t understand why. a screwd up life, depression, or it might be an inherited trait.
Not at all. And i feel horrible for the familys of those who haved jumped off the bridge, i really doubt a movie about it is going to help them cope.
maybe from the interviews with family members and people who have attempted suicide, but not from watching people kill themselves
next tiem i coment i will finish my thought before hitting submit…
Maybe….
uh. noooo
I wish that they’d provide them with helmet camsand microphones before they jumped…or better yet install some floating, waterproof, high resolution cameras directly underneath the bridge, that way we wouldn’t miss anything! I’d watch!
But I guess that’s not answering your question. No. It won’t show the why, or help us understand…but my idea will sure show the pain and the realization of what a stupid thing it was to do halfway down! I bet that it would prevent others from jumping after seeing that.
whooooo knows.
it sounds interesting though. i’d see it.
nah
first page?
yes!
I’ll be willing to demonstrate
I doubt it. The people committing suicide won’t stand there on the bridge and yell, “I’m doing this because my spouse cheated on me!” before they jump. We’d just see them jump. It shows us nothing.
No. I mean, why is showing suicide jumping off the Bridge any different than showing an overdose suicide? I dunno know…
Eh, not really. Maybe, but I kind of doubt it.
I dont support Suicide. If u want your life to end, dont waste it. Remember your country invested in you. If u no longer value your life, join the army, give your life back to the country that gave u so much. They would love you, you would not fear death! Also they would not take the gun away from you, but give u bigger ones! So dont kill yourself! join the army, let someone else do it for you!
nope
I honestly don’t think it will I mean suicidal people commit suicide for many different reasons. If you just show people jumpiong off the bridge you will not know a thing about them. What was running through there mind before hand. Or why did they even choose to do this. Suicide is a decison that people make becuase they think it is for the best. But yet some don’t reliaze that there are people out there that can help them through this. Or help them through there psycholgical disorder that they might have that is leading to there suicide.
Understanding? No. More aware that it’s happening? Not even that, unless it hits close to home, they’re just people jumping off a bridge.
…not really. But it might be interesting to see what they say.
possibly, and if im in the top 40, sweet! lol
no, but itll raise awareness… 12 people in a year, thats 1 per month… people have to know…
i really liked AyeEre’s answer…
nooooo
People are always concerned about something, can’t they just enjoy something?
it would be like a bullfight. Replace the bull with the suicidal person. Replace the matador with the producers. It’s harsh. It’s dumb.
I would have to see the movie. If nothing else, it might show why these people (the ones captured on film) committed suicide. It might also give people a better awareness of the issue, i mean recognizing symptoms and things like that since they are interviewing friends and family and showing some of the suicide notes. I certainly dont think it is going to encourage suicide. If anything it may show the effect suicide has on loved ones and maybe in doing so discourage some people from doing it.
I doubt it will show what pushes people over the edge. I don’t plan to see it, for what that’s worth … I’ve been close, and I’ve had friends be close.
-Guru on the Hill
Unless it’s a person who like to jump on the band wagon, then no, I don’t see how it promotes anything, except the knowledge as to why it’s done.
~Lynds
no
No…it’s just another sad attempt to make money using the shock factor. Ugh.
No..that just sounds stupid. If I see people shooting themselves in the head with a gun, I don’t think that would make me understand better. The only way of truely understanding is being in a situation where YOU feel like commiting suicide.
It won’t help us understand why.
No…showing footage of how they did it won’t explain why they did it. And to be honest, I don’t think that interviewing loved ones or showing suicide notes will explain it, either. People who have killed themselves are the only ones who know why they did what they did. They’re the only ones who really know what they’re feeling.
depends on the person watching it. it’s really how their mind takes it in.
No, because we never really know why they did it. Even with talking with their friends and family.
And I do fear it will make more people do it.
Lemmings…
Maybe.
Maybe not, but it might highlight the problem so that there can be more prevention (including a railing that’s higher than 4 feet).
ah thats really sad, why do you do this to me dan? I want to be more naive and you ruin that for me *shakes fist violently*
and I agree with ladylibellule….put an effing 12 foot railing on there…
probably not, but it would be interesting and i don’t see what’s wrong with it
and i really don’t think they should put up any sort of anti-suicide fence, it seems sort of rude.
maybe not, i think it’s an interesting idea though.
Not really, but it’ll be an interesting film nonetheless.
I don’t think it will help, but I don’t think it will hope. The film crews and everyone actually prevented quite a few people from jumping.
…I meant hurt. I’m getting my h-words mixed up.
Probably because I woke up at 7:30 Friday morning and haven’t slept for more than an hour since.
No, this is just pure entertainment. We love to poke fun at the dead and watch them dieing. Unless it is a political cause. Then we get all upset. We can play the bleeding heart.
Probably not, but I don’t think it’ll cause more suicides either.
I dont think so, but why do people choose that bridge and second, why would someone want to commit suicide anyway. I believe there is someone out there willing to help someone.
I think a better method would be to ask people who attempt suicide and are unsuccessful. Then you publish a paper or write an artcile rather than showing pictures of the people dying; this will do little to explain anything.
probably not.
actually i think showing it might help. because then the entire concept enters your subconcious and without you conciously realizing it comes another option in life
No but it should be fun to watch, death can be an exciting albeit sad spectacle.
This doesn’t explain anything-it shows the act.
that number is low compared to the other bridges; like the one in new york or the massive one that goes over mountains wv. the CA bridge isnt that big of a deal.
if people want to kill themselves; its their life; let them.
who are we to stop them. who is to say the next life isnt better.
not everyone jumps off bridges some fall.if everyone jumped off a bridge would you???
i guess so if it was the cool thing to do.
answering th question, to me it’s an obvious no. Watching someone blow there head off doesn’t tell me why they did it. But the producers have there purposes, and i don’t think it’ll make more people commit suicide
that’s god damn depressing.
No, I don’t think showing someone actually committing suicide will make anyone understand suicide. Even the aftermath (speaking to loved ones, and reading the letters that people leave after commiting suicide) wouldn’t provide a complete picture. If we could read their thoughts as they fell maybe then we’d begin to understand, but I doubt we’d ever completely get it.
Those images, in and of themselves? No. Just as showing a crime as it occurs will not give you much insight as to why the crime is committed, etc. It’s how the scene is depicted, and how the filmmakers go behind the scenes to try to explore motives, family history, etc etc etc that will tell whether they get any real insight into deppression and suicide or not.
I don’t really think so.
is it me or did the user lobo45 vanish???
It shows how that half of the people who go there to commit suicide change they’re mind on the spot, and most people change they’re mind halfway down. It shows that suicide can easily be changed by one experience, and that fear can easily destroy the whole idea of it
it might inspire me to jump off to see if i could survive the drop
?
no
I think we should make bridges illegal. They are obviously dangerous.
I think a documentary of life might be able to study suicide. It’d have to include school, corner offices, doctor appointments, and lying alone at night.
A bridge just isn’t going to cut it.
Nope. Besides, that shouldn’t be filmed. What would their families think?
i dunno u have to see somthing like that to even understand u can’t predict ur reaction
No. That’s tasteless, showing people jumping to their deaths.
I’ve heard many people say that suicide is wrong. People make fun of it and take it in a disgustingly lighthearted manner.
I thank the people who have created this film; it would help the general population to understand why people do this. Why they don’t want to live anymore.
That’s terribly important.
no. and i don’t think they should release footage of people jumping for their families sake.
No.
Is it exploring what these people were doing/thinking before they jumped? From your description, it seems they were not. They were randomly viewing a snippet of someone else’s life — the end of it — without any backstory. How on earth is that exploring the causes of suicide?
Showing what they do won’t help to understand the issue at hand.
No. But it still sounds like an aewsome movie. Gotta bet I’m gonna be one of the first to see that.
no
No
I don’t think anyone fully understands it like those who actually do it.
sick… how traumatic would this be for those who knew the people who had commited suiside? and whats the point really? i mean in the very act? the motivation is rarelly reflected in the act itself, is it? and if it is simply stating rather than showing would suffice would it not?
no…i don’t know. I don’t think the movie will urge one way or another…
thePresidentscafe had a good point
it’ll show them how to jump
no. Have to dig deeper…
I don’t think the jumping specifically will show us why,
but how
I think the explainations will tell us “why” more than anything,
although I think it’s pretty obvious in many cases
Never, you never get answers from suicides. That’s why it’s so tragic, so many unanswered questions.
It might raise awareness. RYC: Yeah, you should!!! There should be a Theologian Empire!!!
not really.
I doubt it. I’d think they all jump off pretty much the same way…
hmm. i a word. No.
suicide is something in a person’s mind where they think that they have no way out. people can’t help them. drugs can’t help them. the only way out is death.
it’s sad and depressing.
i use to think it was selfish until my mind was opened to it.
i don’t think this movie will help anything. it’s just a waste of film.
No. This is not the way to do it. My guess is that each person had something slightly different in their background or circumstances to make it unique. I have to think that if someone was taping and watching/monitoring at the same time that they could have stepped in to save them. I don’t know the set-up, but I don’t think their families need to have it shoved in their face. Why do we have to see and hear everything? Can’t we just accept the facts and try to improve the situation – whether it be to monitoring the bridge or stepping in ahead of time and helping people out who are really having a rough time?
i read some comments from the filmmakers re their project, and they said the creepy thing was that they were able to tell, with good accuracy and fairly quickly, which people were going to seriously attempt it. they called 911 for those people and managed to save several lives that way… i think that might be the best legacy of all > being able to view behaviors and predict, based on behavior, who was a “serious” suicider…
as far as the film itself, i do not think it will increase the number of suicides, but i question the wisdom/taste of showing the actual deaths. i see validity in “dissecting” the actions, thoughts, and feelings leading up to the suicide attempts, and i can understand the desire of family members to work through understanding why their loved one would commit suicide. i just do not see and could not watch the showing of the actual leaps/deaths….
no. i know somebody who commited suicide this past year doing that and i think it will do more hurt than harm. there’s nothing to gain in opening up healed wounds. im sure the director[s] had good intentions, but its just not appropriate.
I know they weren’t actually seeing the live feed at the time, but it seems like since they could record them, they could stop them. Lots of pronouns – hope that made sense.
I doubt it will shed any real insight because of all those who actually have warning signs there are just as many who simply do not cause any red flag warning signs at all.
I personally think the idea is ingenious.
possibly…
No, but it sounds interesting. . .More trainwreck entertainment.
> I think it will depend on what the suicide notes show and the interviews say that will make a difference…. Suicide *** painless, it brings on many changes, and I can take or leave it, if I please…………
Peace
Not really. Closely studying people’s lives will provide a little insight, or interviewing those who have attempted and failed suicide.
They could hire a pirate and install a plank jutting off the side of the bridge… since they are making a movie off it, it cna be a sort of pirates of the carribean theme.
I already understand why people commit suicide. I don’t need a documentary to tell me.
No. You can’t always explain why the person committed suicide. I saw a comment that said it is different in every case, which is very very true. I don’t think it will make people want to kill themselves. But who knows? I can tell you one thing, I’m not about to see that one.
same issue on the westgate in OZ
I lived in SF and the Golden Gate bridge is really a serene place, yet this happens A LOT. I think showing suicide won’t impact anyone, really.
No.
showing someone commit suicide won’t, but showing the people’s letters and talking to their families might.
I agree with punks_in_the_beerlight
Maybe.
it depends if the movie is done in a tasteful manner
no!! it will show people how to do it them selves!!
ive seen the bridge and no people jumped off when i was there…damn…
lol i joke!
It might show why those people commit suicide … and how. However, the question “Why do people commit suicide?” will never be fully answered. Like murder, everyone has different motives.
i dunno, but it will be pretty cool.
Ever since I heard about this movie….which was about 6 or 7 months ago…i have wanted to see it…. my reason…. I wanna know why they did what they did…. what makes a person decide to end their life?….
i dont think anybody can fully understand why people committ suicide. suicide is the permanent solution to a temporary problem. the recents movies, Saw 1, 2, and 3, although very gruesome, disturbing and twisted have a good point to make about life and suicide and all of that stuff
Probably not. Although it may give some specific insights to what is going on in peoples minds.
I actually would find this movie very interesting.
I don’t think it will help or stop people from committing suicide. I think that if it does do anything it will help people stop. From what I’ve learned in Sociology it would seem many people commit suicide because they don’t feel like that fit into a group of people. They have no one. So, they would feel identified with people because they want to commit suicide, and perhaps that would prevent it.
I would be very interested in learning more about it myself. I’m always interested in learning how anyone ticks.
No – you either get it or you don’t
Not really. a persons death is as unique as the person themselves. We may think we know a person and then something happens to where we may not have known him/ her at all. A few years ago, just after Kurt Colbain killed himself, I was riding around with a few friends of mine and one of them began to talk about what a “stupid” way it was to die. A few years later, he married his”childhood sweet heart” they were going to have their first child, he owned the sister to my dog(we used to bet on which of the dogs were better^_^) when one night…he ended his life in the same way as Colbain.It was completly sudden and unexpected. I didn’t ask if there was a note to say why, I have no idea why, and since I had moved from that area sometime ago, I really didn’t have a chance to know his wife:(.
No, doesnt seem likely to me.
No. But I have to admit, I’d watch that movie.
Probably, yeah.
No! As I read this, my mouth just dropped in complete horror at these people for making this movie. How can stirring up other peopel’s shitty pasts help people possibly understand why people commit suicide? Watching people jump off bridges will not help you understand why they did it. It’s even better that cameramen would film that part of a person’s life, when they’re so alone and sad and confused and just want to end it all, they have to stare into the lens of a camera, knowing that people from all around will be seeing their death. And why would people want to see that anyway? That’s just sick.
Yo
no.
there are actually 1,203 reported suicides from the golden gate brige.
Yes. It’s a genius idea for a film.
No way.
i thinck dat juz showing this movie will show ppl how to becum more suicidal. i think that it is juz stupid. i dont like the ideaof them showing that movie. in my opinion i cud make a movie like that n not really commiting suicide. n make millions of $$$$$.
No. I would not want a loved one who decided to do this to be watched for entertainment purposes.
No. And I think everyone’s contemplated suicide or something like it at least once before! I don’t doubt they’re just doing this for money.
Nah, but it might be cool. Haha.
No. You have to be suicidal to understand suicide.
It’s not really like suicidal people all have the same reasons for jumping to their death. It sounds like the producers are trying to tell its audience to stop taking preventative action against suicidal friends or family members.
Yes. But I feel that the act of filming the suicide is wrong. Destroys our intrinsic privacy.
By showing real footage of suicides it just desensitzes people more and makes a serious and personal matter ((all death no matter how is personal)) trivial. Like some stupid reality show, which are really not that real are they. Suicide is not entertainment.
of course not. that’s only one of the many ways that people commit suicide. the question is: how will they be judged, by The Judge.
no. i don’t think it will. It’s just causeing more greif. There’s never an EXACT reason why somebody commits suicide.
That is terrible exploitation. Horrible.
[ariana]
This won’t actually have effect, I suppose like this.
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