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In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, television is changing its landscape to be less violent; a conscious effort to be sensitive to the grieving nation and to prevent promoting real-world violence.

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According to Entertainment Weekly, Hollywood executives have canceled the premiere of Quentin Tarantino’s wildly anticipated and uber-violent Django Unchained. However, the movie will still be released on Christmas Day. News that the trailer from Tom Cruise’s new film, Jack Reacher, will be modified is also an effort to cut violence from television:

The premiere of Django Unchained was due to take place in Los Angeles on Tuesday but will be replaced by a screening for cast and crew. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, and in this time of national mourning we have decided to forgo our scheduled event,” said production firm the Weinstein Company. Reports suggest that a scene in which Cruise’s character fires a semi-automatic weapon has been removed from promotional spots for Jack Reacher ahead of its Christmas Day release in the US.

When asked about how violence in movies translates to real life, Tarantino told BBC: 

“I just think, you know, there’s violence in the world, tragedies happen, blame the playmakers,” he told the crowd. “It’s a western. Give me a break.”

But a Django star himself made the point that violence in movies is easily translated to violence in real life:

“We cannot turn our back and say that violence in films or anything that we do doesn’t have a sort of influence,” Jamie Foxx said during this weekend’s Django junket. “It does.”

Movies aren’t the only thing getting axed. The Learning Channel’s (TLC) new reality series Best Funeral Ever has been pushed back to January. And Discovery Channel’s American Guns will not return for another season, a move Discovery execs are saying have nothing to do with Sandy Hook.

Even Family Guy and American Dad were pulled from programming on Sunday. While Family Guy will return to television, it is unclear whether the latter will be taken off hold. 

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Syfy also pulled a new episode of Haven, which features violence in a high school. Other cable network shows like Showtime’s Dexter featured a disclaimer about violence before they aired this week. The link between television or video games and violence has yet to be confirmed, but the fact that people are making an effort to curb it anyway says something about the direction we’re headed.

SOURCE: Entertainment Weekly/E! ONLINE