Films that deal with dangers of stalking for National Stalking Awareness Day 2014

Posted on 23 April 2014
By Ashleigh Panther
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Stalking is a serious crime that many people have to deal with every day, all over the world.

National Stalking Awareness Day takes place on the 24th of April and looks to get more information out about how to deal with the problem of a stalker and how to help victims.

Stalking has not always been looked at as a crime and was only made a specific crime offence across England and Wales by British Government in 2012.

As well as all of the efforts that are put into spreading the word on the 24th of April, awareness is also spread through other mediums, including the film industry, which has been teaching us about the dangers of stalkers since ‘Play Misty for Me’ in 1971, a thriller telling the story of an obsessed fan who will do anything to be close to famous disk jockey Dave Garver.

Since this film broke the boundaries and brought the shunned issue of stalking to the big screen, there have been many other productions, each with their own twist on a terrifying and stressful issue.

The Bodyguard, 1992, stars I Will Always Love You singer Whitney Houston and The Untouchables actor Kevin Costner, telling the story of a secret service agent who is hired to be a bodyguard to a famous pop-star from an anonymous stalker, this film became the highest grossing film in the world.

Vanilla Sky, 2001, is a remake of spanish film Open Your Eyes and revolves around a wealthy man who’s jealous ex cannot come to terms with him moving on and becomes obsessed with terminating their relationship.

One Hour Photo, 2002 shows us how people who suffer from loneliness can take drastic measures to deal with their depression. Seymour Parish, a photo technician, becomes obsessed with a family who he has developed photos for for many years and starts to imagine himself as part of the family by keeping copies of their photographs at his home.
One Hour Photo won a International Horror Guild award for Best Movie.

Each case of stalking is different, with each victims and each stalkers reasons being individual to their problems and lifestyle.

This is a problem that needs more awareness and with watching films being a large part of our every day lives, there is no better way to spread the word and to give us a up and close portrayal of the problem that no other medium can give us.

For more information on National Stalking Day, visit http://www.stalkinghelpline.org/about-the-helpline/nsad14/

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