This was a decent read as an open conversation, but boy, did you all miss the mark on the school-shooting angle while it's right there in front of you.
Funnily enough, in a bleak way, that's the point Cregger is making with Weapons too.
First of all, Archer's son is named Matthew, not Michael. He says it many times throughout the movie.
Secondly, Alex is the future school shooter, not Matthew. The quiet kid, no friends, bullied, trouble at home? All trappings of someone who would snap on his classmates.
Last but not least, Gladys is a figment of Alex's imagination and Cregger's absurdism. She exists as an allegory for a fantastical scapegoat for a mass murder - the Witch with mind-control voodoo powers did it? Come on, people kill people - most often with guns.
It's as painfully obvious as the floating AR-15 with 217 on it. Issac was getting there when he called attention to America's socio-political divide on dealing with school shootings and H.R. 1808, the ban on assault weapons that passed the House with 217 votes, but failed in the Senate.
Americans debate why, how, and attach fantastical strawman arguments while the families grieve, meanwhile the answer is right there in front of everyone. A disturbed kid killed other kids with a gun. If the disturbed kid got help sooner and there were more restrictions in place to get a gun, then it wouldn't have happened.
The parents, the teacher Justine, the principal Marcus, CPS, and the police all failed to help Alex. Cregger uses personal trauma, horror, absurdism, and comedic elements (remember he's from Whitest Kids U'Know) to tell this story to a varying degree of success, but the message is clear if we can stop the reactionary debate and pay attention.
