By Jay A. Fernandez

I grew up on “Dirty Harry,” “Commando,” “Die Hard” and “Platoon” — so I was never especially squeamish about gunplay and the exhilarating rush I got from watching bodies getting blown away in gleeful tsunamis of carnage.

Fast forward through a dozen years of film reporting, the same anguished number of birthdays and fathering two kids and I find myself looking at the entertainment world differently.

What sparked my chagrin was a single rotating digital billboard I spotted on Venice Blvd. the other morning. It first showed Jack Bauer aiming his gun at me from a subway platform, then the star of “Human Target” aiming his gun at me from a helicopter runner, and then a bare-chested Paul Bettany with angel wings… well, about to point his machine gun at me. (Around the corner was Mel Gibson looking grim, gripping a handgun.)

Now, before you berate me with taunts about how soft I’ve become, let me assure you that my complaint is not first and foremost a moral one. Its a creative one.

Yes, all the gun imagery shoved in my five-year-old son’s face at every stoplight gives me pause. Especially when he recently had me build him a cardboard rifle, with sight, stock and strap, which he then hung over his bed so he could “shoot birds and monsters.” (He later pointed out that the “Book of Eli” billboard has a gun just like his — might be time for a cooking class.)

No, what’s really irritating about the relentlessness of this barrel barrage in the public space is its lack of originality. In America, apparently, nothing gets asses in the seats faster than a single white man angrily wielding a gun, so marketing mavens across the industry feed this implied violence to people on auto-pilot. (I’m waiting for the “American Idol” poster showing Ryan Seacrest pointing a Glock at his chin instead of a microphone.)

But is that all we can come up with to imply drama in a new slice of entertainment? A gun? Really? There isn’t another single image in the product that we can use to draw people into a story, or make them curious about a character, or showcase a dramatic showdown that audiences will want to see? I don’t buy it. I think it’s lazy and, now that you mention it, not all that healthy for the popular psyche, either.

Here’s hoping that in 2010 those toiling in the TV and film marketing departments — many of whom are truly creative souls — pull the trigger on some less gun-centric imagery.

What do you think? Is it overkill? Or are you annoyed that the poster didn’t show Alvin, Simon and Theodore in a Mexican standoff?

"Kick-Ass," left, and "Bitch Slap"