Movie Violence: Symptom of Society's Nature, Or A Cause of Further Bloodshed

[ER]

Hello again, BMDO-ers.

I hope life and our bacterial overlords have been kind to my favorite group of irredeemable colorers outside the lines.

I've been thinking about something lately and since collectively those here are more invested in movies than anyone I know, I thought I'd ask on this forum what I hope is not the sort of question that sets anyone off.

We live in a violent world and the Unites States for all its comparative prosperity is a violent nation. (If anyone disagrees with either of those views, please feel free to say so but I think we can agree there.) Is the violence in popular entertainment reflecting our natures back at all of us, or does it (also) spur on violence in society? Should the entertainment industry be under the microscope alongside the gun industry in examining why so many mass shootings occur? (After all, a gun can only be used as the mind directs it.) If so, should we who go to movies bear some blame for supporting an industry that sustains bloodshed?

I've thought about this a long time and yesterday's murders in Texas again brought it back to mind.

I don't know if I'll be replying in this thread because my purpose isn't to argue or criticize but I'll read any answers this community feels like submitting to a topic that has long weighed on me.

Thanks.

[Allhallowsday]

How 'bout irrelevant?  It's an absurd leap.  Blame?  Your subject is merely distracting.  Movies may entertain ideas, and titillate, but guns enable violence. 

[RCMerchant]

I have seen people get shot. I seen people get stabbed.
And that's just in my family.
On TV I see all sorta stuff. Vietnam and serial killers. This was when I was a kid.
Movies are not going to make you violent.
If your mind is disposed to believe a horror movie is Vietnam-well, you need a drink. 

[indianasmith]

That debate has been ongoing since the advent of television: does violent programming create violent behavior or not?
Does popular entertainment reflect our culture, or influence it?

I don't know that there is an easy answer.  Since the rollback of the Hayes Code in 1967, the bar for what can be shown on film has slid steadily downward with no bottom in sight.  We are perfectly comfortable with seeing people get shot to death on prime time TV virtually every night, on every channel, yet we freak out if a woman's nipple is shown for a single second.  So what's the solution?  More sex and less violence?  Maybe less of both?  I honestly don't know.

My gut reaction is this:  No good person is going to be driven to shoot someone by a movie or a video game.
But, a person who is inherently unstable might well be influenced by their entertainment choices.
I don't know.

[Alex]

Pretty sure that if movies caused violence then we would all be some of the most depraved people on the planet.

I won't say evil people don't get inspired by them, but there was violence long before TV came along.

[Alex]

Any dissenting voices out there? I would imagine given the target audience here not, but it would be interesting to hear from someone with a differing opinion.

[Chainsawmidget]

There was plenty of violence long before we had movies. 

In fact, before we had movies, people used to be violent to each other for entertainment. 

[ER]

I'm so glad to see that all of you think so. I do worry the simplistic who blame guns for human violence are next going to target comics, movies, games, TV, and personally even were a link proven I'd trade the lives of a few strangers for my continued entertainment, and I know you would too. Today's outrage forgotten on the morrow.

The real enemy of course are forks, which contribute to a million obesity deaths per year in the US alone. Oh, and distracted drivers, so if you read this while behind the wheel, you're worse than Saddam.

I hope everyone has an adequate summer. I'm off to gun-free Chicago, then lovely London, the stabbing death capital of the world, both while running foes through on the new remaster of Dark Souls, and maybe catching up on Game of Thrones.

Stay armed, my friends!

CODA.

[Trevor]

I'm a child of abuse and abandonment who grew up to be further abused and lived through a civil war. Why then am I a more or less well functioning adult? Dunno: it probably has a lot to do with my adoptive parents raising me right. 

[Allhallowsday]

I'm so glad to see that all of you think so. I do worry the simplistic who blame guns for human violence are next going to target comics, movies, games, TV, and personally even were a link proven I'd trade the lives of a few strangers for my continued entertainment, and I know you would too. Today's outrage forgotten on the morrow.

The real enemy of course are forks, which contribute to a million obesity deaths per year in the US alone. Oh, and distracted drivers, so if you read this while behind the wheel, you're worse than Saddam.

I hope everyone has an adequate summer. I'm off to gun-free Chicago, then lovely London, the stabbing death capital of the world, both while running foes through on the new remaster of Dark Souls, and maybe catching up on Game of Thrones.
Stay armed, my friends!
CODA.

I find what you write sad and angry, and depending upon your context, ironic and thoughtful.  You certainly make a dying forum more interesting.  Perplexing.  Have a safe and fun trip.

[RCMerchant]

Honduras most have a lot of movie theaters. Being it has the highest murder rate in the world.

[Paquita]

I don't think movies or TV are to blame for violence.  As it's been mentioned before, we come from a much more barbaric history of being entertained by death and torture in real life... I think we've come a long way from there.  We might be able to glean certain tendencies based on the types of movies someone enjoys, but I don't think the movies cause the tendencies.

I remember when my sister had her first son and was so against him watching anything on television.  When he was as an infant, she would actually shield his eyes from the TV, even if it was just a baseball game, like she thought invisible laser beams were coming out to scramble his brain and turn him into a serial killer.  It was ridiculous.  When I got pregnant for the first time, she sent me all these articles about why kids shouldn't watch television or movies.  At the time, I read them as all one-sided opinions, based on those extremes where people use television as a babysitter and they were all citing the same nonsense statistics – one of them said something like watching television for just a few hours a day, children will see an average of 8 murders a day.  Really?  8 murders a day watching cartoons?   And even if that was true... so what?  Does seeing 8 murders a day on TV turn a kid into a murderer?  Where is that study?  Maybe it does the opposite.  10+ years later and her kids are now obsessed with "screens" of all kinds and allowed to watch movies I'd never let my daughter see before age 16.

I don't have an answer for the school shootings, but part of the problem may be social media making it harder for kids to escape the stress of school.  I hated school, but when I went home, I could leave my school anxiety at school.  Now kids are publicly crap-talking other kids online day and night and spreading photos, rumors and embarrassing stories faster and more efficiently than ever which, I imagine, is pushing some kids over the edge.  I'm not making excuses for the shooters, but most of them are kids, underdeveloped and volatile.  I don't think guns are to blame either, but I think they, like any other weapon, do make the wielder feel powerful, and for a stressed and angry child who probably doesn't yet understand how fleeting and precious life is, that can be dangerous.


 

[RCMerchant]

I don't think movies or TV are to blame for violence.  As it's been mentioned before, we come from a much more barbaric history of being entertained by death and torture in real life... I think we've come a long way from there.  We might be able to glean certain tendencies based on the types of movies someone enjoys, but I don't think the movies cause the tendencies.

I remember when my sister had her first son and was so against him watching anything on television.  When he was as an infant, she would actually shield his eyes from the TV, even if it was just a baseball game, like she thought invisible laser beams were coming out to scramble his brain and turn him into a serial killer.  It was ridiculous.  When I got pregnant for the first time, she sent me all these articles about why kids shouldn't watch television or movies.  At the time, I read them as all one-sided opinions, based on those extremes where people use television as a babysitter and they were all citing the same nonsense statistics – one of them said something like watching television for just a few hours a day, children will see an average of 8 murders a day.  Really?  8 murders a day watching cartoons?   And even if that was true... so what?  Does seeing 8 murders a day on TV turn a kid into a murderer?  Where is that study?  Maybe it does the opposite.  10+ years later and her kids are now obsessed with "screens" of all kinds and allowed to watch movies I'd never let my daughter see before age 16.

I don't have an answer for the school shootings, but part of the problem may be social media making it harder for kids to escape the stress of school.  I hated school, but when I went home, I could leave my school anxiety at school.  Now kids are publicly crap-talking other kids online day and night and spreading photos, rumors and embarrassing stories faster and more efficiently than ever which, I imagine, is pushing some kids over the edge.  I'm not making excuses for the shooters, but most of them are kids, underdeveloped and volatile.  I don't think guns are to blame either, but I think they, like any other weapon, do make the wielder feel powerful, and for a stressed and angry child who probably doesn't yet understand how fleeting and precious life is, that can be dangerous.


 

I believe you. I seen all sorts of s**t.

[RCMerchant]

We're all going to DIE!

Opps! I mean DANCE!


http://youtu.be/fJuapp9SORA

[Pacman000]

Any dissenting voices out there? I would imagine given the target audience here not, but it would be interesting to hear from someone with a differing opinion.

I believe communication, including (but not limited to) games, movies, & books, can influence behavior, but communication doesn't exist in a vacuum, so you'll never be able to get a 1:1 correlation between media and good/bad behavior.

Not really in favor of a government censor board, but creators should take time to think about what they're trying to say & how they want to influence people.