Do violent movies cause violence?

Maybe we should have an age limit of 3yrs on internet use?

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

Hehe, for some sites a ban would be nice though.

Here's my thing: Violent movies and violet video games do not cause violence, it makes it stronger. If youre playing a shooter game, you dont just think: 'Well in the game i can, so why dont i get my dads shotgun and shoot at my teacher?' I think, honestly, that most kids can seperate reality from fiction, and some cant. Watching violence doesnt make you violent if you werent violent to begin with; if theres absolutely no cell in your body that has been violent, you will not go beserk after seeing a jacki chan flick. I guess some people cant make out where fiction ends and reality begins, and for them a violent movie/game will increase their violence.

On the other hand, i think violence is mostly caused by real life surroundings.. Ive got 3 neices (3, 8 and 20) and one nephew(17), so the four of us (me 18 and my bro 20) mess around a lot when were together, and my youngest neice became a big slapper because of that i guess..

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And do check my "art": Deviant

I did an essay on the politics of violence in A Clockwork Orange back last year for my degree, and there was some evidence that youths, upon seeing the film had felt it was right to beat people up, steal and commit other crimes. When questioned, the young juveniles cited the character of Alex for their actions. But this really is just one case, I personally don't think violent films causes violence, you'd have to be stupid to imitate something that you know is wrong.

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The easiest experiment you can do for this type of thinking is this: Examine history, on the whole we were an extremely violent race. As time has gone on we have become less and less violent. As such what was hitler, henery the 8th, vlad the impaler and countless other people watching....

The answer is simple, violence is a result of people's will and self imposed restrictions. Violence does not breed violence, no more passiveness creates passive people. Murderes come from normal family's, and sane people come from gang banging ghetto's.

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I don't believe violent movies make people go out and commit violence, but I do believe it sometimes suggest things to some who are already bent in that direction. Remember the case some years back who saw in a film someone squirt lighter fluid thrugh the change opening into one of those bulletproof cashier booths and then set it ablaze, injuring the person inside?

I don't think today's videos create evil any more than did the horror comics that I read as a kid. But there is one big difference with those videos where the whole game is to shoot down one foe after another. The Army learned after World War II to get soldiers to shoot their rifles more in combat, they quit training them by shooting at bullseye targets and started to use pop-up, knock-down human figures. The idea was to condition them to fire at a human shape and "knock it down." This is the same thing kids are doing on a lot of the crime and millitary video games--in fact, the Army is now using computer programs to teach soldiers to kill, and some of the games are spinoffs from such training. I don't think it makes a kid want to go out and kill. But if he gets mad at someone or scared and a weapon is laying around, his knee-jerk reaction may be to use it just like he learned to in the video game.

A fair point but I'd suggest that pressing a button on a game controller and picking up a weapon, aiming and firing it are two completely different actions. I'm no expert on this (and have no inclination to try and be) but I'd think that there are more pressing social matters which need to be addressed when dealing with impressionable kids with a propensity for sudden and random outbursts of violence.

My knee jerk reaction when someone maddens me is to shout at them and yet I've never knowingly watched Jerry Springer.

Ban daytime talk show hosts!

I agree--there is a big difference, although I seem to recall some video games in the past that used a pistol-shaped joy stick and there are games out there where the player's viewpoint is through a weapon-sight at a target that looks human but isn't. The main danger, I think, would be the dehumanization of potential targets. Still, remember that case sometime back when one child killed another smaller child with some sort of body slam that he had witnessed on his favorite TV wrestling program? It's rare, but it does happen.

Rather than have society address the potential problem, I submit that it would be more effective if parents pay attention to what their children are watching or playing on those various screens, make sure it's age appropriate, and provide continued guidance on the difference between fantasy and reality and acceptable vs. unacceptable behavior.

I agree with the above-mentioned quote, rufnek. It's not a societal problem as many people believe, but a matter of parents exerting a certain amount of control over and setting certain limitations of what young children can watch on TV or in the movies. However, it's often true that, when kids reach their mid to late teens, they really do start developing minds of their own, so it's more difficult for parents to set limits for them.

I also think, however, that kids have to learn to recognize the differences between fantasy and reality. It's when kids have trouble recognizing and drawing the line between fantasy and reality that's a potential problem, but most kids don't fall into the latter category.

Don't remember it, to be honest. If the kid was a wrestling fan he deserves to be locked up for a long period of readjustment anyway...

Large men in lycra shouting at each other then pretending to fight?

I'd rather watch a Hollywood musical.


That's common sense, though. If someone allows, say, an 8 year old to watch what they want they should be sterilised so that the whole sorry exercise can't happen again.

If it starts to happen when the kids hit their teenage years things ain't so cut and dried, not least nowadays.

Awww Tatty you are such a gentle person

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That's true, especially as is too often the case the parents wait until their kids are teenagers before they start setting limits. Having raised three kids of my own and now enjoying 7 grandkids, I know very well that raising a child is a 24/7 near cradle-to-grave occupation. You can't park a child in front of an electronic "baby-sitter" (be it TV, movie, or video game) and expect him to raise himself. If you haven't established some rules, mutual respect, responsibility, and love with your kids at 5, 10, and 12, you're going to be coming from behind the 8-ball when you try to bring it on all at once at 13, 17, 21 or 36.

You have to sit down with your kids, share their games and interest, and talk with them, not just to them, all through their developing years and into adulthood. That means watching TV and films with them, playing their video games, and making sure these are age appropriate and understood by the child. And you have to do this in your role as a loving but supervising parent and be ready to put your foot down when a conflict arises. Kids can find all the playmates they need in life, but the number of parents is limited. Be a parent, not a playmate. And remember always that they learn most from what they see you do, not from what they hear you say.

Yeah, I never cared for pro-wrestling even back in the 1950s when they had characters like Gorgeous George and Farmer Brown. In the case I was referring to, some large-bodied (fat and tall) pre-teen (11-12) boy was practicing some sort of flying leap he'd seen those wrestling phonies do on TV, using a short, frail neighborhood girl of 4-5 as his target, and he killed the younger kid in the process. Don't remember where or exactly when this occurred but it was on national TV for a time while they were trying to figure out whether to try the kid and on what charge.

Based on my own experience in growing up with my two brothers, plus raising my own kids, plus years reporting the crime beat, I'm convinced that a child who is raised right and taught right and is shown that he is loved by his parents and family very seldom goes wrong at a teen or an adult. Yeah, we all push the boundries in our teenage years as part of growing up. But we also know where the boundries are and just how far we can go past them. I was something of a rebel in my teen years--drank beer, skipped school, rode motorcycles, ran with a fairly rough crowd for that time and place, but I never stole, did drugs, pulled a weapon or purposely hurt anyone, because I didn't want to have to face my dad after being caught. I did things that would get me grounded or occasionally get my butt kicked, but I wasn't about to do anything criminal. Later, when I was raising my sons and daughter, everytime they got out of line, I'd think "now what was I doing at their age?" And everytime, my behavior or fad or transgression was much worse than what they'd done! :-)

I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it any more!

I saw a documentary recently showing kids under 12 taking part in organised kickboxing shows purely, it seemed, for the 'pleasure' of their parents.

There were a good few bruised limbs when I was a kid trying to emulate the slo-mo leaps of the Six Million Dollar Man. There were also mass 'gunfights' with toy weapons brought on, no doubt, by the Westerns (and as they were all B&W serial jobs, I doubt there was much actual 'violence') we were fed on TV and at Saturday morning cinema matinees.

Even in a Northern Ireland wrecked by sectarian civil war, none of my friends grew up to be gunmen. Trite, but true.

Well; not all kids and teenagers are influenced by violent movies and TV shows.

Yeah, when I was growing up in East Texas, the kids in my neighborhood used to play cowboys and Indians and World War II. I actually hanged my little brother once. Now I was very careful, of course--tied the rope loosely around his neck, gave him plenty of slack and tied the other end around a saw-horse that he was a foot or so taller than--when standing. But just to be sure, I had him sit down by the saw-horse to make sure that there was plenty of slack in the rope, even if he fell.

Then I went into the house to get a drink and casually remarked to my folks, "Well, I strung up that outlaw." They shared a look of panic between them, then went running out to the garage where I had left little brother Don. I followed along thinking what a laugh we'd all have once they saw all the safety precautions I had taken with my play-lynching.

Then I stepped into the garage to find that my idiot brother, instead of untying the rope from either the saw-hourse or his neck, had backed to the far side of the garage, taking all of the slack out of the rope and tightening the slip-knot around his throat. While still on his feet, he had by now turned a little blue in the face. Needless to say, there wasn't much family laughter shared after that little incident.

What I meant was that if we say, were the parent of a highly influenced and/or rebellious teen, we should always make sure that we are not admitting them into something they should not be seeing or that will have a bad influence on them. Not necessarly taking a world wide crackdown on every shady guy that is goes in the theater, just watching out with our close ones to make sure the right choices are made, and that we are not taking risks.

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Good point, film_days. I also think that the ratings that're put on movies (such as R (children under 17 not admitted without parents), or X-rated films (adults only) also prove the point. My sister-in-law is reluctant to let her 5-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son watch a movie such as West Side Story, for example, until they reach the age of 8, because she considers some parts too scary and intense for them right now, even though it's considered OK for kids aged 6 and up.

Back to what I was saying earlier, however, other ratings, such as PG (parental guidance suggested), or PG-13 (children under 13 not admitted without parents) also prove the point you've made, film_days.

Those individuals who are already violent and then watch violent movies will go out and commit an act.
Its like Thompson/Venables killing Bulger after seeing Childs Play 3, and probably on a smaller note, Mafiosi seeing The Godfather, when it was released and going "whooo, just like us!".

I don't believe that violent movies make people kill. They simply give people that are already crazy, new ways to do it.
They don't start wars, turn people into thieves, rapists, or anything else.

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