Why do we watch violent movies?

yeah, i wasn't really directing that at you, sorry if it seemed like i was. i know you didn't blame any sole person in your post, but i was mainly talking about the Columbine shooting. a lot of time was spent by parents, teachers, and students [all spurred on by the media, i'm sure...] speculating over who was to blame for the twisted minds of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, quoted here:

"Blame for the shootings was also directed at bands like Rammstein, Marilyn Manson, KMFDM, and other mainstream 'dark' music groups, which was detailed in Michael Moore's documentary Bowling for Columbine. Lead singer Manson stated on a VH1 interview that the band had cancelled three concerts in memoriam of the tragedy. When asked what he would have said to the killers, Manson replied: "Nothing. I would have listened, because no one else did."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1295920.stm

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letterboxd

Oh, no problem. I didn't assume you were addressing me in particular and wouldn't have minded if you had. I was just offering some thoughts in response to what you said. Actually, I'm pretty impressed with the Manson quote you cited about listening to the kids. How much of the Manson you see is the real person and how much is the performer putting on an act? He may not be too sure himself after awhile.

No one can really know what makes people do the things they do. Can you always pin-point what motivates you to do something? I know there have been lots of times I've thought, "If I do this, there's gonna be hell to pay," but then I'd do it anyway. And other times, I've done the adult thing and backed away from it. Heredity and environment go a long way in deciding who we become and I've read that one's basic personality is already set by age 5, before we even get into school. I've seen cheats and killers come out of the same neighborhoods as honest, hard-working people. Who knows why someone takes one path and someone else takes another?

I wonder if we're talking about the same things when we talk about violent, action, and horror movies. Are these really three distinct types of movies, or, more likely, do they blend into each other? For instance Saving Pvt. Ryan depicted some horrible deaths, but I doubt if many consider it a horror movie. It has a lot of action, but is it an action film or a drama? Then there's Raging Bull--extremely violent scenes of boxing and even mental abuse, but is it violent, action, drama, what? You can pose the same question about lots of fight films--Cinderella Man, The Set-up, Million Dollar Baby, Requiem for a Heavyweight, the Great White Hope, even The Quite Man. Some you likely think of being more violent than others, some may seem like action movies, some are film noir--what are the elements that set them apart when the primary story is all about the violent sport of boxing? What about Smokey and the Bandit? I don't recall anyone getting killed or seriously injured in that film, but there were some violent chases and car crashes as I recall. So is it violent, action, or comedy? I think most people would class a film like Saw (2004) as a horror movie. But how does that compare with the Marathon Man with Lawrence Olivier torturing Dustin Hoffman by drilling his teeth? Owww! Are they both horror films or does one rise above the other because of the better quality of cast and storyline?
Is F/X, which centered on special effects in movies, less violent because much of the violence was shown to be faked? What about something like Rush Hour that is a violent, action-packed comedy? How would you class a movie like The High and the Mighty, which is about an airliner that doesn't crash and no one really gets hurt at all? Or a film like Angel and the Bad Man in which you see hero John Wayne firing guns during the opening credits (without knowing who he's shooting at or if he hits his targets) and then he never fires another gun through the entire movie, limiting his action to a few fist-fights?

Maybe violence, horror, action, and drama are all in the eyes of the beholder, and some of us for whatever reason can stomach more violence and horror than others.

My initial gut reaction was to say that violence and horror on film allows us to confront our greatest fear (death) from a safe distance.

I still think that but also like a lot of other points that were made here as well.

This turned into quite a good thread.

That is likely as valid a reason as any I've suggested. People do seem to have a certain curiosity about the injury and death of others. One great example is the way traffic always slows when passing an automobile accident--the more bashed up the vehicles, the slower traffic moves. I've seen this happen even when the wreckage or tow-trucks or other vehicles are not blocking the road-way. I've heard people try to excuse it by saying they slow down so as not impede emergency vehicles or cause another wreck. But if you watch the drivers of the slowing cars, you'll see their heads are turned toward the wreckage and remain so to the point they're looking back over their shoulders after they've already passed, not at the road and cars in front of them. To take it further, have any of you lived (as I have) in small towns where one is likely to know the victims involved in a wreck and even to which of the few local garages the wreck is towed? I remember as a kid my dad driving us down to a local garage where there was the twisted wreckage of a car involved in a fatal wreck. There were dozens of people there milling around the wreck ogling the blood-soaked seats and even bits of flesh and bone wedged in the twisted metal. Now things don't get much more gruesome than that!

As a reporter on the police beat, I ran the scenes of fatal shootings, wrecks, fires, etc. at 1-2 a.m. out in remote areas far from any visible dwellings, and yet there always seemed to be a gaggle of people standing around waiting to see the body moved. Now where did those people come from? And why are they there?

If people flock to see real death in the raw, is it any wonder Hollywood is ready and able to sell the same movie images on screen?

I think the appeal of violent and horror movies is a matter of age and exposure, too. For instance, young people at a certain age--boys in particular--go through a stage where they are always trying to gross out peers, teachers, and especially parents. So they're a ready-made audience for films of violence and horror, even thought the age code should keep the younger ones away from the most violent, most horrible. But often as one matures, one is less interested in such things. It's like studies that have shown that people who have small children of their own are less likely to exceed the speed limits on residential streets because they don't want people speeding on the streets where their own children travel.

Believe me, if you ever get your nose broken in a fight, you're going feel a certain twinge every time you watch a punch-out in the movies. Same applies if you have been in close proximity to the dead, especially if it's a loved one.

What about violent videogames?

Yes, we watch violent movies but you're experiencing the violence from the passenger seat.

A violent games puts you at the wheel to create carnage. Would you not feel more when you play a violent game vs. watching a violent movie?

Do you believe that playing violent games makes you more acceptiable to perform acts of violence.

I'll post my thoughts later.

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The totally awesome and soul consuming TFH One a Day Reviews.

Good points in your entire post, as usual. This bit above caught my attention in particular because I remember reading a short story about people who show up at accident scenes. They're always there, sometimes seemingly inexplicably. I watch for them now when I see something going on.

Well, I see your point but I can only speak for myself in saying that I don't make the same emotional connection to video games that I make to movies. I think it has to do with conscious thought. In a video game there is the constant weighing of odds, the constant employment of strategy and the constant physical requirement of staying in the game. With film, all of that goes away and for me I can get much further into the story and characters as a cerebral participant only versus cerebral+physical participant.

For me? No. I'm quite resistant to outside forces bending my will to do anything i don't want to do. For others? Who's to say?

You can't really treat this as a 'cause and effect' relationship. Watching violent movies definitely doesn't cause somebody to commit violent acts, there has to be some lurking variable here. If you looked at the amount of murderers who watch violent movies there would absolutely be a very high correlation but does that mean that the movies are the cause of them murdering? This is definitely a confounding relationship (statistically speaking) meaning that there are many variables that need to be taken into account before you can identify a cause for violence. Looking at the stats for how many non-violent people watch violent movies you will see a huge number. IMO child abuse is the #1 factor that causes a person to commit violent crimes. If you look at any notorious criminal's childhood you will find some form of abuse, verbal, sexual, emotional, physical etc.

And now for the question why do we watch violent movies? I'm going to try not to repeat everything that has been said already. We love to think to ourselves 'wow what would I do in that situation?' At least that's what i do most of the time. It's fun to put yourself in that position without putting yourself in any real danger. And then back to the point of human's fascination with death. People above kept talking about all the crowds that form around crime scenes and how all the people stare. My question is what's wrong with that? Wouldn't you be way more alarmed if there were body bags on the side walk and somebody just kept on walking without a glance?

Death i

hold on i'm not done i accidentally clicked enter

You can't really treat this as a 'cause and effect' relationship. Watching violent movies definitely doesn't cause somebody to commit violent acts, there has to be some lurking variable here. If you looked at the amount of murderers who watch violent movies there would absolutely be a very high correlation but does that mean that the movies are the cause of them murdering? This is definitely a confounding relationship (statistically speaking) meaning that there are many variables that need to be taken into account before you can identify a cause for violence. Looking at the stats for how many non-violent people watch violent movies you will see a huge number. IMO child abuse is the #1 factor that causes a person to commit violent crimes. If you look at any notorious criminal's childhood you will find some form of abuse, verbal, sexual, emotional, physical etc.

And now for the question why do we watch violent movies? I'm going to try not to repeat everything that has been said already. We love to think to ourselves 'wow what would I do in that situation?' At least that's what i do most of the time. It's fun to put yourself in that position without putting yourself in any real danger. And then back to the point of human's fascination with death. People above kept talking about all the crowds that form around crime scenes and how all the people stare. My question is what's wrong with that? Wouldn't you be way more alarmed if there were body bags on the side walk and somebody just kept on walking without a glance?

Death is something that we know exists but never have to confront in our everyday lives. It's mysterious, there are sooo many various arguments about what happens to people after they die but nobody really knows. People are drawn to mysteries and therefore drawn to death. I don't think it's a huge pull that we feel towards death, but just enough to make us slow down while passing the traffic accident and see if anyone's hurt.

But honestly, i still can't explain why i am so satisfied that there's so much blood in the videogame God of War, i love that game, it's one of my favorites. I love killing things in that game...because they're not real. In most videogames, the things you are killing are also trying to kill you. I dunno though i have a headache now from reading this whole thread, i honestly didn't have one before i came in here lol so i'm going to go get some ibuprofen

Violence makes many movies more exciting. Imagine Die Hard with no shooting.

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Right meatwad, but the point up for discussion is why?

keeps our heart going ..for me at least

For much the same reason that the ancient Greeks listened to violent epic poems, the Romans watched violent death matches in their arenas, and the ancient Hebrews read violent scriptures which are still with us today. Because depictions of violence are universally compelling. Because depictions of violence are exciting. There is nothing particularly new about this.

The context in which the violence in media plays out is worth discussing far more than the bland generic fact that there is violence in media. It can be anything from a social safety valve that a culture uses to redirect mass frustration into harmless wish-fulfillment fantasies to something more sinister- a tool of desensitization and entrenchment of social hierarchies, or even a call to real-world violence.

Contrast the violence in something like Lord of the Rings or Star Wars and compare it to Black Hawk Down and Birth of a Nation to see what I mean.

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“A Boss in Heaven is the best excuse for a boss on earth, therefore If God did exist, he would have to be abolished.”
-Mikhail Bakunin

What's a movie without violence?

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"One Ring to rule them all,
One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them..."

The Lord of the Rings

Excellent post--right on target, yoda. Thanks.

why do we watch violent movies?

Because it gives us a funny feeling in our pants

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Undercoverlovers 100 REDUX

I think you are right
to oppose violent movies

war and violence are wrong and we must stop promote them!!!

if we do no watch the violent movies and the movies do not have nuch more money to earn.haha we get it