Do violent movies cause violence?

Could be, then could be not. There were no movies yet in the 17th and 18th Centuries and yet there were widespread violence bought about by the exploration and eventual colonization of the East. Maybe there is something about how Man lives, his beliefs, his wants...and these might serve as motivation for him to eventually view violence as a necessary "last-resort" option when negotiation fails, or diplomacy fails. Movies only highlight this fact. But they may also spawn violence in the sense that movies transform acts of violence to "iconic" status, worthy of emulation. Then again these are just but theories...

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voilence is a part of human nature. there should be more decent movies about it out there.

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u know what movie portrays violence and suffering accuratly? The Lord of The Rings. In the battle for helms deap we see the families of the dying soliers andd i feel pity for them. Every death is shown as a tragic occurence, as it should be.

overall though i think movies decensitizes us to violence, which is bad if the person is mentally unstable in the first place

In my opinion violent movies don't cause anymore violence then the news or Wiley Coyote cartoons. For those who go on about the desensitization of violence that the youth of today feel is load of CRAP. Are we so ignorant of the past that we have forgotton what happened. The fact is until a century ago there was a little something called public executions or what about that the fact that the U.S. dropped not one but 2 nuclear bombs in the 1940's, why, becuase they could, or how about the Cold War and the threat that the Commies were going to come kill us and take over the world; are any of those things less servere than what's happenning in todays world, NO. And to think that movies that are violent causes violent reaction in the average viewer(someone who is basically sane) is absolutely idiotic and shows how ignorant some people are.

For those uber-conservates who want to censor everything (even though there is a rating system) here is a quote:

"Education is a vacine for violence." -Edward James Olmos

Meaning, instead of trying to keep children from the ugliness of the real world, inform/eduction people (not just kids) what can happen and how they can deal with the real world, because being "sheltered" will do more harm then Grand Theft Auto or Natural Born Killers. What I'm basically saying is, sit down with your kids and watch the movies and discuss and explain it to them. Is that so hard that people today can't take a day or a couple of hours to watch a movie with their kids?

Well I've said my piece.

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"Believe me, the secret of the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment of existence is: to live dangerously!"
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Great post lor83b. I wanted to highlight this part, and ask you to stop by the Guns!Guns!Guns! thread and post it again...

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Violent movies do not create more violence in our society! people with violent minds must have the imagination to create violent movies therefore the violence musy have existed before the movie was published. Unfortunately human beings are violent creatures. movies if anything perpetuate this violence

Perpetuate?? So you are saying that if movies didn't exist then the violence wouldn't be carried on and influence future generations, yet you also say they don't create more Violence. That doesn't really add up.

Movies run a risk of desensitising people to violence, due to the overexposure of violence in films today. So this may lead to a greater likelihood of a violent act in an individual but I wouldn't be so rash as to directly generalise the affect of violence in films.

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this is old as the earth we tread everyday... many opposite examples all around the world and, like sex, you see much of it everyday, TV included, any hour, children too can see it (like in France), result: more sexual violence? more sex? nor, neither, no, nope... i'd say LESS even. you've had it on a screen, you need LESS in real life. that's what happens in Japan and other places. censorship (of any kind, judeoXtian one included especially) is the guilty one that creates rapers and serial killers.

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We're a generation of men raised by women. I'm wondering if another woman is really the answer we need.

Sex is not the same as violence. Just because "you say" there is less sexual violence how do you know that is true and whether this decrease as you state is due to anything to do with films. We're talking about the influence of violence not sex. Also serial Killers are in no way related to violence in films because they are unique and disturbed in how they view the world. & people who commit rape have zillions of reasons for doing so. We're talking about general effects on society not isolated incidents of serial killing.

And what about 50 years ago when the murder rate and sex-related incidents were a lot lower, they never got to SEE anything and that didn't mean they wanted it more or anything. Sensorship was heaps heavier back then and wouldn't let anything near what we see on our screens. As I mentioned before it's silly to just blame one thing for increased violence in our communities as it's always going to be subjective and uncertain. But is it really so insane to think that blasting young minds with violence on tv shows, movies and news broadcasts could have a negative effect.

Theres something to be said abot people imitating what they see, but if they are raised right, and are not complete idiots than it shouldnt matter, so no for the most part they do not

i happen to be quite the freak of statistics and of comparing countries. i didn't have the figures that's why i said "i'd say". but it's pretty much a matter of facts.

just as it's doubtful, or at least unsure, that an increase would be due to such a TV... etc... influence.

okay, i had taken the example of isolated events like serial killers, probably cuz there was some talk about whether they were influenced by movies they'd seen.
but even generally, Japan, i repeat, is a good counter-example. now one may say their culture is different, but this is true about all countries of the world. so why justly in judeo-christian societies (North-America and Europe) would this influence have MORE effects (statistically too)??

don't forget there was less medias and thus less information about what was happening...

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we do agree on this one.

heh yeah this after you said censorship is to blame , but at least we see eye to eye now. Good thing about this topic is there is no set correct answer, so we could go on forever and never prove anyone wrong or anyone right.........seems kind of pointless.......fun though

A tough question that I lack enough knowledge to fully answer.

The experts are pretty much in unison though--it does. I'm not sure if I accept it yet, but I will admit they know way more about this than I do.

no I'd have to disagree on that one

I agree we should learn how to use this part of human nature and bend it for all our needs.

Bend it and spank it!


Blaming movies and the such for violent behaviour is a poor way of taking the "R" word (responsibility) away from those crazy lazy people who were responsible for teaching others right from wrong and how to handle those angry violent tendencies.

Go Go Gadget Killers!

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yep, that's why movies are R(esponsability)rated !!

I think that any violent film is going to cause a little violence. The main thing that I believe makes children violenet is the good guys in the film acting violent.

So in contrast, do films that promote good deeds, love, values, etc... cause people to better themselves? I think they do, which is kind of scary when you think about the opposite. Either way, I think most people are inherently good in the most basic forms.

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“The gladdest moment in human life, methinks, is a departure into unknown lands.” – Sir Richard Burton

I think that if violent movies cause violence then the same should go for music. I think that to many people are still in the past and need to realize that movie and music violence are the least of this society's problems!!

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I think, especially in our country, the movies dont cause violence. However, the violence in the tv. series are really ruining the teens.