Do violent movies cause violence?

Hello. I am writing an essay about the influence of violence on tv. Many so called experts believe that voilent movies have a bad influence (especially on children and teenagers) as it causes them to be more violent in real life.
What I want to know is what the people themselves that watch those kind of movies think of that. Any opinions?

i'm a relatively passive person, especially despite all of the crap i have to put up with, and i watch violent movies on a regular basis, almost daily.

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well, i'm not an expert, nor a psychologist, but facts are:
- youngsters see more violent movies and earlier for instance in Japan than in the US, censorship doesn't have anything to say about Mangas and animés that are full of monsters raping princesses and serial killers torturing their enemies... and yet, i can walk thru Tokyo at night, any time, without being afraid of anything happening to me, i even left my camera on the table in a bar to go to the do, and the camera was still there when i came back, now where would that happen? neither in Europe nor in America...
- Canada, as Moore showed, sees the same amount of violence in movies as Americans, and yet, the level of violence is much lower
- Europe doesn't (usually) apply the same dumb kinda censorship to movies and comicbooks, one can see a naked ass in Europe - on the screen or in real life - without becoming a potential rapist... *mature* audience, we should know, is more a matter of intelligence than actual age
- i personally don't believe that a violent movie can make me to a rapist or a killer or a murderer or a thief, if it didn't make me so with the thousands of "perverse" Japanese, American, French flicks i've seen (and i'm talking real hardcore violence movies, rape and torture, like Japs are into, OG, you name a few examples!..), why the hell should it make anybody a rapist/murderer etc.? same thing with music, Joy Division didn't make me sad when i was a teen (like may parents stupidly thought), i WAS sad and therefore, could fall for that kinda music. so if someone is a potential murderer, take the movies away from him/her, and he/she'll find another way of getting the needed thrill...
- gangs and, in other countries, for example African ones, violent youngsters, didn't have *MORE* access to violence in movies than people who never, ever, became violent in real life. what's more, in Africa and Europe, violence is more common among poor families (apart from a few exeptions, crazy kids born in rich families and who don't have an aim in life, are bored, and therefore, escape into violent acts...) that actually watch far *LESS* movies than rich kids. they even have to start working very young and have no time for a virtual life lost in the screen(s), or spend their life on the street, that is, gangs and so on, having a REAL life, no movie-like one...
- violence or sex seen on a screen, be it a theater or a TV set or a computer, make everything *virtual*,... sometimes, in extreme cases, creating people probably not fitted for, or able to have, a real life - the Japanese, and now, international otaku phenomenon, which is still another problem, maybe a serious one, but something totally different from *making* people violent, actually rendering them distant from any real thing, real life, real violence...
medias are far more to blame than movies, and society is too, and education, the culture of fear mentioned in Moore's movies,
and yes, the present government plays a far worse role in creating violence, thru fear, than any movie full of blood, gouged out eyes or cigarette burnt **** you can show me, or, show them

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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.

No. Violent people cause violence.

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i see violent movies as entertainment and nothing else. i dont watch goodfellas then want to go do cocain and "wack" everyone i see. i dont think violent movies actually cause the violence. i think the violence is cause by something bigger and the movies could push them over the edge to do it but i dont think you can just blame movies

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"A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theater admission and the babysitter were worth it."
- Alfred Hitchcock

seems we all kinda agree...

The only film that i can use to suggest that violent films cause violence, is Natural Born Killers, where i keep thinking it would be cool to shoot someone riding a bike with a shotgun. I haven't, obviously, and never will. So i agree with everyone else, no. Films are a way to escape, not look for inspiration, unless of course you are already a violent person, in which case it wouldnt matter. GTA: San Andreas, get it, live out all criminal fantasies lol.

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Violence in the media (including movies) causes violent behavior, especially in the lower class. I wrote a paper for my Human Development class when I was studying psychology. I incoporated a Latino class I was taking too. It went some like this...

There's an experiment done with these kids in a room who watch an adult interact with a lifesize balloon clown. With one group of children the adult beats the clown and yells at it, in the other group the adult talks nicely to the clown and plays with it. The group that views the clown being abused by the adult in turn replicates the adult behavior beating the clown with toys when the adult left the room and the children who watch the nice adult are nice to the clown. Simple, right?

The thing with lower class children is that the adults who have the ability to set a positive role are statisticaly more likely to be gone more due to work, leaving children to view television and media as role models. Connect the two of those now and it goes like this. A kid watches violence on television because they want to connect with an adult figure (even if it's Miami Vice, they'll want to connect) and whn that figure chooses violence as a means to solve problems, they will too.

Welcome,
PimpDAShizzle

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Jack the Ripper never played Manhunt or watched violent films...

And if films and violent games do make vicious killers, what's to stop nursery rhymes and fairy tales from doing the same thing? Like throwing an old woman into an oven in Hansel and Grettel?

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"When I was younger, I always wanted to be somebody. Now that I'm older, I realise I should've been more specific."

I can't get down with this notion at all. At what age do young knuckleheads become aware of right/wrong as it relates to violent acts. Movies themselves sensationalize violence for youngbloods, and desensitize us as we get wiser. Violence, premeditated or otherwise, is an act based on circumstances. Drama A happened, then B, and perhaps C. Based on that, we lose our damn mind and act a fool. The 'clown test' is swiss cheeze because it doesn't account for these lil' heads being able to comprehend consequences of violence; instead thats simply an act of insignificance to them. Until they know, there is no way for them to get down with being accountable for what we know to be violence. Violence, is an act of sheer will -- you were impacted, you understand the consequence, and then you twist someones cap back because they scuffed your new Puma's. Movies can't stop the show and make some random monkey be violent. They just have to choose to be.

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..get down with some ocular calisthenics and scope out soulsolids latest cinematic interpretation of, "White Noise".

I have lived in many places and believe it or not I have more often than not seen items turned in at my places of work. How do you know in America your camera would be gone? I myself would not have taken it. I know you are speaking from experience so I forgive you, but sterotyping Americans or any group is not typical of you my flyeating friend.
Oh yeah about the violence from movies; It is like any other form of entertainment I think. People can get an idea from anywhere. The biggest problem I would say is desensitization more so than the idea of violence. Some people I know say there is not much of a difference, and while they are related they definitely are different.

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

I think the fiasco with the game Manhunt was ridiculous. I bought that game and loved every minute of it. Now, if someone has it in their head that they want to mimic a computer game, that is not normal behavior. If somebody takes it upon themself to kill someone, that is not normal behavior. If someone wants to mimic a scene in a computer game and actually carry out the murder, we are talking about one person who is either very sick or very ill (ill as in ill of health). Has this ever happened before in the UK? No. Out of millions of people who have played on computer games, one person has killed someone. In about fifteen years of gaming. Obviously my sympathies were with the family of the victim at the time, but that is not even a ratio worth worrying about. To ban that game was ridiculous and I think if someone is going to murder someone they are ****ed up enough to do it anyway, it does not take a computer game or a movie to encourage them. No normal person will be encouraged to carry out violence by a film no matter how stupid they are and if they do they would probably do it anyway, with or without watching a violent film. The same thing happened to Judas Priest in the 80's, two lunatics attempted suicide whilst listening to the Stained Class album. It turned out that they were both extremely mentally unstable and on drugs at the time, but the case still went to court. It is just lawyers trying to contribute to their profiles and paychecks, and avid moralists who are petrified of violence due to their upbringing's and/or education. I'm not saying that it is any way wrong to be a moralist, but such people should realise that it is a non-opressive world and, in laymans tems, If you can't deal, Don't bother trying to.

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"No what happens is, Papa Smurf films the gang bang, and then beats off to the tape later!"

Yup.

It was Scarface that led Hitler to the Holocaust

I like your post, 7thson, as usual.
I've lived in Japan too, Frog, and yes, the honesty system is evident but I've never liked the idea of stereotyping either. I've had things go missing in all countries, including Japan. I also don't like the way that 'lower class' kids were stereotyped to be more susceptible to violence.
As for violence, there's been tons of research done around this and one thing that seemed most prevalent was that children seemed to roleplay after a violent movie when they new it was a movie. However, after showing children real newsreels, there was no roleplay whatsoever. I guess this demonstrates the ability for us as human beings (even at a young age) to recognise reality and fiction. I'm sure there's exceptions, as there always are, to this. There are those who can't seem to separate the two or those who just simply get off on it.

I think it's pretty worthless to do studies on how normal kids behave after being exposed to movie violence or other kinds of violent behaviour. Obviously there is something wrong with the kid before he or she watches the movie that may trigger the violent behaviour. The kind of world we live in today is a world lived through media so of course a disturbed kid will more likely react in a disturbed manner through movies, music or Internet than before media played such a signigicant role in young people's lives. There was a time when authorities thought it was bad for kids and especially working class kids to read books. Movies can be the inspiration but the root to the problem lies much deeper than so.

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The novelist does not long to see the lion eat grass. He realizes that one and the same God created the wolf and the lamb, then smiled, "seeing that his work was good".

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They had temporarily escaped the factories, the warehouses, the slaughterhouses, the car washes - they'd be back in captivity the next day but now they were out - they were wild with freedom. They weren't thinking about the slavery of poverty. Or the slavery of welfare and food stamps. The rest of us would be all right until the poor learned how to make atom bombs in their basements.

i don't know if it's a kid with problems so much as easily influenced...kids do all kinds of things that they think they can get away with..problems or not...lots of adults can be that way as well..to me its always a matter of how they were raised and what they've been exposed to that triggers behavior

Violent people causes violence. I watch violent movies but don't go around acting it out. Children I can see being influenced by movies, but that is why there are ratings on movies and parental guidence suggestions. I think it is nasty for people to let young children watch violence on tv or in movies. I would rather them watch a porno than a violent movie. At least the get images of love (even if we as adults understand differently). If a person as an adult is easily influenced by a movie, violent or not, then that says something about the ignorance or lack of intelligence on the person themself. Movies don't cause violence, people do.

Note about Manhunt, it wasn't banned, certain stores choose to stop selling it. Un-surprisingly, giving the game a massive boost in sales, free advertising, no news is bad news etc and went back into the charts. Quite how that had any positive effect is beyond me. And another point on that case, the game is rated 18, and as such the victims shouldnt have even had a copy.
The Judas Priest did make me laugh, you see the court case? The backwards messages, and when JP found one saying 'would you like a peppermint', i think, you just have to laugh. I think blaming media products for tragedy is just a way of dealing with the sorrow, having a handy scape goat so the parents feel like it wasnt their fault or something.
Its some very intersesting points people are bringing up here.
I'd like to mention chav culture, i doubt most chavs can even afford to see violent media products, yet they are still aggressive and violent.
Another case is Marilyn Manson, where crimes were linked to to the attackers listening to Marilyn Manson. Their behaviour wasn't influenced by Marilyn, they choose to listen to him because they WERE like that and it sounded good to them because of who they were.

DaShizzle is talking about Albert Bandura's widely publicized psychological study on modeling and observational learning that showed that children were more prone to act violently if they had first seen an adult acting violently towards the object than they had been without first having observed the violent action. The theory is that children model what they see, and it doesn't seem to be something that is too far removed from human experience to be believed.

I definitely think that people who are violent cause violent behavior and that movies cannot be blamed entirely for the actions of individuals. I also don't think that movies would turn a mild mannered, soft spoken person with no violent tendencies into a homicidal maniac. At the same time, I do think that there is no question that violence of all kinds, and movies are certainly not the only culprits, do desensitize us to violence as a society. Individuals who see violence do become more desensitized to violent actions than individuals who have not seen such violence. This seems to be supported by the evidence. It doesn't just stop with violence, either. Studies have been done that suggest that a person's attitude on sex is affected as well. The more teenagers between certain ages were exposed to prime time television, which often have the highest amount of sexual or suggestive material, the more likely they were to have had sex themselves, or to have thought about sex in a completely flippant manner. I do think that television does definitely play a role, but it cannot be blamed entirely. At the same time, I think if a person already has tendencies to become violent, watching large amounts of violence may make that person more likely to act upon those already pre-existing tendencies. Therefore, I do think that it is important that there be reasonable limits on the kinds of things that are on television and in motion pictures.

I'm not sure if it's a matter of how they were raised cos there are kids/adults out there that have had great family lives/childhoods and do what they do.
Pid, I'm not saying that research is "God's word" (if you believe in god), but what I was trying to convey was that not all kids are influenced by violence on tv/games, etc.