Natural Born Killers was a movie about the lives of a couple who went on a killing spree. This movie was sued because it said that people that went on a killing spree imitated this film.
Child's Play was cited as influencing a murder in England.
Clockwork Orange was actually pulled from theaters by the director due to the fact children were imitating the film and displayed a tremendous amount of violence.
Movies are always going to made because it provides a source of entertainment to the audience. Nothing is more exciting than to watch a person on screen do all the things that the audience couldn't do in real life. Some people like to imagine themselves as the main character in the film they just watched. Perhaps this is the problem. Movies are great, they are fun to watch, they allow for you to develop a connection with other viewers. This is all great until a viewer decides to imitate the action performed on screen. For example, a college students goes on a serious killing spree with a ghost mask and then eventually gets caught. His reaction will be to blame the movies. Movies give people a motive to do something. Movies don't show a person exactly how to do the crime, it shows them an example. Movies open up a person's imagination for them to perform limitless opportunities.
Now what is to be done about this? To be honest there is nothing that can be done but lately movies that would seem rated R have taken on the PG-13 rating. This reason may be to deter people from doing violent acts buy taking out the violent acts from the movie. By the time the average U.S. child starts elementary school he or she will have seen 8,000 murders and 100,00 acts of violence on TV.
http://www.fanpop.com/spots/horror-movies/articles/51713/title/horror-movies-causing-violence-murders
http://www.cybercollege.com/violence.htm
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090501063941AAPgNbH
Nice topic and good selection of movies. I think, however, that it's up to the psychological stability of an individual. I grew up with an older brother that would show me violent movies and other poor influences when I just a little kid (like watching horror movies and movies with drugs and sex in them when I was only about 7). Along with listening to Tupac and Notorius BIG around the same age and playing Grand Theft Auto. . I think it is sort of a cop-out for someone our age to blame movies and other similar influences. However, if a kid around the age of 10 is influenced by these things, that would be a different story.
ReplyDeleteI like this topic, and you had great examples on movies. i think people take things way to far. Its all in your mind, the movies we watch are not real they are just for entertainment. For people to blame their sick and crazy acts on movies is insane and they are the ones who need to be in a mental institution.
ReplyDeleteGood movies, good points. I think that there is more to it than just people seeing a violent movie and deciding to act on what they saw in real life. I think there is some kind of mental imbalance there; meaning that in order for someone to not realize that movies aren't reality and that the violence on the big screen is not meant to be recreated in real life. I think a sane person understands that movies are movies and reality is reality. Good post though.
ReplyDeleteI think the blaming of movies or any media for that matter for crime is an interesting topic. Many times when crimes are committed there is a movie or video game that has been linked to influencing the offender. I think that while violent movies and video games may exposed people to violence, it doesn't necessarily push them to commit violent acts. I think that in most cases a person makes the rational choice to commit a violent act. There are movies where people learn they can fly, but you don't see people jumping off buildings as often as you see people committing violent acts. I think that while movies can expose people to violence it doesn't influence them to commit crime, that is a personal choice.
ReplyDeleteThere have been several instances where criminal acts have been drawn from movies or other sources of media. To ignore this is to ignore the type of society that we live in. Video games, music, and movies are becoming more and more violent. The problem is that their audiences are getting younger and younger. There is no reason a ten year old is playing a video game that is meant for adults or an eleven year old is in a rated R movie. Kids are very impressionable and it is the responsibility of their parents to censor the types of things that they watch. Being a 21 year old adult I have to check myself because I hear and see myself saying things that I see on television so I can imagine what an impressionable adolescent would imitate. People in the industry have to draw lines at the type of content that they put out for consumers but at the end of the day these people are worried about money rather than responsibility.
ReplyDeleteI find it ridiculous when people blame movies or music or television on acts of violence. I would say a lack of structure and discipline in an offender's life has more to do with it than what movie they watched or song they listened to. It is a total cop out and an example of not taking responsibility for their actions when they blame entertainment sources. It's just an excuse for an absentee parent to avoid responsibility. I had just graduated high school the year before the Columbine shooting and I hung out daily with kids that listened to Marilyn Manson and none of them ever came in and shot the place up. Marilyn Manson had nothing to do with it; it was just some kids with no structure who decided they were pissed off and going to take it out on people at school. To say that the music they listened to was to blame is totally asinine. It somes down to the responsibility of the guardians in their lives to know what's going on in their lives. If the shooters' parents had been more involved in their kids lives then maybe it would have been avoided; not if they had listened to different music.
ReplyDeleteI dont think anyone should blame a movie, video games or music for people acting the way they act. You are suppose to know from a very young age what is right and what is wrong, what is real and what is fake. If anyone is blamed it should be the person doing the horrible act or murder or whatever else.
ReplyDeleteI feel like violent movies do not cause violent acts. I mean violence is all around us in movies, video games and TV shows and the majority of society isn't out committing crimes. I feel we need to focus the emphasis on the offender’s family dynamics, peer influences, prior offense history and antisocial behavior. Plus if someone is so influenced by a movie then how mentally stable is that person really? I mean I can see how young children are very impressionable, but it seems wrong to blame movies when a child commits a violent crime. Parents should not let their children be exposed to these types of programs at such young ages when they may take the messages literally.
ReplyDeleteAll the movies you selected were great. All the movies you selected were also extremely violent. It is hard for me to believe that a sane person would turn in to a killer because they watched a movie. I agree with your quote from the first movie. Those who are crazy enough to kill are going to kill. A movie may influence their decision on how to kill but in the end the person was seriously disturbed to begin with. Young children do often believe what they see in movies but I would hope the movies scare them instead of creating killers. Lastly, parents should most definitely let their children see any of these movies.
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