Are movies becoming more violent?

[Faye]

So I know that very violent movies have existed for a long time in certain genres like gore-horror, war movies, etc.., but as a regular movie goer, it seems to me that over the years, movies that do not normally fall into those specific genres are becoming more and more violent. I feel like gore has spread across genres to R rated movies in every genre now.

I go in to see action flicks, intellectual thrillers, etc.., and I expect them to be somewhat violent, but not gore violent, but I keep seeing gore.

Raunch has become more popular as well, and that also bothers me. It is not that I cannot handle it- it is just that I would prefer an action flick to be just that and nothing more.

Do you agree that this trend exists? What do you think of it?

 

[Apone]

I think that the technology has improved and there are ways of making the violence look and feel more extreme… but then, as you said, there has always been violence:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpBI2LPX2Ic

...and some of the first movies ever made were pornos.

In the 30s the MPAA started to police content, so there were things you couldn't show-- but there were creative ways around it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RylzPrS3WpE

In the 60s, the studios were getting desperate in the battle against TV, so they relaxed the standards in order to make things like Midnight Cowboy, because obviously they couldn't show such 'gritty realism' on TV. There was a huge resurgence in sex and violence in the 70s-- until Star Wars came along and then suddenly everyone wanted to make huge family-friendly blockbusters… and the violence was mostly cartoonish and confined to action movies with human superheroes like Arnie and Stallone.

So no, I don't think movies are becoming more violent… I think they're pretty much the same as they ever were. I do think that the ratings systems are being pushed and redefined in order to appeal to more markets though… so a film that might have been an R for violence and some bad language 30 years ago is now PG-13. But even torture porn isn't such a new phenomenon… people have always loved degenerate stories with heaps of sex and violence.

And as for your question about 'general' movies-- I don't know what you mean. I don't think that Pixar is becoming more violent… and there are still family films coming out with minimal amounts. I do think that The Dark Knight was rather brutal for a PG-13 movie… and obviously, it's success is going to mean that other films will follow its lead. But I can't really see an irreversible trend or a pushing of the envelope… and I'm not expecting The Hobbit to be gory.

 

[Sriracha]

My oldest son just made a comment to me the other day comparing the old Transformers cartoon to the new Transformers. He stated he enjoyed the older version more b/c there is less violence. I know you are talking about movies, but overall I agree that YES ALL MEDIA has become more violent.