Violence and movies: American History X

Violence is part of our everyday lives and has direct consequences. However on the big screen, violent events may have little or unrealistic consequences. Additionally, violence on screen can be made comical and humorous. Seeing a violent act as being funny or having unrealistic consequences can lift the negativity and make it more accepted as normal behavior. Moreover, watching violent films gives viewers an outlet to everyday life. It can take them away from a …

…gratifications, our culture wants "more". Vivian Sobchack adds to this in her essay "The Postmorbid Condition." "...quantitative move to "more" in relation to violence-more blood, more gore, more characters (they're really not people) blown up or blown away..(378)". It was no surprise that when I picked up the newspaper this morning and turned to the movie section, I was able to see that six out of the eleven movies that are now playing are violent.