Your opinion on violence in movies? Poll.

[Knower of nothing]

I like violence in art in all forms for various reasons. Repulsion is a valuable experience and I do think movies are currently in the lead for containing some of the most repulsive art around. Violence covers this huge ground from thrill to comedy to shock value. It adds both fragility and power to the characters. It's a safe way to engage with our appetitive aggression, one of the more sinister facets of human psychology that we all share. It also allows us to cope with the relentless brutality of nature.
In classic stories violence is often an important vessel for change, a romantic element. But some movies I've seen broke this mold and started showing violence that is simply there. Violence that solves no confrontation and serves no purpose, let alone a just one. So once we arrived at that point we've covered all violence has to offer I believe. It's disturbing, funny and tragic. Also intimately tied to lust which is a little spooky. Very interesting topic in general.

 

[SusanLR]

Seeing violence in movies doesn't trigger me in any way.
If I like the movie and it's plot, it doesn't matter what they show to me.
I like sci-fy and a lot of those have violence. Also, movies that have some fantasy and supernatural elements to them when portrayed well hold my attention.
Psychological thrillers are some of my favorites because I like to try second guessing what is coming next and the why of the crimes.

Slasher movies just for gore I have no interest in or anything showing
violence towards animals.
It's all just Hollywood anyway.

 

[Mr. Stevens]

In film and TV, I tend to find violence funny. I guess because it's often over-the-top and the stories can be shallow. Also because it's fake. I often laugh at things in movies/TV which I would never laugh at in real life. I used to watch a lot of Criminal Minds just to laugh at, for example.

 

[SusanLR]

In film and TV, I tend to find violence funny. I guess because it's often over-the-top and the stories can be shallow. Also because it's fake. I often laugh at things in movies/TV which I would never laugh at in real life. I used to watch a lot of Criminal Minds just to laugh at, for example.

Criminal Minds is a series I can watch anytime.
It's always interesting to me.
I keep a lot of them in the DVR and when I want to lie back to relax with the TV on,
Criminal minds it usually is.

 

[AGXStarseed]

For me, I have a limit. Watching violence in action moves is one thing as that kind of thing is a part of the genre, but I'm not a fan of overly gory stuff like in some horror movies.
There are some I can watch - such as Jeepers Creepers or Freddy vs. Jason (the ending fight of that one been rather gruesome) - but I generally avoid stuff like that.

 

[Bolletje]

I enjoy some over the top violence and gore (not against animals or children though). That being said, since I’ve had EMDR therapy to deal with some of my trauma, I am no longer desensitized to violence and I don’t like watching it in fiction as much as I used to.

 

[Rodafina]

I’ve had a similar experience to several others here. I used to use over the top violence as an escape from the numbness that I had created in my heart. In sobriety, now and being more aware of my thoughts and feelings, I have lost my taste for violence in movies.

Sometimes the fantastical stuff is still okay, like werewolves, vampires, and that sort of thing. Plus a few old favorite movies that I’ve watched so many times I still enjoy. Lord of the Rings and Fargo for example. I will never stop loving those.

 

[Mr. Stevens]

I’ve had a similar experience to several others here. I used to use over the top violence as an escape from the numbness that I had created in my heart. In sobriety, now and being more aware of my thoughts and feelings, I have lost my taste for violence in movies.

Sometimes the fantastical stuff is still okay, like werewolves, vampires, and that sort of thing. Plus a few old favorite movies that I’ve watched so many times I still enjoy. Lord of the Rings and Fargo for example. I will never stop loving those.

That is a good point. The violence in Lord of the Rings is more purposeful. It was easier to laugh at fake TV violence when I was younger, and the realities were less real.

 

[Forest Cat]

Since it's a movie I know it's fake violence, so I don't really have a reaction to it. If it's real it's different. But movies are just movies, smoke and mirrors. I don't watch much violent movies now, maybe I'll watch a action movie and people fight or an old Clint Eastwood western, but I don't watch the very bloody stuff. Except the old Evil Dead movies, but those are also hilarious. Groovy

I like comedy now, the world is so awful that I want the fun stuff. Watching the news is more than enough horror for me.

 

[Forest Cat]

John Wick is a movie for dog lovers. Any dog lover can relate with John Wick.

I was surprised that he wasn't more upset and handled it as calmly and peacefully as he did.

 

[Rodafina]

Except the old Evil Dead movies, but those are also hilarious

Definitely!

 

[Ken]

I selected Other. I dislike (understatement) morbid violence where murder (killing) is the intent of the violence; including war.

I like action movies, but it is ruined when there is intended killing; regardless of species.

 

[AGXStarseed]

I was surprised that he wasn't more upset and handled it as calmly and peacefully as he did.

Yeah - never mess with a man's dog.

 

[Mary Terry]

My opinion is that Mel Gibson is an exploitation filmmaker with a Hollywood budget.

I agree. Remember he directed the Passion of Christ movie, gave pious promotional interviews about how religious he is, and thereafter was videotaped during a drunken antisemitic rant? He kind of fell off the Hollywood wagon for a while after that.

 

[Shevek]

Neither violence nor romance. Comedy, documentary, or drama.

 

[Judge]

I agree. Remember he directed the Passion of Christ movie, gave pious promotional interviews about how religious he is, and thereafter was videotaped during a drunken antisemitic rant? He kind of fell off the Hollywood wagon for a while after that.

I thought the entire production (under his creative control) was one big antisemitic rant in itself. Reflecting both sentiments and Hollywood's penchant for remakes which really didn't need to be told again. Yes, Christ was crucified. But we didn't need to explicitly know the extraordinary brutality of such an act beyond what most people already knew.

Sometimes I wonder if Mel Gibson was attempting to outdo director Sam Peckinpah in terms of gratuitous violence. Yet I also suspect Peckinpah would have had the wisdom not to remake such a story.

Conversely I see directors like Paul Verhoeven as skillfully using gratuitous violence as a form of political satire, often associated with fictional circumstances (Total Recall, Starship Troopers). If this makes me a hypocrite, so be it.

 

[Rodafina]

Yeah - never mess with a man's dog.

Or a gal’s. Especially a gal who loves weapons.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

I have to put my hands over my eyes and sometimes stick my fingers in my ears when a movie turns violent. I don’t watch many movies either.

I know it’s not real. I get that. But it is still so horrifying to me.

There are books I can’t read because of violence. Or I can skim over the descriptive stuff.

This awful violence happens enough in real life.

 

[WildCat]

Martial arts and horror are two of my favorite genres. I can watch old B-grade kung fu flicks all day, haven't been keeping up much with horror though.

I've got a filter for any violence depicted in movies to an extent, if it's not excessive. If there's too much then no, mainly because I think it takes away from the point of a movie and because even I've got my limits. It's not that I'm actively looking for the most violent films to watch, just that most of it is laughably unrealistic and usually played for the cool factor - like things or people getting shot? No, you don't get blown back several feet, and vehicles also don't go boom like that either, several feet into the air after a few bullets.

Violence in real life, outside of the movies, is where I draw the line and is something that I do NOT take to very well at all. I'm not a violent person by any means, no matter how many movies I watch or games I play, and would rather not get involved in it or associate with people who make it a habit.

 

[AprilR]

I used to not mind over the top violence, like Quentin Tarantino movies. In fact i was a big fan of them, also Takashi Miike. But nowadays i dont watch a lot of them.