It was enlightening to see the copycat effect of the movies on an actual screen instead of just reading about it. I found myself struck by the gore in the movie version and horrified that someone could be sick enough to repeat those heinous acts in real life. The case that alarmed me the most was that of a sixteen-year-old boy who decided to kill his mother for the money to buy masks and start a killing spree. One guy said that he would do whatever he saw in the movies, including slicing open someone’s chest. And then, of course, there were the Honeymoon Killers who killed their new partners for the life insurance payment.
One thing that seemed to be useful with these copycat killer crimes was that police could recognize the similarities between the movie murders and the actual killings. Yet, these copycat crimes were extremely violent and sickening. I watch very few graphic movies because the blood and gore freak me out, but the ones I have seen horrify me. It is sickening to think that people could be inspired by movies like Saw.
However, I don’t think we can deprive the public of these movies. Some movies that can inspire violent acts may also have positive effects. In the reading, one woman who watched a movie where an abused wife killed her husband decided to perform the same act in real life, but many other women sought help as a result of viewing the movie.
Thus, every movie, even violent ones, can produce different impacts depending on the person. Some reactions might be positive, some negative. We cannot cut out violent films entirely for fear of what some people will do, although perhaps we can limit the gory content.
I totally agree with your view that horror movies can produce both positive and negetave effects on their audiences. I know that I definitely feel repulsed everytime I watch scary movies with a lot of gore and violence so I would never consider doing something similar just because I saw it in a movie. However, to others, it may have have the opposite effect and cause them to believe that crime is glamourous, appealing, and thrilling. Even so, in circumstances like that, I feel that there's some other underlying reason (mental/emotional) that would ultimately make them more susceptible to committing vicious crimes after watching a horror movie (the movie just "triggered" their violent behavior? as stated in the documentary).
ReplyDeleteYes, I definitely agree that we could cut out some of the gory content in movies. I also am not a fan of gory movies and got a little nauseous just watching the documentary. It seriously blows my mind that people can actually commit these acts of violence! Especially when they're still so young like in the case of the 16 year old. But, I think there's more negative effects than positive effects from scary movies.
ReplyDeleteSomewhere along the line the movie industry lost the ability to make a movie truly terrifying without being gratuitous. Hitchcock's psycho is still one of the scariest movies ever made despite its lack of graphic violence. As far as copycating goes, I'm glad that (as far as I know) no one has tried to re-create Saw scenes.
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