Sex and Violence in movies - Research Paper Example

? Sex and Violence in movies There has been an increase in the level of sexual content, violence as well as the usage of profanity in cinemas during the cinemas that came out during the ten year period of 1992 to 2003 (Thompson and Yokota, 2004). There is a common conception that higher explicit sexual content and violence may bring more revenue, however, it along with that it also has many consequences that may be negative. This study attempts to explore the various effects of the increasing level of sex and violence in contemporary movies. Introduction There are various different genres of movies that show an increased sexual content and violence. For example, horror movies, crime based movies and war movies have increased levels of violence and similarly romantic comedies have been bordering towards showing increased sexual content. Additionally, movies that are considered to be avant-garde and cult, instead of mainstream also have an increased display of both sexual content and violence. Even though the Motion Picture Association of America’s Classification and Ratings Administration has set down the various ratings that determine suitable viewing, it is important to understand that the level of acceptance of violence and sex is much higher (Abraham and Basuroy, 2004). To illustrate, movies like Stuart Gordon’s unrated Re-animator (1985) and the films of Larry Clark have received criticism for being extremely violent and for showing excessive sexual content. It is also interesting to note that how the levels of acceptance among the audience have also been increasingly slowly. For instance, when the young audiences watch a movie like The Exorcists, instead of being terrified and shocked, they watch it more like a comedy movie (Curti and Selva, 2003). Therefore, the definition of what is considered to be extreme and what is considered to be acceptable keeps on changing generation after generation. Effects of Sex and Violence on Movie audience The high level of sexually explicit content along and violence does indeed have an effect on the audience. It is a universally accepted fact that movies have the capacity to influence people and their actions. In this scenario, it is necessary to highlight some of the negative influence that both sex and violence in movies have on their audience. 1. Desensitizing – Constant exposure to violence as well as sexual content can reduce the sensitivity among the viewers. This can create a notion that such behavior is acceptable in the society. In some cases, it can result in the distortion of world view. Therefore, crimes related to sex or violence may lose perspective as real crimes in the vision of the people (Williams, 1995). By increasing the extremity of the element of violence in movies, the tendency would be that the audience will not react strongly if and when they encounter or hear about such instances in real life. Therefore, increasing the realism of movies to make it extreme by adding higher sounds and bigger screens such as in the beginning of the movie Saving Private Ryan (1998), does have a tendency to desensitize the audience. In today’s society, that is replete with increasing instances of violence and terrorism, it is very important for individuals to be sensitive and to understand the impact of such acts. Therefore, it is really unfair to desensitize an audience. 2. Negative effects on children and youth – The categories of individuals that get most affected by acts of violence and sex in the movies are children and youth. For them, everything that they see on the big screen is glamorized and is something that they can imitate in their real life. Extreme scenes of violence as well as high level of sexual content can attract the youth and make them imitate it as a part of their hero worship. For some others, witnessing such scenes can have traumatic experiences and affect psychologically. The genre of movies that came to be known as the slasher movies like I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), and Urban Legend (1998) were criticized for having a high content of both sexual acts as well as violence that could cause detrimental effects. Moreover, these movies showed systematic violence against young and attractive (Sapolsky & Molitor, 1996).These movies went a step further to even show contents related to sexualized violence. Another example is movies such as He knows You’re Alone not only show acts of very high level of violence that are shown in extreme graphic detail, but they also single out women as subjects for injury as well as death. In addition, it also even juxtaposes instances of violence along with extremely erotic images. Such an intense portrayal would definitely have an impact on the thoughts and attitudes of youth and children. 3. Increased aggression and antisocial behavior – Movies also have the tendency to increase the fear of victimization and this fear can manifest in the form of certain behavioral patterns which can have several layers of reactions. It can contribute to antisocial behaviors (Potter, 1999). Also, it has another repercussion that increases their taste to watch more and more such movies. Antisocial behavioral pattern can be dangerous in the long run because such a high level of influence can result in crimes such as arson, murder and even rapes. Repeated exposure to violence can also enhance the aggressive trait in individuals and they may even start looking at various movies to sustain this aggression. Continuous aggression can manipulate the mind and will create specific traits in the characters of the individuals that would evoke violent reactions during stressful situations. Movies like Subconscious Cruelty (2000) have the capacity to create this tendency. 4. Wrong image of the society – The level of violence and erotic behavior shown in the big screen is far from what happens in reality. There may be some exceptional cases, but largely, movies do represent an exaggerated version of the events. Showing such an exaggerated version of these events may create a very strong impression in the minds of people, who start believing in the misconception that the entire world is filled up with such instances (Boggs, 2001). This can also have different implications. First one is that if ever they are confronted with situations in real life, they may resort to taking such similar actions and consider it as acceptable and may be even proud of emulating it. Secondly, it can also create a false sense of fear and even mistrust, which may prevent the society from being healthy and trustful. One example of such an elevated level of violence is the movie called Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994). Conclusion It is difficult to have a regulation or a curb on movies to ensure that there is not much sexual content, violence or use of profanity. Those in favor of it would argue that realistic cinema is incomplete without the depiction of these elements. Furthermore, the high revenues grossed by movies that portray these elements stand testimony to the fact that there is a huge audience that enjoys such films. Therefore, the better way to bring about a regulation is by having stricter ratings and warnings so that the audience has a better choice. The warnings should be clear and be descriptive of any potentially offensive scenes. This step can help in minimizing the negative effects to an extent. The film makers also should take their creative liberty more seriously so that they also keep social consciousness in the mind while making movies. References Abraham, R.S; Basuroy, S. (2004). Managerial Objectives, the R-Rating Puzzle, and the Production of Violent Films. The Journal of Business. 77(2), 1555-1580 Boggs, C. (2001). Postmodernism the movie. New Political Science, 23, 351–370. Curti, R and Selva, T (2003) Sex and Violence: Journey into Extreme Cinema. Turin: Lindau Press Potter, W. J. (1999). On media violence. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Sapolsky, B. S.,& Molitor, F. (1996). Content trends in contemporary horror films, in J. B.Weaver & R. Tamborini (ed.) Horror films: Current research on audience preferences and reactions (p.33-48) .Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Thompson, K and Yokota, F. (2004). Violence, Sex and Profanity in Films: Correlation of Movie Ratings with Content. Medscape General Medicine. 6(3). 3-4 Williams, L. (1995). Film Bodies: Gender, Genre, and Excess, in B. K. Grant (ed.) Film Genre Reader 2, ( p. 142). Austin: University of Texas Press Read More