Violence articles

Article 1:Everything Quentin Tarantino Really Thinks About Violence and the Movies

This article enlightens us on the opinion of Quentin Tarantino's point of view of violence in movies and how he is tired of explaining himself on his standing on the topic. The article starts off by giving the audience an overview of his interview with a reporter. In the interview Quentin made it very clear he would not answer any questions on the topic of movies and violence, due to the fact he had answered the question several times in the past. The show us that he has answered this question several times, answering the question as early as 1993 all the way to 2010. In the quotes you see that his opinion has never once change, which is movie violence is okay because it is expected, but in real life it is unexpected and is a tragedy. I highly agree with Tarantino's opinion, movie violence is expected, so those who should not see violence (kids for example), a parent is going to know if violence is in that movie or not so they can always prevent their child from seeing that movie. As for adults, if violent movies caused people to be violent, it would be logical that the actions done would be more closely related to movies actions.

Article 2:Violent media poisoning nation's soul

In this article they discuss how movie violence causes people to be violent and how its okay to show violence in movies but we react so much more differently in real life. He asked us if the public's point of view on violence in movies be different where instead of the Aurora movie theater shooting a blockbuster movie had a scene that contained a movie shooting. It response to his question, I would like to say that yes a majority of the public would not have a horrific reaction, but that is because we understand that it is not real, and we go to a movie with violence because we want to, and most people can understand the difference between what happens in a movie and what happens in real life.

Article 3: Columbine: Whose Fault was it?

The whole article sums up to how the growth of media affected the spread of showing real life violence. His first example was how would things be different if they had television during the civil war? This was a great example because he explains how every news channel would have been covering the event. But the media that tells us that violence shouldn't be allowed in movies shows us car chases, footage of a reporter covering a war over seas (this can be any war between Vietnam to the wars int the middle east.) But in the sum of the article i agree with this writer that we allow the media to make our choices for us on several topics including violence, and we are not getting any more violent as time goes on, but instead we only make it easier through technology to show this violence, and it is very true that every source is filled with examples of violence. So we can't just tell movies to quit showing violence we'd have to include every source.

Violence Articles

Article 1- Violent Media Poisoning Nations Soul

This article talks about how the violence in movies and media is contributing to the violent nature of our culture. It covers the incidents in Newtown, Connecticut, with the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, and the movie theater shootings in Aurora, Colorado, and how the media and violent films such as The Dark Knight Rises contributed to the violent nature of our society. The author, Mick LaSalle, mentions how in the movie theater, people didn't think the shooter was real at first; he says they thought it was part of the movie promotion. He goes on to blame the cinema for the fact that no one took the gunman seriously at first. He claims that the media has made us so desensitized to violence that we don't register the imminent danger of a gunman, but try to look for alternatives for him being there. However this is just human nature. Even LaSalle shows his thought process to minimize the portrayal of violence in his movie critiques. This is because not only is a movie theater not the place you would expect to see a gunman because you have never heard of that before, but also the human mind is going to think the positive first. No one is going to assume they are going to die in a movie theater at that instant and take cover, their minds are immediately going to think of something safer, like a movie promotion. So to accuse the cinema and like things for that assumption is misplaced.

Article 2- Everything Quentin Tarantino Really Thinks About Violence and the Movies

In this interview/article. Tarantino vividly expresses his dislike for the interviewers questions. The interviewer, Guru-Murthy, asks Tarantino how the violence in his films relates, and contributes to the violence in real life. Tarantino refuses to answer the question and simply states that he has answered this question over many years and refuses to talk about it anymore. This in fact is true. There are many articles to find where Tarantino discusses the relation between the violence in his movies to the violence in real life. Tarantino states that the violence in movies is just in the movies, and he is not responsible for what people do with those images and thoughts after the movie is over. He states that violence in movies is cool, but he feels that the violence in America is one of the worst traits this nation has. What people do with the images they see is their own deal. Movies aren't brain washing people into doing violent acts, it is their own choices and feelings that lead to their violent actions. Most people won't go see Winnie the Pooh and come out feeling like they need to love everyone and eat honey, just like people won't leave a violent, R rated film, wanting to kill everyone they see.

Article 3- Marilyn Manson "Columbine: Whose Fault Is It?"

The Marilyn Manson article points out that our society has not become more violent, but the violence is more available. Manson talks about how TV shows violence non-stop; however this did not originate from TV. Violence has been around for ever and as Manson says "The day that Cain bashed his brother Abel's brains in, the only motivation he needed was his own human disposition to violence. Violence is in our blood. It doesn't matter if we see it or not, we as humans are still going to be violent. It is who we are. It only seems that the news and television has made our culture more violent because television and media make it so easily accessible to find out the latest on the war, or a shooting that happened. If you take away TV, it's not like the violence is going to magically disappear and we suddenly have a peaceful, happy world. No, if you take away the TV and news, violence is still going to happen, just less people will be informed and know the facts. Manson just points out the fact that if media and television would have been around during the civil war, that would be the only thing you could find to watch. The media would so heavily broadcast the war, that no one would be able to fill their heads with anything different. But that wouldn't make everyone crazy or a psychotic killer, it would just make everyone aware.

Violence Readings

Reading 1-Everything Quentin Tarantino Really Thinks About Violence and the Movies:

This article contains quotes regarding Quentin Tarantino's opinion on violence. Tarantino believes that movie violence and real violence are in completely different realms. Therefore, he is able to be comfortable with movie violence but uncomfortable with real violence. He explains that violence in real life is unexpected, whereas movie violence is. In real life, there are no warning signs such as a change in music or lighting. I agree and disagree with Tarantino's points. I don't think movie and real violence live separately. I think the two types of violence coexist and are capable of influencing each other. An act of violence, such as a school shooting, may not have been committed because a movie, but it can impact how a director approaches a violent scene. Likewise, a violent movie can influence an act of violence, like the movie theater shooting in Colorado. However, I do agree that it is okay to be comfortable with movie violence and not real violence. Action and violent movies are typically fiction, so the audience knows that the death of a character is fake. Like Tarantino said, there are also cues in a movie to let the audience know that something violent is about to happen.

Reading 2-Violent Media Poisoning Nation's Soul:

The author of this article, Mike LaSalle, says there is a culture problem because when the events in Newtown, Connecticut happened, we weren't as surprised as we should have been. The author believes movies and video games are to blame. Unlike Tarantino, LaSalle states that movies and society influence overlap and influence each other in complicated ways. He backs up his statements by talking about the shooting during "The Dark Knight Rises" movie in Aurora, Colorado. As a critic, LaSalle believes he and others should stop sugar coating their reviews when it comes to violence. He thinks critics should be straightforward as say if they found the violence disturbing. To fix this problem, he believes movies with violence should automatically be R-rated. Doing this, LaSalle believes this would reduce violence in PG-13 movies and prevent some violent movies being made. As I mentioned before, I do think movies and life coexist and effect each other. Therefore, I agree with that point LaSalle talked about. I don't have any protests about changing how movies are rated as long as it is reasonable. For example, in the movie Frozen, (Spoiler Alert), Hans was going to cut off Elsa's head. I don't think that movie should get an R rating. I also think we need to do more than change movie ratings to decrease violence. For example, reconsider gun laws.

Reading 3-Columbine: Whose Fault Is It?:

Marilyn Manson's main point is that the media is blamed for shootings and other violent action just so there is someone to blame, not necessarily whose fault it actually is. Manson points out the the first murder happened before books, movies, games or music. In the Bible, Cain killed his brother Abel. He recognizes that not everyone takes the Bible literally and explains that our society is built around Christianity's view of death and sexuality. Manson also believes society is not more violent, we just have more access to seeing violence via news. He also says the news is insensitive when it comes to tragedies such as Columbine. Manson also mentions that he and his music were blamed for Columbine because it was said that Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris were fans of Manson and dressed like him. In reality, that wasn't true. Manson believes that kids are more cynical because they are more exposed to everything because of how gruesome the news is. Lastly, he thinks the National Rifle Association is too powerful to take on, so other people are blamed, like Marilyn Manson. I agree that the news will make any connection to find someone or something to blame in events like Columbine. I'm not sure if society has gotten more, less or stayed the same regarding the amount of violence, but I do think we have more access to seeing real and fake violence. Just because we have access to seeing violence more often doesn't mean society has gotten more violent.