Ann Hornaday on Watching Ultra-Violence

Posted on December 28, 2015 at 3:58 pm

Washington Post critic Ann Hornaday has a thoughtful piece about the violence in two end-of-the-year western-style frontier stories, “The Revenant,” from the director of last year’s Best Picture “Birdman,” Alejandro González Iñárritu and Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight.”

Both “The Hateful Eight” and “The Revenant,” which arrive in theaters over the next two weeks, make promiscuous use of bodies in pain. Directed by Quentin Tarantino and Alejandro González Iñárritu, respectively, both films are set against the pitiless, snowy backdrop of the 19th-century American West. And both traffic in lingering wide-screen images of savage brutality and mortification, as their protagonists claw, fight, shoot and stab their way to preserving their lives… oth films are set against the pitiless, snowy backdrop of the 19th-century American West. And both traffic in lingering wide-screen images of savage brutality and mortification, as their protagonists claw, fight, shoot and stab their way to preserving their lives.

These are both films with some artistic aspirations. But Hornaday questions whether the ultra-violence in both is in aid of or a distraction from their stories and their messages.

It’s possible to appreciate both films, even admire them, for their sheer ambition and near-flawless execution. But the virtuosity on display also produces its share of deep misgivings. Whether by way of Tarantino’s ironic distance or Iñárritu’s artily masochistic extremes, it’s genuine empathy and self-reflection that get short-circuited, swamped by surface values of aesthetics, technical achievement and shocking, vicarious jolts.

She compares the films to others released this year that engaged with serious, real-life atrocities like “Son of Saul,” “Room,” and “Spotlight” without making them as confrontational, explicit, even cartoonish. These films, she says, “call on each viewer’s memory, conscience and moral imagination to complete the picture and create its deepest meaning.” Individual responses to violence on film vary widely. For me, the question is: does it make you feel more or feel less?

Tarantino’s Producer Says It’s Time to Cut Back on Movie Violence

Posted on January 23, 2014 at 8:00 am

Producer Harvey Weinstein, producer of some of Quentin Tarantino’s ultra-violent films like “Django Unchained,” told Piers Morgan he is not going to make movies like that anymore.

“You have to look in the mirror, too. I have to choose movies that aren’t violent or as violent as they used to be. I know for me personally, you know, I can’t continue to do that. The change starts here. It has already. For me, I can’t do it. I can’t make one movie and say this is what I want for my kids and then just go out and be a hypocrite.” He added that he would make a movie like Lone Survivor, “a tribute to the United States special forces,” but “I’m not going to make some crazy action movie just to blow up people and exploit people just for the sake of making it.”

In addition, he is producing an anti-NRA film called “The Senator’s Wife,” starring Meryl Streep. He is also getting ready to film a project he has wanted to do for many years, “Mila 18,” based on the Leon Uris book about the Warsaw uprising, the Jews who took up arms against the Nazis.

I do not think there will be any fewer “crazy action movies” or any less violence on screen. But it is good to hear someone in Hollywood think seriously about the value of the films they produce.

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Understanding Media and Pop Culture

Yes, There is More Violence in PG-13 Movies Now: Pediatricians

Posted on November 11, 2013 at 8:06 pm

Pediatrics, the journal of the pediatric professionals, has published a new study about the increase of gun violence in PG-13 movies, often more than in R movies. It documents what parents have already figured out.

Violence in films has more than doubled since 1950, and gun violence in PG-13–rated films has more than tripled since 1985. When the PG-13 rating was introduced, these films contained about as much gun violence as G (general audiences) and PG (parental guidance suggested for young children) films. Since 2009, PG-13–rated films have contained as much or more violence as R-rated films (age 17+) films.

Even if youth do not use guns, these findings suggest that they are exposed to increasing gun violence in top-selling films. By including guns in violent scenes, film producers may be strengthening the weapons effect and providing youth with scripts for using guns. These findings are concerning because many scientific studies have shown that violent films can increase aggression. Violent films are also now easily accessible to youth (eg, on the Internet and cable). This research suggests that the presence of weapons in films might amplify the effects of violent films on aggression.

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Understanding Media and Pop Culture

Jim Carrey Says His New Movie Is Too Violent

Posted on June 24, 2013 at 2:01 pm

The 2010 film Kick-Ass, about a group of young would-be superheroes who did not actually have any super powers, was controversial for its ultra-violence and for featuring a young girl, played by then-12-year-old Chloë Grace Moretz, who used extremely strong and crude language and who was a trained killer.

Now it seems the sequel may be even more controversial as Jim Carrey, who stars, has said that he will not support the film. In two tweets, he said that the film was made before the shooting at Sandy Hook and he now believes that the violence is excessive and inappropriate. “My apologies to others involve with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart.”

The creator of Kick-Ass, Mark Millar, responded on his blog:

Like Jim, I’m horrified by real-life violence (even though I’m Scottish), but Kick-Ass 2 isn’t a documentary. No actors were harmed in the making of this production! This is fiction and like Tarantino and Peckinpah, Scorcese and Eastwood, John Boorman, Oliver Stone and Chan-Wook Park, Kick-Ass avoids the usual bloodless body-count of most big summer pictures and focuses instead of the CONSEQUENCES of violence, whether it’s the ramifications for friends and family or, as we saw in the first movie, Kick-Ass spending six months in hospital after his first street altercation. Ironically, Jim’s character in Kick-Ass 2 is a Born-Again Christian and the big deal we made of the fact that he refuses to fire a gun is something he told us attracted him to the role in the first place.

Ultimately, this is his decision, but I’ve never quite bought the notion that violence in fiction leads to violence in real-life any more than Harry Potter casting a spell creates more Boy Wizards in real-life. Our job as storytellers is to entertain and our toolbox can’t be sabotaged by curtailing the use of guns in an action-movie.

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Understanding Media and Pop Culture

The Media and Violence — Changing Perspectives After Sandy Hook

Posted on January 16, 2013 at 4:28 pm

The comprehensive public safety reform package proposed by President Obama today includes new programs and proposed rules to increase support for the mentally ill, restrict access to the most deadly weapons, and provide additional security through more funding for law enforcement. Vice President Joe Biden included meeting with media industry representatives in developing the proposals. According to The Wrap, the meeting was “cordial,” and consisted primarily of a presentation about the effectiveness of the industry’s rating system to help parents make choices based on their own values and the needs of individual children. Today’s proposal, as expected, made no effort to address the content of media (which is protected by the 1st Amendment) or revise the rating system (which is industry-controlled and not regulated by the government). It does include some funding for additional research into the impact of violent games (not television or movies) on viewers.

There have literally been hundreds of studies already on this subject. We know that violence in media impairs empathetic responses and promotes a distorted world view that can lead to bad choices. We have a multi-billion dollar industry called advertising that is based on the notion that tiny snippets of media can influence opinions and behavior, so we should be long past arguing about whether violent media influences children and vulnerable adults. Any new research should be devoted to understanding better how media can help people better understand the consequences of violence and learn to make better choices.

PBS has announced a special week of programming inspired by the tragedy at Sandy Hook.

This special programming will kick off each night with a PBS NEWSHOUR report focusing on topics tied to the Newtown tragedy, including violence in the media, gun control policy and how cities like Aurora, Colorado are moving on after a similar tragedy. The series also includes a FRONTLINE special report, in collaboration with The Hartford Courant, profiling the Connecticut shooter and his relationship with his mother as well as a report on the battle over America’s gun laws and gun culture; a NOVAdocumentary about violence and the brain; two independent documentaries — one on the history of guns in America and the other on school security; a NEED TO KNOWreport about the ripple effects of a fatal shooting incident; and an update on political action in the nation’s capital surrounding gun control from WASHINGTON WEEK WITH GWEN IFILL.

“This week of specials gives PBS the opportunity to take an in-depth and thoughtful look at the issues the Newtown tragedy laid bare,” said Beth Hoppe, Chief Programming Executive and General Manager of General Audience Programming for PBS. “As we mourn the lives lost in Newtown, it is important to present the facts, the science, and the history behind the issues to provide information and context as we collectively look at how better to protect and serve our communities.”