Violence in the Movies

Violence in the Movies

People are influenced by what goes around in their environment, including what they see and hear. As such, the proliferation of violent movies in the modern media and the consistent exposure of some people to these movies pose a great danger to the overall security of the social setup. Heinous crimes have been committed in homes, in schools, and in places of entertainment by people who are thought to be psychopaths (Freedman, 2002). However, cross examination of the criminals have always pointed out a correlation to either use of drugs, violent movies or both. This paper discusses the cause and effects of violence in the movies to the general population.

According to Bushman & Anderson (2009), more people are spending more time watching movies, playing video, or are simply engaged in at least one activity that has violence scene in it. Moreover, children are now spending their free time in homes watching movies or playing video games. They are therefore becoming less sensitive to the predicament of other people alongside being self defensive and fearful. Children are therefore more predisposed to behave aggressively and hurtfully compared to those children who are not watching movies. A clear indication of how violent movies influence the behavior of a person is the increasing the number of violent crimes in homes, schools, and other public places. People who watch violent movies would at most times want to practice what they watch in the movies. As noted by Dahl & Delavigne (2009), violent movies tend to suppress the amygdale that is responsible for controlling emotional response: empathy, remorse, guilt and the like. This therefore means that people who watch violent movies develop suppressed feeling and emotion that is likely to make them less sensitive to rational and acceptable behaviors in the society.

Characteristically, children are the most affected by violent movies going by the increasing number of crimes in schools. Studies have revealed that children are spending more time on their screens either watching violent movies or still playing violent video games. This makes them to want to exercise what they watch and see in the places that they go. Parents on their part are feeling unable to control the kind of information that their children access and watch because the law has also failed to protect the children and the public at large from such materials (Freedman, 2002). 

The psychologists have pointed to unfavorable conditions in homes as the main cause of people accessing media that are definitely destructive to them. The adult who watch violent movies probably have problems in their marriages or are unable to form a stable family (Bushman & Anderson, 2009). Therefore, they end up looking for something that can make them forget their troubles and most of the time they turn to drinking, drugs, and watching movies that increases their chances of participating in violent crimes. However, there are also a large number of psychopathic people who have the tendency to watch violent movies and therefore participate in violent crimes in other places.

According to Tompkins’ (2003) findings, age play a crucial role in determining the kind of movies that one is likely to watch during their free time. The study revealed that young people with poor parental upbringing are more likely to watch violent movies. This is also as a result of the effects of juvenile delinquency stages that most young people must go through, and it is not an easy stage for them. The study found out that rate of older people who engages in violent is limited compared to the youth and that the number of women were also lower among the adults who watch violent movies.  This therefore indicates that young people are simply likely to watch the violent movie because they are young or because they hear from their friends in school about certain movie and therefore develop the interest of watching it. Sometimes, they would borrow such movies from their friends who are willing to give them.

Tompkins (2003) observes that children have delicate minds and are therefore likely to be affected more with the violent scenes in the movies than if the same movie was watched by an adult. As such, children absorb most of the information that is projected in violent movies including murder and other forms of crimes. Because of the vulnerability, they are able to absorb anything whether good or bad and put it on practice by shooting at their neighbors or friends in schools. Since, they have been watching it happen in movies, they do not think that it is wrong to shoot a friend (Harris, 2002). They also have no regard to laws and policies that are put in place to provide order because they are used to watching people breaking law and getting away with it.

Evidently, the effects of violence movies on the society are devastating as the number of crimes in schools and homes continue to increase. Violent movies have led to the increasing rate of murder of pupils in schools by fellow students through shooting. It has also caused violence in places of entertainment like it happened in Aurora where scores of people were injured and a couple of others killed in a shootout by a violent student. Preliminary investigations indicated that the murderer had been watching violent movies and wanted to practice what was happening in the movie in real life.

Conclusion

From the above analysis, it is agreeable that violent movies contribute to the increasing number of crimes in schools and homes. Children are the most affected with violent movies as they spend more time watching their television. The implication of violent movies is the deterioration of security in schools, homes, and places of entertainment. However, administrators can control this by formulating policies that regulate the kind of movies that children can purchase from the stores for entertainment. The parents too should be weary of what their children watch.