Excessive Observation of Violent Movies (English 101 Essay)
No response, Nov 05, 2008It was a typical Monday morning for Steve and Josh, both sitting in English 102 at the college. Steve was your average built 19 year old, he liked to work with power tools and tinker around on his Mustang. Josh was Steve’s best friend and classmate, 20 years of age. (He was somewhat behind in the academic sense compared to Steve. This was because of the times in high school when he was suspended and later expelled from carrying a gun with him at school.) Their professor assigned them an argumentation essay, which both of them dreaded. Following school they decided to see a movie at the local cinema. They saw the Texas chainsaw massacre; both were fascinated by its grotesque nature. A few days went by of struggling on the essay; they devised a scheme to kill off the teacher and some pain in the ass students who drove them crazy in class. On Friday, they put the plan in motion. Josh was the mastermind of the plan; Steve followed his every command. They used two Glock 26 9MM pistols and shot the teacher, resulting in an instantaneous kill and injured 2 student in the crossfire. People can take something from a movie and completely skew it into something that should be never actually done in the real world. Excessive observation of violent movies breeds the one in a million, homicidal entities.
Violent movies are entertaining, people enjoy seeing guns fired and people injured or even killed in movies. It is within human nature to desire this observation of a blood bath, or shootout between good and evil. In moderation these movies are tolerable, but when taken in time and time again over close proximity they can lead to the dulling of moral choices in a person’s mind. This dulling can lead to someone actually acting out on impulsive emotions and doing a crime wither it be an armed robbery of a bank in downtown Seattle or setting up an elaborate scheme to kill someone by means of a torture device that kills the victim no matter what outcome or choice they make if given one.
In the movie Saw V one of the detectives who had been on the case took the law into his own hands and copied the Jigsaw killer by setting up a pendulum blade that would cut through a convicted felon who got out early from prison because of a technicality. The only way he could stop the blades from cutting through his torso was by putting his hands into vertical vices that when inserted would be activated, thus crushing the hands that he had used to hurt his victims. This perverted form of justice is not right in any way and probably has been duplicated by people outside of the silver screen in different ways that match a specific circumstance.
Today’s movies are becoming more and more realistic and grotesque, over time the general movie watching populous has become accustomed to seeing things that they may have never imagined entering their ocular perspective. If someone were able to travel time and let someone of the 1950’s view a movie such as one in the Saw series, more than likely the observer would need to be hospitalized for mental health issues. It’s no surprise that there are people who act out after being triggered or inspired by a movie in today’s world. “For some reason serial killers exist more today than at any previous time in history. In the United States it is estimated that 15-25 unidenti– fied murders occur everyday. The majority of these murderers are unknown to the victim. However, these figures are only reflective of murders that are discovered by law enforcement agencies. It is believed that countless others die at the hand of the serial killer but remain as an UNSUB because a body has not been recovered. Although the actions of the serial killers are appalling; mixed in all the disgust and distaste for the violence lies an unexplainable fascination. One can only speculate why society supports the success of over 150 recent books, many of them, best sellers on serial killers. Not to mention the popularity of Academy Award winning movie, Silence of the Lambs, along with the many other slasher movies.” (Anderson)
Movies are intended for the sole purpose of entertainment, nothing else. People, who take content from a movie and then act out accordingly, are doing so on their own with no direct influence by the movie and or studio that produced the film. The slight percentage of people, who would actually do something to the extent of killing someone in a copycat scenario are slim to none. In the case that it happens, the murder would have probably done a similar crime but in a different fashion, this does not mean that the movie made the person kill. The mind of a killer is predisposed; they think methodically about the hunt and every juicy detail within it. If someone fits the profile of a killer, they are more than likely going to kill no matter if they see a movie. The movie may only be an accelerant to something that’s predestined to happen.
The general populous needn’t worry about being turned into killer by merely watching movies, but should still be objective about what they take in. This topic is of importance because of the growing amount of movies that are being released that lean towards or dive into the edge of psychotic behavior. People who do think about acting out things that have been spotted within a movie should seek profession help and become medicated if necessary. Bottom line, be smart and do not do anything that will harm another human being.
