Horror movies made me do it
 

I want opinions on what you all think that horror films have on society. I have heard commentary on TV that films like TCM and Halloween are degrading society and causing people to act violent. I have my own personal views on this issue but am just curious as to what horror fans think.

i dont belive that movies or games can make sane people do anything, but i red in the paper not long ago about 2 kids...14 and 15 i think, they wernt older then 16 thats for sure.
they played alot of grandtheft auto, il just assume most of you know what that is and ramble on... after playing one night they went out with guns (not sure how they got them) and killed a guy gta style, in his car, of course they blamed the game and pressed charges on rockstar games when they got cought... i belive that those kids were allready seriusley fucked up before playing a video game. iv been watching horror since i was 8, 12 years later and i still have my sanity...most of it... movies or games have no power to pursuade anyone with a partialy stable mind.

Totally agree.....down with Valgjerd Svarstad Haugland!

i should however add (allthough im sure you understood this) that i belive someone with serius mental problems could make you flip out and kill someone jason style

In reference to those people who say that movies and video games are what make people do bad things I would like to ask them what video games or horror movies the Nazis and Hitler were watching and playing to do what they did!

Good question :)

movies/games/tv/music , et cetera... DOES NOT MAKE YOU DO FUCKED UP SHIT!!!! I repeat DOES NOT MAKE YOU DO FUCKED UP SHIT!!! i went to high school with a bunch of guys that listened to marilyn manson .. (I do/did as well.. I had all his t-shirts/cds)well they were the type that wanted attention and would do shit on purpose to get it. Well I am loner and stayed to myself, and I dont like attention drawn to me.. Well these idiots broke into the school stole some computers and had the damn nerve to say marilyn manson made them do it, cause they listen to him... It is not tv/movies/music that does this it is the lack of parenting and mental problems that are not payed attention to.. I know this from experience cause most of my friends while in high school were messed up like this..

I don't believe film or music cause violent behavior. Hell, the media is far worse than any film.

"Movies don't create psychos, movies make psychos more creative."

Movies/games/music/etc. do not make people do bad stuff. People do bad shit because they choose to. Not because they watched it or played it damn it. So people should stop believing this shit. And the people who do bad stuff should stop blaming it on shit they watch or play or listen to.

people have to blame it on something. people should just take responsibility for their own actions. its never the parents ault though its alway people like manson eminem ozzy that take the heat all the time

Fuck what people say, Video games and movies don't do shit. If I wanted to blow some hookers head off with a shotgun then I would and if I did'int then a video game would not persuade me to do so. All those kids parents that know there kids are fucked up are to busy shootin up drugs in there shitty ass tralier to realize there kids are about to take it to the next level(Kill somone) so they blame the video game instead of there shitty parenting:mad:

Long before there was videogames and movies.. people will killing each other.. in fact.. people were killing each other in ways that rival anything you see in horror movies..

People seem to forget about this
and if anything i think that we have gotten LESS violent over ther years.. It just appears to not be the case because the media will latch onto a story and exploit the hell out of it and have so called "experts" analyze the situation and discuss who should be blamed .. but never say "well.. these people are just messed up in the head and they did some fucked up things.. lets lock em up so they dont hurt anyone again"

I hate when stupid government officials blame movies/video games/music for tragedies in society. There are a few instances where kids want to immitate wrestlers or their favorite super heroes or whatever, but besides that it has no effect at all. The world's fucked up. Plain and simple. This happened 100's of years ago, and there's nothing we can do to fix it.

Society has truely taken a nose dive when video games and movies are a scape goat for their laziness.. GET OFF YOUR ASS RAISE YOUR KIDS SHIT YOU BROUGHT 'EM IN THIS WORLD..YOUR RESPONSIBILITY....WHAT THEY DO REFLECTS WHAT YOU DO OR LACK TO DO. PARENTAL GUIDENCE ITS A BITCH..DEAL WITH IT

people do bizzare things like murder because its in our nature to kill, weve been doing it since the first man and wel do it till the last.

Im really curious according to the idea movies and video games are the cause of adolesent "EVIL"...what games and movies was Jeffery Daumer, Charles Manson, and the Hill side Stranglers playing and watching...because if it was a RPG.. i can believe it...lol :) ...seriously though I would like to know there entertainment choices with movies and games. I bet it was that damn Mr. Rogers he could do it to anyone...:P Pac man must have been a huge influence on Daumer..hehehe

Excellent, these were the responses that I thought that i would get. I think that the people that cant take responsibility for their actions are in the minority in this world but, they are the ones that whine the loudest so the squeaky wheel gets the most grease. I think that without horror films and the like society would be much more violent than it was 100 to a 1000 years ago. Horror films are like our modern day gladiator arena, "are you not entertained?" How many of us have slowed our vehicle to witness a car accident, or such, I think we are all curious about death and our own mortality. I have to say that I hunt animals (if you are against this bear with me) for food yes but I have to say it is enjoyable. Understand something I only hunt animals that are herd animals and are there for predators, bears, mountain lions , wolves and man are all predators. Its in our nature to kill, ever see chimpanzee societies and how they war against each other its more violent than anything that humans have done to one another. I think that there is a part of the human mind in murderers and serial killers etc. that shuts off the right from wrong aspect and without right and wrong there is no responsibility. Hey guys and girls thanks for the response. Psychology has always been one of my fav. interests into how the human mind works. Wish I would have stayed in school and became a criminal psychologist.

Interesting premise and hello. :)

My 2 cents...

Perhaps these violent forms of entertainment act as an outlet for our violent tendencies. We live in a society where we face repercussions for acting upon a violent idea in our heads. Still, is it a sense of morality that has been ingrained in us that stops us acting violently or the fear of facing the results of our actions?

If we pick up a game like GTA and drive around killing prostitutes and police, the idea itself is so over the top, it becomes farcical and a form of entertainment. For anyone to associate their violent actions with such a thing is someone looking for a way out of a bad situation when they are caught. For anyone who has seen an real act of violence or a bad accident, it becomes pretty clear that these films, novels and games do not hold a candle to real-life.

One of the reasons for killing that comes up time and time again is the need to have power or control over others. Many serial killers see themselves as deities or crucial to some grander scheme. They look upon their victims as objects rather than people; sometimes as tools for accomplishing their task. We too tend to disassociate with horror so we can enjoy it. If our actions had real repercussions, we would not do it. As thinking animals, we have that capacity to make that decision. A few of us sometimes lose that hold on reality... It may be interesting to take the motives that drive serial killers and compare them for a moment to things on a grander scale.

I guess there is the potential for anyone to kill given the proper circumstances. Horror movies or any other form of fear medium tickle that part of our minds, providing us a strange fascination of this human taboo of killing and violence. Sometimes society deems it a necessity or changes the set of morale rules to allow of acts of violence. War is still unfortunately one way to justify these actions. Still, people are trained to be able to commit these actions that we would not be able to do otherwise. We are convinced that it is the right thing to do. Not all can do it either. Tales of morality or perhaps adapting to one's circumstances? Either way it is unsettling that we can be trained to forget the identity of an enemy as human beings.

There was mention of what media provoked Nazism. The idea of Hitler's regime and the rise of Nazism seems to be a variety of factors allowing one man to turn them into reasons for war.

If you want to see a good horror film, "Triumph Of The Will" is as scary as they come. You can almost feel the strength of will pervading from the film. Unfortunately, the man with the idea for a 1000-year Reich had other motives. Still, a good example of touching upon that dark side of ourselves. Actually, Stalin scares me more. They are still finding bodies from his selective removal of undesirables.

Any of you read the book The Catcher In The Rye? It has been accused of making people kill, but it is hardly what one would call horrific.

As Meetthecreeper stated, horror provides a convenient way to feed the beast in all of us, so its thirst is slaked. To deny our tendencies for violence is to deny our very nature as humans. To provide harmless outlets for it like games,films and books is what the sensible person does.

To be honest, I find it hard to see hunting animals as a harmless outlet. Since I eat meat though, I can't deny the reasoning behind it since you actually consume your kill. It's not like hunting for food is anything new. ;)

Horror medium provides a scapegoat for people to find reasons for doing the violent things they do. It is easier to place the blame than find the real causes for a person's breakdown on reality. Anything can be the catalyst for that breakdown. Horror films are just a convenient target since they explore this darker psyche of the human mind.

S!

i totally agree with everything. i mean, if you're perfectly sane in the first place, no cheesey-horror movie is gonna make you a psycho.

call me old fasioned but i blam the parents! if kid's ARE that senstive to horror, then they shouldn't b watching it.

i'm only 13 and i love horror, but i don't ever have a urge to kill someone!

I agree, the media is worse, because it's real.

Dantes,

excellent post very well thought out, thanks for your input.

and without a doubt original

Of course people get bad ideas from movies/books/games. Look at the Inquisition or 9/11, both on a much huger scale than any kind of Columbine. People get ideas from what they read/watch/play. People who are screwed up either twist those ideas to suit them or are too screwed up to reject the screwed up ideas.

With regard to violence in movies, it's not healthy for children to be exposed to gratuitous violence in media and they should be protected from it. Opinions aside, there is a whole lot of research that supports that fact. Unless you are an expert in the field of child psychology who has conducted studies that conclude something different, you have to acknowledge that as fact.

That doesn't mean that I think that movies/games/whatever with gratuitious violence should be illegal. I think it's the parent's responsibility to make sure their children aren't exposed to violent media, and that adults who want to create and/or enjoy violent media should be free to do so.

Mictlan, I agree with some of the things you posted but I wonder about some things...

I certainly have no argument with your reasoning for being attentive to a child's viewing habits. Still, to try and deny a young person from a horror film or gruesome images is difficult at best. In this day and age, is it better to try and block such things or talk to one's child and make them understand the difference between reality and fiction at a young age? A parent that tries to censor a young person's desire to see darker things may be doing more harm than good.

There is a reason why GTA and other games are big sellers. A young audience will want what is considered taboo. It's a natural desire to want what one cannot have. A parent can only control a child's viewing habits for so long. Once they hit their teen years, they are going to get their hands on these things no matter how you try to stop them.

To censor a child's viewing habits is a losing battle. What seems much worse is to avoid talking about it with them so they understand the difference between reality and fiction. If you censor them, they will not see you as a person to talk to about it and I think that could be worse in the long run. Once they get to an age where they do not rely totally on one's parents for what they watch and do, they will seek out these things. Better to prepare them mentally to understand horror medium than deny it's existence. If it's not taboo, it's probably not as exciting a prospect. ;)

I am not sure if The Inquisition or 9/11 are horror medium. One was used as a way to control the masses through fear and intimidation and the other was a result of religious fervor and social hatred. They are both acts in reality with real-life consequences. Horrific certainly, and perhaps you touch upon an interesting idea. Where does horror medium begin and end. Is the news a horror medium? Which is more horrific: The evening news or a Jason-slasher film? Makes for some interesting debating material.

Deny a person the ability to see the big picture and you can control their lives. Is that a choice that one really has the right to make over another?

Anyways, just an opinion. ;)

S!

horror does not make you do a damn thing..... but shit does it make you write 5 paragraphes....???? shorten it up man...

Edited: No point in starting an argument.

Comment noted.

I'll try to keep it to the point.

S!

a healthy mind isnt affected by what television or games or books can show it, a mind that is not however may be influenced, there isnt a sane person on this world that would run around with a chainsaw slaughtering teens because he\she saw chainsaw masacre

Dantes, I think that we agree.

My parents didn't censor my viewing habits... they let me see TX Chainsaw when I was 12, by myself, in a theater, and any movie wanted to rent I could get. I am now a fairly normal fairly productive member of society, still with a large horror film collection.

I have an 11 year old son now and I let him watch horror... I also let him play GTA Vice City. I'm aware of what he's watching, and there are some things he's not allowed to watch (for example, he can watch Dead Alive because it's slapstick, but not Cannibal Holocaust, or Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, not for several years anyway). We started to watch Evil Dead I on Friday and I could tell he got a little unnerved by the pencil in the ankle scene (he said "this won't get any worse than this, right?" and I said "as a matter of fact, this is nothing") so I turned it off and told him maybe next year.

And of course he will watch the movies I told him not to watch anyway,but since I've told him that they might be disturbing, will hopefully not think that they are an example of a good way to live. You are right that it is the parent's job to help them understand the difference between fictional films and the real world.

I referred to the Inquisition and 9/11 not as horror films, but events that were caused by something that someone read and acted upon (the Bible and the Koran). More atrocities have been committed in the name of either of those books than any slasher movie.

Ritualistic, there's a lot of research done by child psychologists that basically proves that watching extreme violence and gore can mess up developing children. People have spent their whole lives researching that subject and it's basically indisputible.

I think the question is: should horror films/books/games be censored because children get messed up watching them? I say no, let the parents do it.

You sounds like a pretty sensible parent. Your kid is lucky to be brought up that way.

S!

mictlan, i dont realy know much about parenting apart from having a big hand in raising my little brother but you sound like youv found a good balance, i was raised pretty much the same way and my record is clean, apart from the usual 14 year old hellraising, if more people could do it like that instead of banning evrything bizzare i think this world would almost be an ok place to live. aplauds to you.

im only 12 now but my mom dont care mom let me watch everything and all that

Dantes and Moonsorrow, you are too kind. Of course, I have a selfish interest in letting him watch horror films... I get to watch them too!

its not kindness...honesty

My biggest thing about children and censorship....Parents need to take the time and explain things...Movies,music and video games are just excuses for isolated,however, tragic events...But it all comes down to where were the parents.. Most children dont go on mad rages because of what they've veiwed or heard .. But when a child is unstable..parents need to take the "proverbial" front seat and guide them.

I am not the only one saying that movies/music/games,et cetera.... do damage.

I have been watching horror for many years... ever since I was 2 or 3 .. My parents didnt care what I watched and my mother always said "well it doesnt scare her, and it occupys her mind" so therefore I was grown up on this stuff. But what did affect me was the way my parents were.... alcoholics/abusive, et cerera... so it was not the horror... and the research maybe right but a movie does not make someone do something... :)

i have many friends claiming that music/movies affect them and I tell them they are idiots cause they use it as an exscuse..

You guys remember that movie The Program? It was a football movie. Anyway, a bunch of kids lie out on the highway while traffic goes by in the movie. Some kids tried this in real life and died. I don't blame the movie for that whatsoever, I blame those dumbass kids. Sure, the movie may have caused one of those kids to suggest doing it, but what normal person would lay down in the middle of the road surrounded by oncoming traffic? So maybe movies and tv suggest things, but only retarded, unstable, or insane people take those suggestions.

I agree. Doing something stupid because you saw it in a movie is no excuse and you shouldn't blame the movie.

The research I was talking about didn't say that horror or violent movies turn kids into psycho killers, but that they can introduce basic insecurities that can screw with normal psychological development.

At least Jackass took the heat off of horror films. Didn't some kid get on a lit propane grill wrapped up in tinfoil because he saw it in Jackass?

some idiot tryed to jump a moving car jackass style to, im not sure if you survived...se for your self.
http://www.digitalpimp.org/~john/pics/4Runner the one on the right

Re: Horror movies made me do it
 

Fuck that. Every one wants to point fingers and blame everyone else for thier own stupid actions. People suing McDonalds for making them fat is a great example. These are people that understand perfectly well what they are doing. Quite frankly with the columbine shootings it was bound to happen to white middle class america eventualy. And for the love of GOD they made such a big deal out of it, the same shit happens every day in large cities, the only difference was that these kids diddn't know how to react to it, the city didn't know how to react to it. The church blames marlyn manson because they want to put the blame on someone else other then the children they raised to throw up thier noses to those that didn't "fit in". On that subject i may as well add that when people treat you like shit to the extent that you no longer see yourself as human you no longer see others as human. You no longer care, the only thing you feel is hatred and rage. I've been there, anyone can be pushed to that brink, and those that choose not to follow the flock seem to be pushed aside. (Gee, isn't that what happened to jesus, but they slaughtered him rather then have the hatred thrown back, this is no reason for those to say that is how one should react to bad treatment, I'm saying this has been going on in history for thousands of years). These kids didn't do if because of video games, or Maryln Manson. No one kills because they want to be cool and distroy people matrix style, they kill because they want to and point fingers later. Video games aren't capable of brain washing someone, even if they have a "weak mind". Charles Manson didn't pull it out of his ass, he used logic (if you can call it that, i guess things make more sense in code if your on acid) that those who spoke with him already related to, things they already wanted. If those that decide to go out and kill after video game session or watching a horror movie, it's because they already had the plan to do so. You don't see it and say gee there's a good idea, i think i'll go out and snuff someone. suing McDonalds for making them fat

*gives immortaldead a standing obation* good speach, i think thats the smartest thing anyones said in this forum in a long time, and now were back on people killing people, the ones with no friends who got theyr asses kicked after school by a scociety that doesnt accept you if your diffrent.
either your a cheer leader, captain of the football team or your nothing...

I won't go as far as to say horror movies make kids wanna put on hockey masks or razor-bladed fingernails and slash the innocent when they least expect it (sleeping, having sex, etc.) I will say that there does appear to be some form of "bah, whatever" to movies as you get older. People watching moves (myself included) are not only use to the idea of death, but are easily use to the idea of murder. It just isn't shocking anymore.

On another level to this, have you ever noticed that many horror flicks will throw in a person that the audience agrees deserves to be slaughtered. A high school bully, an abusive husband, the doctor/scientist that just wouldn't listen to reason. When the quote/unquote "bad guy" appears and dismembers these people, it is put in the movie to not scare the audience, but to appeal to their ever-growing side of "kill,kill,kill".

So no, I don't believe that any one person could blame any one movie for a series of murder. Those people are called crazy. But I do believe there is some truth in movies with any sort of violence making the general public more leniant towards the idea of experiencing bad things, either while happening to them, or enacting on to others.

Pardon me, I must go hack away at these two kids I spotted having sex in the woods. You know, no biggie.