Horror movies made me do it

[moonsorrow]

Originally posted by meetthecreeper
Dantes,

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

and without a doubt original

[mictlan]

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!

[Ritualistic]

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!

[moonsorrow]

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

[mictlan]

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!

[moonsorrow]

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.

[massacre man]

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