The movie industry has grown beyond just graphical display to tell a story, it is now considered one of the major areas with lot of investment opportunities. Ever wondered if movies have any other motives apart from just entertainment, every movie is meant to communicate a message the audience but along the line the concept of a movie got lost in the action.
The shift in the objectives of production of Tv shows and movies can't be fully attributed to the producers, they are only dancing to the tune of the audience. Only few people doesn't enjoy watching movies that involves violence, bloodshed e.t.c what is the point of producing a movie if it doesn't appeal to the audience? That is one of the things that runs through the mind of every producer.
When I was a kid, we never really paid any attention to the message in a movie, all we cared about was the action. In most Nigerian homes, what parents really paid attention to was sexual related movies but when it comes to action, most parents just let it slide.
I remember the first time I watched a movie called "George of the jungle" at first it never really occurred to my parents that I was imitating every action in the movie till I eventually decided to hang a rope on the ceiling fan and take a spin across the sitting room. Everything went well except for the fact that I ended up landing on my arm, well it could have been worst but then, that was just one out of the many action from a movie I tried to imitate. Who would blame me? afterall every kid engage in fantasies.
It makes you wonder if such irrational behaviour caused by trying to imitate actions from a movie only apply to kids, sadly it is not. Movies have a way of influencing our imaginations and behaviours in ways we never thought possible. We might not notice immediately but subconsciously the things we watch in some movies manifest.
About 2 years ago i finished watching a Tv series titled "The walking dead". I have watched a lot of zombie related movies and apocalypse but the kind of violence in this movie is inhumane. This series has about 11 seasons and every episode is packed with violence and tragedy. I'm a big fan of action movies especially the ones with a good story line, which is one of the reasons why I chose to watch the movie. The weird thing is that after I finished the series I never tried to watch it again, Which happens to be an habit of mine but for this specific series I couldn't.
What happened was that after watching the series I suddenly became very paranoid and find it very difficult to relax. It was as if I was in danger but I wasn't. Based on the betrayal and pain I saw in the movie, it made me feel the world is no longer a safe place. It took me awhile to figure out the root of my sudden paranoia. Naturally I'm a little bit paranoid but the movie escalated it. It turns out that the movie influenced my perspective of the world, though the leach of the movie influence was not tight enough to push me into doing things like acting on any of my imaginations.
It makes me wonder, if a violent movie could add to my paranoia, wouldn't it be possible that other movies that involves crimes, drugs e.t.c could also be capable of influencing people who already have a little bit of interest in it. A robbery occurred in Nigeria about 3 years ago, I have forgotten the exact state and which bank was involved but this robbery was a trend on social media for a while.
The reason was that the armed robbers wore similar costume to the one that was worn in a Tv series called "Money heist" which happens to be one of the greatest series about robbery mastermind. I mean have you ever seen any other movie that armed robbers were granted national pardon? It means it was no brainer when people started suggesting that the series had something to do with the decisions made by the armed robbers. I mean they allowed their imagination from the movie to manifest.
I'm a fan of action movies too but some of these movies look so real that some people might even decide to imitate it in real life. We also have crime documentaries such as "The Jewel Thief" A real life documentary that involves the thief himself telling his own story and robbery adventures. He look so cool in that movie that you might even admire his creativity in stealing. Which is one of many documentaries that glorifies crimes.
Based on the nature of violent movies, is this the reason why violence in the world is getting worse? It is quite a complex question. There is a saying that states that " The nature of mankind is evil and we are an embodiment of both evil and goodness. There are a lot of theories that proves that our actions is being guided by what we see but then we also have theories like "Uses and gratification theory" that states that we humans seek out specific content because it is what we need or crave for a particular purpose and "catharsis theory" states that we humans engage in physical activity which might involve violence not because of what we are exposed to but it is our way of relieving ourselves from some emotional feelings.
It is quite odd when you think about, I'm not disputing the fact that violent movies also play a role in promoting violence in our society but it is not the sole reason why violence is Rampant in our society. We might not want to face the truth but it is obvious that evil or violence is in the nature of every human, we are all capable of violence regardless of which movie we are exposes to. It is like a demon we have locked up within us, while some people might have a good lock on it some don't. Moreover we all cut this violence in us loose once in awhile regardless of our good intentions.
How do we curb violence in our society? Firstly we have to learn to hold ourselves accountable for our own actions instead of trying to blame movies for it. I mean we are the ones seeking out this movies, no one is forcing it on us, the most funny aspect of it is that a warning is mostly displayed before the beginning of violent movie. Something like "Some of the actions in this movie might be disturbing, viewers discretion is advised". We chose to ignore this and go ahead to watch the movie, doesn't it sound strange.
Secondly, people should go through self evaluation before watching some movies. We know what our mind can and can't handle, having this in mind will make everyone cautious about the kind of movie we expose ourselves to. The sad truth is producers use the violence nature of mankind, the evil in the world to create plot for their movies. Violent movies imitate reality, which means violence already exist in the world before producers start making films about it.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "Violence" in hive learners community.
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