Al wrote:
"The level of violence most people are comfortable with on
screen is quite different from what it was, say, in the '50s.
People are no different, so it must be what they're
accustomed to viewing that's responsible."
Tied to the escalation of violence in sociey overall. Which
leads to an odd situation in the last decade or so -- crime
rates have been going steadily down while movie violence has
become more explicit.
"If you watched [the teeth on the curb scene in American
History X] 100 times and didn't turn away, . . ."
The only way that would happen is if someone strapped me down
with my eyes pried open like Alex in Clockwork Orange.
". . . I'd wager that the 100th time wouldn't affect you as
badly as the first."
I'm not so sure. Some film images no longer get to me like
they once did, but if it presses my personal buttons, it
still does. For instance, I've seen Un Chein Aadalou numerous
times, and the eye-slitting scene still gets to me, even
after I knew exactly how it was done.
"Me, too. Most fictional violence doesn't bother me too much,
because I tend to remain pretty detached when I'm watching
movies or reading books, but I'd struggle to watch footage of
an act of graphic violence if it was video evidence, say, in
a criminal case where I was on jury duty."
I stopped watching the evening news when I was kid because of
Vietnam footage. I never reacquired the habit, even after I
came to enjoy fictional filmed violence.
Mark
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
--------------------~--> In low income neighborhoods, 84%
do not own computers. At Network for Good, help bridge the
Digital Divide!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/S.QlOD/3MnJAA/Zx0JAA/kqIolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email
to:
rara-avis-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 21 Mar 2005 EST