Censorship

I think that censorship is definitely weakening in the movie industry.

For example while watching the previews before seeing Saw II last night, which was a mistake to say the least, this preview came on for a new movie to be released I don't remember when, about this house or place where you can torture, punish, and kill people in any way, shape or form, living out your sickest fantasies. And it made me wonder why the hell something like that would be released?
I can't for the life of me remember the name of it 😮

And I think that no, a movie can not inspire a perfectly sane normal individual to go out and kill,but movies like this I think glorify the horrificness of death and violence. If a disturbed person was to see it for example, I believe that something like that could work on their mind and might push them towards doing something horrific.

So my question is, why are things like this being released now, and what exactly is their point? ❌

I don't know....there are so many sick things out there....the "sad" thing is that the standards are dropping lower and lower every year in the name of free expression....

I agree completely, sooner or later, those guys who tortured, killed, and skinned a cat on video, will be celebrated for their artistic genius, instead of being arrested for their depravity.

Well, at least two of us think so:-) There's enough torture, murder, mayhem etc in the world for real without making "realistic representations" as an art form. The problem comes in when we see too much of it we become numb to it....and it ceases to bring up feelings of disgust.

ST, you're more or less talking about the type of movies I live for, so I will try to answer your question.

The point of these movies are often about humanity and our own sick desires to see these things. They offer us something unique, often disturbing and grotesque, and humans by nature have the desire to witness the terrible.

Take the film, Salo, for example. Hailed as the most disgusting and disturbing film of all time by many people. It has some truley dispicable scenes that I can see making a good number of people nausious, but it makes a very poigniant and intriguing point about humanity (fascism in specific) and has a large amount of artistic merrit. Most movies of this nature do have artistic merrit, and I generally applaud the film makers for being brave enough to release a film that isn't sugar coated or watered down and doesn't hold back when showing the horrors and depravity of our society where acts far worse then anything shown in a film do take place. It's the artists way of saying "don't look away, these things happen, and YOU, the general public, need to recognize and realize it."

Also, I can't help but disagree about the people who tortured cats. Their is no artistic value or merrit in doing such an act and I think, while a few idiots may see their act as beautiful or artistic or whatever, the general public will reject such thinking because of the extreme case of actual cruelty that has nothing to do with art of any form.

Yeap, kind of like the Rodney King trial and how the lawyer played the tape 30 or so times, and by the end the jury no longer felt stirrings of disgust and the officers were aquitted I believe 😕

Same with sex really too, not just violence and such. Although I think looser censorship of violence is more harmful than looser censorship of sex 😬

Originally posted by BackFire
ST, you're more or less talking about the type of movies I live for, so I will try to answer your question.

The point of these movies are often about humanity and our own sick desires to see these things. They offer us something unique, often disturbing and grotesque, and humans by nature have the desire to witness the terrible.

Take the film, Salo, for example. Hailed as the most disgusting and disturbing film of all time by many people. It has some truley dispicable scenes that I can see making a good number of people nausious, but it makes a very poigniant and intriguing point about humanity (fascism in specific) and has a large amount of artistic merrit. Most movies of this nature do have artistic merrit, and I generally applaud the film makers for being brave enough to release a film that isn't sugar coated or watered down and doesn't hold back when showing the horrors and depravity of our society where acts far worse then anything shown in a film do take place. It's the artists way of saying "don't look away, these things happen, and YOU, the general public, need to recognize and realize it."

Understood, but when is it going too far?
Like why do we think that for example depicting rape or incest or child pornography for example is wrong, but someone being mutilated slowly on camera okay? 😕

And in no way is this just a question put forth to you BF, because that was a great explanation and I'm not attacking your views, anyone can feel free to answer 🙂

Well, there are plenty of movies depicting rape, incest and child pornography that are very very good. Again, Salo included rape scenes, humiliation, pedophilia and other unnamable acts, but it has artistic merrit and all of the things shows are done for a reason - They help make the point of the movie more credible and intriguing. Of course, all of the scenes are fake, there's no REAL rape or pedophilia, it's all acted. That's important to remember.

I honestly think, when it comes to film, and art in general, nothing is taboo. I love films that break the rules and go out of their way to be as shocking and honest as possible in showing the cruelty of the world around us. Breaking taboo's is the only way for art to continue to progress and cover new ground.

The only way a film can go to far, IMO is when it's the REAL act caught on tape (such as a snuff film or what have you). Then this has no plausable artistic merrit and is pure exploitation. Plus it's simply against the law.

Don't you think those movies have any type of influence on people who see them though?
Even small scaled to start, but repetitive exposure does numb the sensitivity to such a subject I think.

Now that kind of censorship i don't understand at all. I think everyone has the right to show in their movies what they want to. You really don't need to wathc them.

In my experience, it doesn't.

I've seen countless violent, and disgusting films. I've seen pretty much all of the film that are considered to be the worst of the worst, that have a good number of violence, rape humiliation, etc. And yet, when I see or hear about real violence, I am still horrified or saddened by it. Perhaps I'm desensitized to cinematic horrors, but to real life horrors I'm still very much sensitive.

I don't think films have much an impact on your response to real life violence.

But can you completely avoid them even when previewed on tv during the day when kids are watching?

Not to mention it's not my sanity I'm worried about when discussing and watching these films, it's people who are depraved and might get ideas by watching them, it's not me, it's the other guy ermm

But seriously, I do think that these films can influence peoples' actions.

Originally posted by BackFire
In my experience, it doesn't.

I've seen countless violent, and disgusting films. I've seen pretty much all of the film that are considered to be the worst of the worst, that have a good number of violence, rape humiliation, etc. And yet, when I see or hear about real violence, I am still horrified or saddened by it. Perhaps I'm desensitized to cinematic horrors, but to real life horrors I'm still very much sensitive.

I don't think films have much an impact on your response to real life violence.

How good is the quality of Salo, can you tell it's a cinematic representation or does it look real life?
Like for example if you were to see all that shot in what looks like home video style, would you still like it as much if there's a possibility it actually happened?

Well, in the case you're suggesting then these people are already mentally unstable and it would be unfair to try and blame a film for a mentally unstable person getting ideas from them. A person like that would get ideas from anything, a violent horror book, violent music, or perhaps even his own visions. It's the fault of society for not recognizing the danger that this person poses and putting him in the proper treatment center.

But no sane person would be pushed to violence by a film.

They can influence you if you're an idiot and/or mentally unstable. In both cases nobody can really do anything anyway, nor is it our place to.

If you actually go to watch a movie and start thinking that it is ok to go do that, then it's not so much the movie influence, it's the person being irresponsible.

If you watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and go kill many students with a chainsaw, the movie didn't influence you to do that because it's not sending out a message of "Go kill." It's you deciding that it would be cool to do that. In which case your existance isn't necessary.

-AC

Originally posted by silver_tears
How good is the quality of Salo, can you tell it's a cinematic representation or does it look real life?
Like for example if you were to see all that shot in what looks like home video style, would you still like it as much if there's a possibility it actually happened?

It's a fairly old film, so the quality by todays standards is pretty poor.

But it is shot in such a way that makes it eerily pluasable and had it not been for that style I don't think it's point would be quite a poigniant and successful.

Originally posted by silver_tears
But can you completely avoid them even when previewed on tv during the day when kids are watching?

Not to mention it's not my sanity I'm worried about when discussing and watching these films, it's people who are depraved and might get ideas by watching them, it's not me, it's the other guy ermm

But seriously, I do think that these films can influence peoples' actions.

Usually if someone says they got ideas from watching a film or something, chances are they already had the ideas in their head and are trying to cover their tracks.

I've said it before in the thread on media influence - there is some influence by what is seen, but it's not nearly as much as people make it out to be and is often just used as a scapegoat.

But if there wasn't said music, book, or film, than couldn't it be said he wouldn't have gotten the idea to start? I mean, I'm not singling out movies in any way here, they're just the more graphic representation.
If you think of our minds as clean slates at birth, all our ideas come from somewhere no? So if there wasn't this kind of exposure in the first place, could it not be said that it wouldn't have happened?

Again, just asking questions for sake of hearing other opinions contrary to my own, anyone can feel free to answer 🙂

Originally posted by silver_tears
But if there wasn't said music, book, or film, than couldn't it be said he wouldn't have gotten the idea to start? I mean, I'm not singling out movies in any way here, they're just the more graphic representation.
If you think of our minds as clean slates at birth, all our ideas come from somewhere no? So if there wasn't this kind of exposure in the first place, could it not be said that it wouldn't have happened?

Again, just asking questions for sake of hearing other opinions contrary to my own, anyone can feel free to answer 🙂

No, I don't think that's accurate at all.

Perhaps if there was also no violence in the real world I could see this as being true. But, these mentally unstable people who supposedly get their ideas from films/books/music etc still have the news to watch, they still have real life violence to inspire them to do their deeds.

I mean, before violent film and music there were still murders, there were still violence. Violent films didn't create violence, violence created violent film.

What you said is true but then you have to make the decision.

The fact that many people can watch an idea projected in any medium and come away from it just as sane and harmless as they went in, proves that it's not the movie. If the movie influenced people so strongly, more people would do it.

It depends on your mind set anyway.

-AC