Violence in Media!

Violence is a very controversial topic when it comes to media such as films and games, and is often talked about. Games are often criticized for glorifying and condoning violence and apparently teaching children that violence is perfect acceptable.

One example of this that is quite recent comes from 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2'. As a player you are guided through a level where you enter an airport and kill many innocent civilians.



When this was released it was constantly criticised on talk shows and in interviews about being unnecessarily violent and teaching children that murder is ok. Yet to purchase this game you are required to be 18, there are warnings on the case of the game just incase a parent purchases it without knowing what it's about, and even then, you are warned about the mission ingame and are able to skip it. Therefore the parents of a child shouldn't even be allowing them to play it, and the blame shouldn't be on the games industry, but on the parents who actually don't pay attention to what their children are playing.


Although the main controversy is focused on violence in video games, one live-action film that I find particularly interesting is the film 'Funny Games'. The film's plot is fairly simple, a pair of serial killers turn up at the holiday home of a regular family and plan to torture them. The plot sounds fairly horrible and unnecessarily violent. But when Michael Haneke directed the film, he basically used the film to comment on how violence is portrayed in media, and how audiences are attracted to violence.

For example, one of the killers, 'Paul', is aware that he is in a movie. He repeatedly breaks the fourth wall and decides that the audience is on the family's side. Near the beginning of the film, he states that the family are betting that they'll be alive at 9am the next day, but the killers are betting they're dead. He then states that they're going to die either way. This pretty much gives the ending away at the start of the film, yet the film carries on.

He also decides to leave half way through the film and give the family a chance to escape simply to build tension, suspense, and so the film reaches feature length. He then proceeds to directly insult the audience for still watching the torture, asking if they want more or if it's enough. My favourite line from the film is most probably when questioned what his motive is and why he's torturing the family, he replies '...why not?' which is a comment on how much unnecessary and OTT violence there is nowadays.

'Why don't you just kill us?'

'You shouldn't forget the importance of entertainment.'