Violent Movies and videogames

[DMC12]

i was thinking, is it a sin to watch one of those movies and go something like: wow, did you see how that thing/guy got exploded/beheaded/cut etc.? i mean to find cool how a character gets cut in half or something like that.

like for example if you have seen or played those videogames about zombies, they explode with everything.

 

[on_the_hill]

Hmmmmm…I suppose one could consider it pornography. I don’t think porn is necessarily sexual. And one might consider it sinful if your $$ is perpetuating the industry.

 

[ricofall]

i was thinking, is it a sin to watch one of those movies and go something like: wow, did you see how that thing/guy got exploded/beheaded/cut etc.? i mean to find cool how a character gets cut in half or something like that.

like for example if you have seen or played those videogames about zombies, they explode with everything.

Interesting name, could DMC stand for Devil May Cry?
Either way your are speaking on a grey area. There are some games that are sinful in nature. Games that promote sex, violence, and drugs could be considered sinful if they promote it in a way that glorifies it. Grand Theft Auto is an example. Personally I never have played it since I would not want my kids use it against me when they want to play games. I stick with games like Devil May Cry since they are more on the cartoonish violence with against demons.

With all that said, it really depends also on your state of mind. Does playing a game like GTA make you want to steal, cheat, kill and so on? Before you answer it consider this, if that game did not have those elements, would you play it?

 

[DMC12]

Interesting name, could DMC stand for Devil May Cry?
Either way your are speaking on a grey area. There are some games that are sinful in nature. Games that promote sex, violence, and drugs could be considered sinful if they promote it in a way that glorifies it. Grand Theft Auto is an example. Personally I never have played it since I would not want my kids use it against me when they want to play games. I stick with games like Devil May Cry since they are more on the cartoonish violence with against demons.

With all that said, it really depends also on your state of mind. Does playing a game like GTA make you want to steal, cheat, kill and so on? Before you answer it consider this, if that game did not have those elements, would you play it?

well, pretty much about the game im talking about is the house of the dead, you know those rail shooting games, where the zombies get blown to pieces with every shoot.
and yes, i have been thinking and i think i would like that game if the things attacking were robots or statues or something like that. but sometimes i cant help but to think its kinda cool when they explode.

And since you asked, the name stands for Delorean motor company 12, the car.

 

[dshix]

Hmmmmm…I suppose one could consider it pornography. I don’t think porn is necessarily sexual. And one might consider it sinful if your $$ is perpetuating the industry.

Heh, we could call it a lot of things, but definitely not pornography. That’s somewhat of a misuse of the word.

 

[ClearWater]

i was thinking, is it a sin to watch one of those movies and go something like: wow, did you see how that thing/guy got exploded/beheaded/cut etc.? i mean to find cool how a character gets cut in half or something like that.

like for example if you have seen or played those videogames about zombies, they explode with everything.

Well, here’s one view on it where one archbishop thought violence in movies can sometimes be justified if the violence is used to illustrate how violence is not a solution. If it’s just unnecessary violence, it’s best to avoid it.

catholicnewsagency.com/news/archbishop-chaput-violence-in-movies-only-appropriate-when-it-teaches-us-not-to-be-violent/

St. John Bosco is said to have had a dream about hell where his guide told him 3 things get us into hell…bad friends, bad habits, and bad books (now, I suspect it would be extended to include magazines, videos, computer games).

Many of us would love to see more clean, non-violent movies around, but as long as we keep promoting, buying, renting, violent ones, I can’t see that happening.

For example, I avoid movies which have an R-rating for violence for the most part, but I’d make an exception for movies like “The Passion of the Christ”, say.

What I typically do with people who ask me these questions about movies and game is to encourage them to seek out clean, non-violent alternatives.

Aren’t there any good, non-violent games and movies?

 

[punisherthunder]

All of these games and films are tame.

There are real crimes with real victims every day. The concept of violence we see on screen is nothing compared to what goes on in some countries.

 

[SuperLuigi]

Hmmmmm…I suppose one could consider it pornography. I don’t think porn is necessarily sexual. And one might consider it sinful if your $$ is perpetuating the industry.

The catechism is pretty explicit that pornography is sexual in nature.

If someone gets a weird high from violence, I think he/she ought to look into talking a priest and maybe getting counseling.

 

[on_the_hill]

From Merriam Webster’s definition of pornography:
3. The depiction of acts in a sensational manner so as to arouse a quick intense emotional reaction. <the pornography of violence >

 

[edwest2]

i was thinking, is it a sin to watch one of those movies and go something like: wow, did you see how that thing/guy got exploded/beheaded/cut etc.? i mean to find cool how a character gets cut in half or something like that.

like for example if you have seen or played those videogames about zombies, they explode with everything.

One thing that has gone wrong with movies and videogames is that they are too graphic for anybody. Why would you want to see that? It’s one thing to be a real soldier and see real, graphic and bloody things but do you want those thoughts in your head? No. Of course not. Entertainment means something worth remembering, something to enjoy. I’ve known real combat vets and there’s one thing they rarely talk about - the graphic, bloody and violent things they saw. They don’t want those images in their heads. They want it all behind them.

The reality is we can have fun but not without blood flying everywhere or people getting cut in half or hacked to pieces. That’s not entertainment.

That’s not what we should be filling our heads with.

God bless,
Ed

 

[DMC12]

From Merriam Webster’s definition of pornography:
3. The depiction of acts in a sensational manner so as to arouse a quick intense emotional reaction. <the pornography of violence >

according to that lot’s of things could be pornography, pornography of courage, of fear, of patriotism, etc.
besides according to diferent dictionaries the meaning varies the “real academia de la lengua española” describes it;

1. f. Carácter obsceno de obras literarias o artísticas./ obscene style of literary or artistic works.
2. f. Obra literaria o artística de este carácter./ literary or artistic work of that style.
3. f. Tratado acerca de la prostitución. / treatise about prostitution.
   so for moral stuff i guess we go with the cathechism.

One thing that has gone wrong with movies and videogames is that they are too graphic for anybody. Why would you want to see that? It’s one thing to be a real soldier and see real, graphic and bloody things but do you want those thoughts in your head? No. Of course not. Entertainment means something worth remembering, something to enjoy. I’ve known real combat vets and there’s one thing they rarely talk about - the graphic, bloody and violent things they saw. They don’t want those images in their heads. They want it all behind them.

The reality is we can have fun but not without blood flying everywhere or people getting cut in half or hacked to pieces. That’s not entertainment.

That’s not what we should be filling our heads with.

God bless,
Ed

somehow i think its quite dangerous to compare the two stuff, when we see a movie no matter how graphic it is we know its a movie, and i think that is healty ( the knowing), like Punishmentthunder said, what happens in real life is very different, i remember the day i saw a kid under a blanket because he was hit by a car Ii felt something that you don’t feel from movies and such, it is very diferent.

on other stuff, i dont rally watch movies for graphic violence, I do like action movies, but i dont care if it has gore on them, actually I preffer the ones where the bad guys just fall down, no blood or anything.

 

[edwest2]

“quite dangerous”? How?

I’ve worked in a hospital. I recall going to the ER to pick up a man who was hit in the chest by shotgun pellets. I won’t go further. He was there for treatment. I have taken dead bodies down to the morgue. It’s not like the examples given by the OP.

To everyone: do not learn to enjoy graphic, bloody violence. It’s NOT fun. It shouldn’t be. In a game, if a character gets killed, he should just fall over - that’s it.

Peace,
Ed

 

[suko]

i was thinking, is it a sin to watch one of those movies and go something like: wow, did you see how that thing/guy got exploded/beheaded/cut etc.? i mean to find cool how a character gets cut in half or something like that.

like for example if you have seen or played those videogames about zombies, they explode with everything.

It’s spiritually unhealthy to grow a desire to see things for the sake of the violence/gore, etc. However, if a one were to encounter it in a movie or video game, I don’t believe it to be a sin for a person as long as one doesn’t entertain these thoughts in our mind, or start searching for more movies or games with similar material for the sake of deriving entertainment from those particularly questionable things.

As was mentioned earlier, there are movies like The Passion, where I think it’s certainly justifiable/understandable to have this kind of content within it. Some of the video games, too, I think the violence is fine, but I would say that it depends, too, on how graphic and the reasoning for the violence; for a lot of RPGs I think they would be fine, but some of the FPS games, though, do have me concerned with how graphic and “personal” the whole game play is.

 

[DMC12]

“quite dangerous”? How?

I’ve worked in a hospital. I recall going to the ER to pick up a man who was hit in the chest by shotgun pellets. I won’t go further. He was there for treatment. I have taken dead bodies down to the morgue. It’s not like the examples given by the OP.

To everyone: do not learn to enjoy graphic, bloody violence. It’s NOT fun. It shouldn’t be. In a game, if a character gets killed, he should just fall over - that’s it.

Peace,
Ed

well just my idea, but comparing both stuff could in some cases make people confuse them and start taking the real violence like the fictional one, you know like it means nothing. or in a less dangerous case but still unhealthy to see fictional violence as real one, which would cause him/her to have some ugly reactions if in a movie something violent happens.

you know, I’m on the same page there with you, if a character gets killed he should just fall, and i really hope that people would start making games like that.