Why do we like violent films and horror movies?

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MindOverMatter2

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Why are people attracted to the gangster image, and why do we spend money at the cinemas to be frightened by seeing somebodies gruesome death?

I am looking at this from a psychological perspective. I want this discussion to be philosophical in nature, so i will not be impressed if somebody gives the answer “original sin”. I want to see something a bit more sophisticated than that. For example its understandable why somebody would enjoy a film about being a “vigilante” because they may live in a community where a lot of bullying and crime happens. They feel helpless and might often fantasize about taking the law into their own hands.

Hollywood plays on those insecurities and makes a lot of money from exploiting that fear. But might films also cause irrational fear or even violence? Could it be that film can often be used to shape peoples political or moral opinions and mindsets?
 
It’s purely entertainment. Some people enjoy the feeling of being scared and creeped out after a good horror movie. Others enjoy the fantasy and “what if that was me” aspect of it. As far as violence goes… we have plenty of violence and death in the Bible but we don’t shy away from that. Heck Passion may be the most violent and gruesome movie I have ever watched.
 
Soundwave said:
It’s purely entertainment. Some people enjoy the feeling of being scared and creeped out after a good horror movie. Others enjoy the fantasy and “what if that was me” aspect of it. As far as violence goes… we have plenty of violence and death in the Bible but we don’t shy away from that. Heck Passion may be the most violent and gruesome movie I have ever watched.
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I appreciate your answer, but i think it goes a bit deeper than that. Saying that we enjoy the feeling of being scared doesn’t tell me “why”. When is the last time you enjoyed being chased down the street by a creep holding a giant knife?
 
MindOverMatter2 said:
I appreciate your answer, but i think it goes deeper than that. Saying that we enjoy the feeling of being scared doesn’t tell me “why”.
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Or perhaps the answer really is that simple and you are fishing for a complex one that doesn’t exist.

Watching movies is just simply a hobby. No different then any other hobby. If I was reading a book, viewing a play, or playing a game that involved horror or violence I would be doing so for the same type of reward.

The adult mind isn’t impressionable like children’s are. No “sane” adult is going to watch a violent movie then all of a sudden have an irrational urge to pick up a gun and go shoot someone. If that urge exists it was there before he watched the movie and remains after. What you are trying to do is establish a correlation between the violence in real life and the violence on the screen. Mankind was violent long before movies, music, and radio existed so this is futile. If violence on the screen disturbs you then by all means avoid it. Most even minded adults can view a movie and take it for what it’s worth. 2 hours of meaningless entertainment.
 
Soundwave said:
Or perhaps the answer really is that simple and you are fishing for a complex one that doesn’t exist.

Watching movies is just simply a hobby. No different then any other hobby. If I was reading a book, viewing a play, or playing a game that involved horror or violence I would be doing so for the same type of reward.

The adult mind isn’t impressionable like children’s are. No “sane” adult is going to watch a violent movie then all of a sudden have an irrational urge to pick up a gun and go shoot someone. If that urge exists it was there before he watched the movie and remains after. What you are trying to do is establish a correlation between the violence in real life and the violence on the screen. Mankind was violent long before movies, music, and radio existed so this is futile. If violence on the screen disturbs you then by all means avoid it. Most even minded adults can view a movie and take it for what it’s worth. 2 hours of meaningless entertainment.
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Why do you find meaningless violence entertaining?
 
MindOverMatter2 said:
Why do violent films and horror movies thrill us? Why do we find it a thrill to be scared?
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The irony is we like scary movies because we like to feel safe and we like to be safe because it is in our nature to survive. People like the thrill of being scared without the danger associated with what is going on in the film, because even though it scares them they know deep down that they are safe from what is in the movie and that is reassuring to them.

Its like the Jerry Springer syndrome, where people are interested in watching dysfunctional lifestyles because it makes them feel better about their own.
 
MindOverMatter2 said:
Why are people attracted to the gangster image, and why do we spend money at the cinemas to be frightened by seeing somebodies gruesome death?

I am looking at this from a psychological perspective. I want this discussion to be philosophical in nature, so i will not be impressed if somebody gives the answer “original sin”. I want to see something a bit more sophisticated than that. For example its understandable why somebody would enjoy a film about being a “vigilante” because they may live in a community where a lot of bullying and crime happens. They feel helpless and might often fantasize about taking the law into their own hands.

Hollywood plays on those insecurities and makes a lot of money from exploiting that fear. But might films also cause irrational fear or even violence? Could it be that film can often be used to shape peoples political or moral opinions and mindsets?
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The culture of death, need we say more Mind?

The main emphasis on such films are death and violence, not to be used to add to the plot but to make them the focus of the plot. Their are good movies that have horror and violence, but only to use them to add to the plot in which could be a good, observe The Lord of The Rings. The plot was the battle of good and evil but death, violence, and a bit of horror were used to emphasis the necessity of good men to fight evil. When people start making films, or write stories with the end goal in mind is nothing but violence and horror, it becomes an evil story, observe the Saw movies.

This is the reason why I don’t go to the theater anymore, or only watch movies that produce a meaningful message. . . so I watch very very little nowadays.

Also might I add, these films have been more damaging then people realize. Not just the films but also main stream media and video games that also emphasis violence. Especially media, such as that horrible plane crash during that air show in Reno, they replay the tape over 5-10 times in a row until, all day long until it becomes casual to watch while forgetting the fact, people just died in those moments. The desensitization to violence of the public is mainly attributed to these forms of entertainment. Though be it gradual and almost undetectable, the psychology process of desensitization is gradual.
 
_L said:
The irony is we like scary movies because we like to feel safe and we like to be safe because it is in our nature to survive. People like the thrill of being scared without the danger associated with what is going on in the film, because even though it scares them they know deep down that they are safe from what is in the movie and that is reassuring to them.

Its like the Jerry Springer syndrome, where people are interested in watching dysfunctional lifestyles because it makes them feel better about their own.
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I like this explanation.🙂 Its taking us deeper down the rabbit hole:cool:. Shall we look further?🤓

Why is it in our nature to survive? What does it objectively mean to survive? Does its meaning have objectivity, and if it does what does that say about reality?
 
This might sound a bit sicko , but I used to be quite attracted to horror , I suppose because I would watch it and that would make me realize that Thank God thats not me, it would make me appreciate my life more.
 
LOTR was great but it does not escape the violence question posed by OP. If Tolkien wanted to write about life/death/sin he certainly was skilled enough to do so. Yet he choose to present these themes through violence.

i guess that I would argue that there is no such thing as working violence into the plot of a story. Its just an excuse that is said to justify the viewing of violence. The message of these violent movies can be conveyed without the violence but the directors think “hey if there is going to be violence we might as well make it look amazing!” In the end it turns into arguments about which depictions of violence are “good/necessary”. THese discussions can get rather silly.
 
I like zombie movies because of the metaphor for all the brain-dead people walking around the world today. However, they don’t eat you in real life, they just want your money.
 
Trevor_Stamm said:
The culture of death, need we say more Mind?

The main emphasis on such films are death and violence, not to be used to add to the plot but to make them the focus of the plot. Their are good movies that have horror and violence, but only to use them to add to the plot in which could be a good, observe The Lord of The Rings. The plot was the battle of good and evil but death, violence, and a bit of horror were used to emphasis the necessity of good men to fight evil. When people start making films, or write stories with the end goal in mind is nothing but violence and horror, it becomes an evil story, observe the Saw movies.

This is the reason why I don’t go to the theater anymore, or only watch movies that produce a meaningful message. . . so I watch very very little nowadays.

Also might I add, these films have been more damaging then people realize. Not just the films but also main stream media and video games that also emphasis violence. Especially media, such as that horrible plane crash during that air show in Reno, they replay the tape over 5-10 times in a row until, all day long until it becomes casual to watch while forgetting the fact, people just died in those moments. The desensitization to violence of the public is mainly attributed to these forms of entertainment. Though be it gradual and almost undetectable, the psychology process of desensitization is gradual.
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You may have a point here. It does seem as if our culture has an unhealthy obsession with death. I do get the feeling, that while we cannot place all the blame on violent films and media, it does appear to have the danger of desensitizing us and popularizing immoral standards. Some children and young adults idolize scarface and gangster rappers. Its a popular culture. I have also noticed that everywhere i look nowadays i see a giant picture of a naked women or man advertising for some kind perfume of designer underwear. Since when has it been okay to advertise soft porn? What is that doing to our children?
 
I’ll just add my :twocents:

Cent #1: Power is objectively a good thing; it’s just when it gets misapplied or the value of a particular kind of power gets exaggerated that it becomes an evil. I think some of the attraction of action films and so forth is just an attraction to the powerful images and sounds.

Cent #2: For people who are bored with life, any kind of emotional stimulation can seem good, even if it’s only fear or disgust. Also if you are suffering through a very different kind of trouble indulging in another kind can be a relief. For example, if you are heartbroken a horror movie might be a welcome distraction, while if you are dealing with some other kind of stress a romantic tragedy might be a welcome distraction, even though both are dealing with emotions that are generally unpleasant. Finally (this must be a big old fashioned large 1 cent piece), St. Augustine wrote about how we all want to feel compassionate, and being emotionally moved by drama can help fulfill this desire in a sort of artificial way.
 
According to a psychodynamic approach to psychology we like violent or scary movies because they act as a catharsis in releasing pent-up aggression from within the psyche.
 
Birdpreacher said:
LOTR was great but it does not escape the violence question posed by OP. If Tolkien wanted to write about life/death/sin he certainly was skilled enough to do so. Yet he choose to present these themes through violence.

i guess that I would argue that there is no such thing as working violence into the plot of a story. Its just an excuse that is said to justify the viewing of violence. The message of these violent movies can be conveyed without the violence but the directors think “hey if there is going to be violence we might as well make it look amazing!” In the end it turns into arguments about which depictions of violence are “good/necessary”. THese discussions can get rather silly.
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I found an extra penny in my pocket: The Bible has an awful lot of violence in it, and it’s not all portrayed in a 100% negative way either.
 
MindOverMatter2 said:
It does seem as if our culture has an unhealthy obsession with death. I do get the feeling, that while we cannot place all the blame on violent films and media, it does appear to have the danger of desensitizing us and popularizing immoral standards. Some children and young adults idolize scarface and gangster rappers. Its a popular culture.
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LOL when has popular media not been violent, especially for kids!? I remember admiring the cleverness of Hansel & Gretel when they tricked that witch to get inside an oven, after which they locked it up and left her to burn to death.

Robin Hood straight up robbed people! With weapons! Atleast Obama has the decency to commit “class warfare” through political institutions, not with a bow and arrow.

Ask any boy what his favorite Bible Story is, I beat you $20 half of them will say either DAvid and Goliath or Samson.
 
I actually think there might be a “forbidden fruit” sort of mentality. Almost anyone can have sex and not go to jail, but run around the bush with giant weapons as the cops chase you, blowing up your place of employ… we’re not allowed to do those things. So perhaps there’s a desire to live vicariously through cinema and video games things we cannot legally do.

Biologically, as some have mentioned, a “fear factor” in this little day and age of supermarkets and central heating, what really scars us? Its not like back in the day when there were vicious animals stalking, enemy tribes with big sticks and no fear of “sanctions” in using them. We have a section of brain/hormones et al, that’s not really getting the work out it used to.
 
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