it's not so much the violence - it's the narrative.
if you're a student of history you can look back at domestic tv/films from any period they were produced in, and there's a very noticeable amount of foreign policy and civil policy narratives not just reflecting what is going on at the time, but attempting to influence society with narratives that support those policies.
But if I watch Starship Troopers does that mean I come out with an anti-bug bias? What if I watch Shawshank, do I come out with anti-prison bias? Hell, if I watch The Imitation Game, do I come out with a pro-gay bias?
The fact is: If humans are that easily influenced that watching a movie can change their moral, political, ethical position on a matter... it means they were uneducated to begin with. If they then cling immediately to that swung opinion and never change it (and, say, can't be swayed if they watch a movie with the *opposite* "bias"), then the world would in turmoil and there are already a thousand other places they could have picked up such things. Movies and games are not different in this regard.
Human brains and opinions are pliable things, but to make something stick takes either enormous amounts of force (not really present in the modern world, we stopped whipping people who were critical of a world leader, or ducking people accused of witchcraft, etc.) or some weakness in their brain in the first place.
And the nature of those kinds of weaknesses is that they can be influenced by almost anything. An ad on a bus, a book in a library, a movie on a screen, an opinion down the pub, or something they found on Google.
Encouraging critical thinking is far, far, far, far more important than scrutinising every little morsel of possible influence and removing it. Train humans to not be so easily influenced, don't try to remove every ounce of influence from their lives.
The movies are not the *cause* of those weaknesses in our minds, people with those weaknesses will seek out any and all confirmation of what they find confirmatory. Millions watch Quentin Tarantino movies (and I personally can't stand them because they're so lacking in any actual story, everything is just held together with violence and swearing and gore, and I'm no prude at all), how many become mass-murdering swear-artists? How many people watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre and then got a penchant for storing up motor-powered garden tools? Almost none. Only the ones already in a weakened state of mind.
And this doesn't just happen on the level of extreme acts, the subtle stuff has the same kind of effect. Just watching a political movie, or even a small subtle political plotline in a movie, isn't going to change your political allegiance. You'll either ignore it, question it, or realise that the filmmaker is trying to persuade you that you're wrong.
And what if it does make you rethink your position? What if it does make you go out and research the historical treatment of a character, or make you think for a second that maybe you interpreted something wrong, or make you consider that maybe a particular religion isn't all bad, or whatever, what's wrong with that? Nothing. The only thing "wrong" is if you go in a Muslim and come out a Catholic, or go in a gun lobbyist and come out a pacifist. Why? Because your opinion was already so easily swayed that just one movie could make the difference, and you didn't even bother to go off and find more material to see if it's true, to research more, to take some time to change your whole life view.
But encouraging people to consider other narratives isn't bad. It's literally one of the best things we can do. It's only bad if they are so easily influenced that they then switch overnight, without further research. I've watched a number of movies and then said "That can't be right", and then gone off and researched the topic and found that it was. Acting as the seed of change is a perfectly valid and useful purpose. Movies and games aren't capable of brainwashing anyone who's not already in a severely weakened mental state where any kind of influence would do the same, and the actual source of that influence is pretty much moot.
You're right in that movies depict that kind of policy, and it's a great historical resource. It's especially a great resource for how many people actually noticed, cared, or changed their opinion immediately because of it. And the answer is almost universally nobody. But maybe it made a few people think. Maybe it made a few more round-the-dinner-table conversations. Maybe it made someone question their own belief.
Those things aren't bad. And even if the movie is a flat-out lie, it doesn't matter. If it provokes discussion, research, and a consideration of a change of opinion, then it's actually positive and useful. It's only dangerous when it provokes an immediate change of behaviour - and such swings of behaviour in anyone are only really present in those who could be swung by any kind of medium or discussion.
Violent movies make people cuddly.. (Score:5, Interesting)
it's not so much the violence - it's the narrative.
if you're a student of history you can look back at domestic tv/films from any period they were produced in, and there's a very noticeable amount of foreign policy and civil policy narratives not just reflecting what is going on at the time, but attempting to influence society with narratives that support those policies.
Re:Violent movies make people cuddly.. (Score:3)
But if I watch Starship Troopers does that mean I come out with an anti-bug bias? What if I watch Shawshank, do I come out with anti-prison bias? Hell, if I watch The Imitation Game, do I come out with a pro-gay bias?
The fact is: If humans are that easily influenced that watching a movie can change their moral, political, ethical position on a matter... it means they were uneducated to begin with. If they then cling immediately to that swung opinion and never change it (and, say, can't be swayed if they watch a movie with the *opposite* "bias"), then the world would in turmoil and there are already a thousand other places they could have picked up such things. Movies and games are not different in this regard.
Human brains and opinions are pliable things, but to make something stick takes either enormous amounts of force (not really present in the modern world, we stopped whipping people who were critical of a world leader, or ducking people accused of witchcraft, etc.) or some weakness in their brain in the first place.
And the nature of those kinds of weaknesses is that they can be influenced by almost anything. An ad on a bus, a book in a library, a movie on a screen, an opinion down the pub, or something they found on Google.
Encouraging critical thinking is far, far, far, far more important than scrutinising every little morsel of possible influence and removing it. Train humans to not be so easily influenced, don't try to remove every ounce of influence from their lives.
The movies are not the *cause* of those weaknesses in our minds, people with those weaknesses will seek out any and all confirmation of what they find confirmatory. Millions watch Quentin Tarantino movies (and I personally can't stand them because they're so lacking in any actual story, everything is just held together with violence and swearing and gore, and I'm no prude at all), how many become mass-murdering swear-artists? How many people watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre and then got a penchant for storing up motor-powered garden tools? Almost none. Only the ones already in a weakened state of mind.
And this doesn't just happen on the level of extreme acts, the subtle stuff has the same kind of effect. Just watching a political movie, or even a small subtle political plotline in a movie, isn't going to change your political allegiance. You'll either ignore it, question it, or realise that the filmmaker is trying to persuade you that you're wrong.
And what if it does make you rethink your position? What if it does make you go out and research the historical treatment of a character, or make you think for a second that maybe you interpreted something wrong, or make you consider that maybe a particular religion isn't all bad, or whatever, what's wrong with that? Nothing. The only thing "wrong" is if you go in a Muslim and come out a Catholic, or go in a gun lobbyist and come out a pacifist. Why? Because your opinion was already so easily swayed that just one movie could make the difference, and you didn't even bother to go off and find more material to see if it's true, to research more, to take some time to change your whole life view.
But encouraging people to consider other narratives isn't bad. It's literally one of the best things we can do. It's only bad if they are so easily influenced that they then switch overnight, without further research. I've watched a number of movies and then said "That can't be right", and then gone off and researched the topic and found that it was. Acting as the seed of change is a perfectly valid and useful purpose. Movies and games aren't capable of brainwashing anyone who's not already in a severely weakened mental state where any kind of influence would do the same, and the actual source of that influence is pretty much moot.
You're right in that movies depict that kind of policy, and it's a great historical resource. It's especially a great resource for how many people actually noticed, cared, or changed their opinion immediately because of it. And the answer is almost universally nobody. But maybe it made a few people think. Maybe it made a few more round-the-dinner-table conversations. Maybe it made someone question their own belief.
Those things aren't bad. And even if the movie is a flat-out lie, it doesn't matter. If it provokes discussion, research, and a consideration of a change of opinion, then it's actually positive and useful. It's only dangerous when it provokes an immediate change of behaviour - and such swings of behaviour in anyone are only really present in those who could be swung by any kind of medium or discussion.
Re: (Score:2)