I am fortunate that my girls are not interested in seeing these types of movies, but if they were, they'd have a tough time selling me on the idea. I watched horror movies in my teens and wish I hadn't. Even though most of the horror movies of those days were pretty hokey and unrealistic, they still invited a spirit of fear and left graphic visual images I will never be able to erase.
If kids can show me a way that watching these movies will glorify God, I'll get on board. Until then, I will continue to discourage teens (and parents) from supporting an industry that has total disregard for the mental health of our children.
In case you don't feel like reading the whole article, here are few quotes:
"“To me, it’s aesthetic, not a question of society. There is nothing you can do wrong in a movie.” --Quentin Tarantino, when asked if the use of graphic violence in film is a good thing for society
"'Saw’ was a huge hit, proving that mainstream audiences have an appetite for sadism – at least if it's cleverly conceived." -- Time's Rebecca Winters Keegan
“[Musician/director Rob] Zombie says in his movies, violence is not gratuitous – it’s the point.” --NPR's Neda Ulaby
6 comments:
I personally do not watch these types of movies very often. These days, it seems like they all have the same exact story line and are VERY predictable. They're just nasty and a way for the movie creators to make money. Honestly though I think they're going down in popularity for the most part. Kids are getting sick of watching the same story line over and over. They can watch these movies all they want but they'll be disappointed. They'll realize that it was a waste of their time and money, and probably move on to bigger and better things.
I don't watch this kind of stuff either. I think these movies "condition" teens and others in to accepting violence, et. Hopefully we are equipping our kids to make good decisions before they are teens and faced with this kind of stuff. Thanks for the thought provoking post!
So, I'll concede to the fact that once it's been seen it lives on forever. But I have to tell you, I've see some pretty gory movies and I'm still horrified when I hear on the news that a father shot and killed his wife and two kids or some person was brutally tortured. However, I can definitely see how a person with mental instabilities could affected. I have often wondered while watching something as "tame" as CSI, Bones, Criminal Minds, etc. if we are telling people who are already on an uneven keel how to commit crimes. Also I have wondered about the mind of the people who come up with some of the really demented movies that are out there... All in all, I'm gonna go with responsibly handled these movies can be ok.
It's not all people with mental instabilities being affected! In one way or another, everybody is affected by EVERYTHING they see in life. In what good ways have you been affected by a horror movie? Personally. I don't see any. I feel that Satan really can use the imagery in them to affect all of us poorly, perhaps in desensitizing us to real life violence, but, more likely, just to sneak into our minds in more subtle ways.
Plus. Think about it this way. Some horror movies have a noticeable negative affect on us. Some don't. But, is it a positive one? Why not spend your 2 hours doing something that has a POSITIVE affect. I can't think of any horror movies that do...
I say destroy them all!!!!!!!!
I didn't read the article, only the quotes you provided. That was enough to turn my stomach.
you know what - I watch these kinds of movies if I want to. I know what scares me and what doesn't and best of all even though I am a teenager I know the difference between reality and hollywood. I also believe after a certain age you need to trust your kids with their own decisions - probably not before they're atleast 13 or so but after that by controlling movies that they watch your just encouraging them to watch them behind your backs. Really think about it before you deny movie watching to kids older than 15 or so. We really need to start taking charge of our lives at that point and horror movies more than likely arent going to scare us at all about 15 minutes afterwards if we know the difference between reality and hollywood. Parents really should step a bit back and just keep kids away from the worst of the worst but really its all about talking. I've never been affected by such movies and I really doubt any teen would either. Some kids find the rush fun but its really not going to hurt us in any way.
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