Film Violence

The moment of truth: Mr Pink and Mr White (Steve Buscemi and Harvey Keitel) in Reservoir Dogs.

Film violence has always been - and obviously will be - one of the most controversial and disputed topics. So much has been written about it that one is loath to raise once again the debate on the effects on children. This page contains only some introduction how the violence has been used as an effect in films.

When described and "explained" the underworld full of gangsters and crack dealers the violence cannot be left out. The subject unarguably demands that violence be portrayed - often extensively and minutely. It must also be remembered that movies are a mass art not primarily designed for a refined audience with an intellectually humanist bias.

Harvey Keitel as Mr White.

'OH MY GOD!!!' & 'Hahahahaha!!!'

The most traditional usage of violence is its terrifying effect. With the exception of some sick individuals who laugh at every violent scene, it is quite usual that when a viewer sees the head of a beautiful, good-natured lady being shot into pieces, he/she feels more or less sick.

Outside that "terrifying aspect" are movies and scenes that are made in such a weird way that all that the viewer can do is laugh. One of the most famous "car accidents" is in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. Assassins called Jules and Vincent get covered with mix of blood and pieces of brain and skull as their hostage gets accidentally shot in the head. Every Tarantino film is filled with such sick but hilarious humour. Tarantino himself has said that a decapitation can be enjoyed as just a cool special effect or for how it works in the piece; violence in real life is terrible, but violence in the movies can be cool. It is just another colour to work with. Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino's debut, contains the now infamous 'ear-slicing scene' in which a suitably chilling Michael Madsen performs some brutal psycho-surgery on a captured cop while miming and dancing along to Stealer's Wheel's once innocuous pop song Stuck in the Middle with You. It exemplifies, more than any other scene, Tarantino's talent for surreal, often extremely disturbing, juxtapositions.

Perhaps the most exhilarating movie ever is the New Zealander alien comedy Bad Taste - a twisted movie that cannot be called "brainless". The amount of blood, viscera, cerebrum and cerebellum is amazing. This cult horror comedy, directed by Peter Jackson, is a complete blood feast from the first scene up until the end of it. Very sick but extremely hilarious.

One might ask: 'Why violence?' Well, we are - and always have been - beasts. The Romans had these theatre/circus shows that featured lions and leopards eating the Christians and those shows were extremely popular; now we have films. People have always wanted to see violence as they have wanted to see other people's copulation. The question 'Why violence?' is as relevant as it is to ask why people drink coffee. Why people want to drive fast or wear tight trousers even at the risk of sterility? Everyone has their own likings and watching violent films is one of them.

"By the power vested in me as God of my world." Woody Harrelson as the serial killer Mickey Knox in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers.