People react to film violence according to film genre. To what extent do I agree with this statement?

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Robdeep Sangha 10CJ

GCSE English Coursework

Media Coursework: People react to film violence according to film genre. To what extent do I agree with this statement?

Cinema is the most important art form of the last 100 years. What is shown on the screen has a great impact on society. What people see on screen affects their emotions in many different ways. For instance, people are moved by a tearjerker, frightened by horror films, and laugh out loud in comedy films. In the same way violence on the screen also affects people in many different ways.

The way violence affects people depends on how the film makers portray the violence. Violence is shown in many different ways depending on the genre (e.g. Comedy, War, Western and Sci-fi).

I feel that film violence can change a person’s reaction depending on what genre it is and therefore directors are forced to make sure that they present the violence in the way it is intended. People react in different ways depending on how violence is presented. Film-makers control very carefully how they portray violence, but frequently this is socially irresponsible. This is especially so when children and young people are exposed to it.

Comedy violence is always shown in a very light hearted way. Comical and rather clichéd music is usually also added to the light hearted take on the violence. This is done to make the audience less worried about the violence and pain, therefore allowing them to almost enjoy the violence, mainly due to some added comic effects. Good examples of comedy violence are some less serious Bollywood mainstream films. These are made, normally, purely for the viewer’s entertainment rather putting across thought provoking ideas. These types of Bollywood films can be referred to as Masala movies. Other forms of comedy violence are the highly entertaining children’s classic ‘Tom and Jerry’ which consists of the short and simple plot of Tom-the cat trying to catch Jerry-the mouse. In every episode Tom is in some way beaten up by Jerry in a very harsh way. But, once again the music and character expressions that are used help to tone the violent nature of the programme. ‘Laurel and Hardy’ also show violence in a funny way, again using the comical music technique and the ‘silly’ facial expressions. They beat each other to a pulp, but always get back up again. It is not to be taken seriously. ‘Dumb and Dumber’ is another film that does this. Ordinarily one person hitting someone else with a stick would hurt but no suffering is shown, once again due to the nature of the film. However this can somewhat be deceptive to children of a young age. Children are subjected to this amount of violence, but they appear to come out without harm, therefore showing that the directors and producers have done a good job in lightening up the violence. But, does this make violence acceptable and has violence become a part of our society in which we live in?

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Violence in science fiction films is treated in a number of ways. For instance, in space travel films, like the ‘Star Trek’ and Star Wars series, all the action features explosions in space, and fights with laser weapons. The audience accepts that this is not ‘real violence’ because the worlds in which the films are set are not real. The audience is encouraged to suspend belief, and accept things like time travel, black holes, alien beings and space ships travelling at incredible speeds through time. Therefore the ‘violence’ is not meant to be taken seriously. There is no blood and ...

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