What our other readers are saying:
Look for real love stories
I never watch modern movies. Why should I clutter my thinking with all the ways fictitious people show their hate or look for happiness in sensuality where they will never find it? The real people I know have so much goodness and love. I enjoy hearing real love stories like some in the Turner Classic Movies. But no one needs to be dragged through the mud to feel clean after a bath. I am happier without movies.
Marguerite Buttner, Laguna Woods, Calif., USA
'24' may desensitize, but it's entertaining
As an avid "24" fan for the past 5 years, I have found that the real-life violence that I see on the news does not phase me nearly as much as it did before. Whether that kind of desensitization is a good thing or not, I don't know, but I would be lying if I said the violence wasn't an integral part of the show's appeal.
Chrissie Sydness, Wilton, Conn., USA
'Proper' violence can be helpful
I believe that in the long term, the violence shown in movies is good. We need to understand that the world we live in isn't a soft and fuzzy place, and "desensitizing" ourselves allows us to deal with trauma and horror on a more rational level. Violence isn't wrong; it is the cause for violence that carries the moral dilemma. Teach proper violence and the world will be slightly improved.
Jason Mitchell, Las Vegas, Nev., USA
Trailers, ads, and reviews
Pretty often for movies you can figure it out from the subject, director, or actors. Most of the time, I also look at trailers and reviews before I see a movie – they rarely fail to play up violence to attract an audience.
I am more often caught by surprise by a TV program. I think that "TV-14" is kind of average for a series, but some episodes go way beyond that.
We don't do video games, so that is not a problem for me. I do think that the ads tend to play up graphic violence, so I would expect it.
Manny Olds, Silver Spring, Md., USA
Take responsibility, and rethink ratings
I see two problems:
1. The lackadaisical attitude of parents and adults that either buy content for children while doing little to no research about it, or allow it into their homes with no questions asked. Rather than making buyers responsible for what they buy, "family" organizations blame the producers and organizations such as the ESRB, because they transfer all the blame away from the buyer. Producers don't force anyone to buy their products in a capitalist economy, and refusing to choose is a choice, too.
2. The ratings given to a violent movie and a movie filled with sex are always disproportionate, a practice that's gotten worse in the past two decades. A violent movie can often escape with a "PG-13" rating. The movie about or containing sex, regardless of nudity levels, almost always gets rated "R" (or worse if nudity enters the picture). What messages do such actions send to consumers? Does it imply that violence is "okay" for young teens, but any discussion of sex should be put off until "much later", since the ratings are age-based?
Steven Frost, Pasadena, Md., USA
Movies desensitize children
I sincerely believe that the movies have so much violence in them that the industry is desensitizing our children and young adults. As a society, I am concerned that we do not value life and moral values as we used to. It shows up in the entertainment industry.
Nathalie Miller, Studio City, Calif., USA
Read your newspaper; What's with ratings?
I rely on the newspapers (CSM and especially Washington Post) for alerts, and usually those warnings have been sufficient. I generally try to avoid gratuitous violence (I knew I did not need to see "Saw"), but recognize that sometimes it's a valuable part of the story-telling. Nevertheless, "Flags of Our Fathers," an excellent film in most respects, provides a good example of going over the edge: I was not expecting, and certainly did not need, to see severed body parts.
Although you didn't pose the question, one thing that bothers me more about movies is the misguided rating system. A little bit of sensuality and a film is rated R, but it can show people being blown up, lots of blood and gore, and it ends up as PG-13. So we're sending the message that a little loving is corrupting, but gratuitous violence is normal?
Tom Gutnick, Arlington, Va., USA
Just don't buy it
There is no way of being sure about violence or other undesirable content. The sure way to bring these matters to their makers' attention is not to buy or watch them. The larger numbers of people who do this, the more it can affect sales and distribution of such undesirable subjects.
Sarah Roberts, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England
Someone to take a stand
What might help the state of violence in popular entertainment is if a creative and popular artist or entertainer decided to buck the system and actually create a movie or TV program with real depth of meaning and sensitivity. When I think of some programs that have tried to do this, such as "Joan of Arcadia" or others like it, after several shows that are thought-provoking they still drift into sex and violence. Where are the entertainers willing to attempt to address this?
Rick Onderdonk, Tehachapi, Calif., USA
What happened to upholding positive values?
I stopped watching TV in 1988 specifically because of the advent of "no standards" television. After the unexpected gory depictions in "Pan's Labyrinth" (nominated for six Oscars), I may swear off all movies with higher ratings than PG-13.
Public airwaves and public spaces used to uphold positive values (socially, morally and spiritually). The kind of violence and sexual suggestion seen in all media today was once limited to private clubs and adult venues. US prisons hold the highest per capita lawbreakers of any "civilized" nation, and our youth have no tolerance for anyone who stands in the way of their latest whim. When will US wake up and uphold the minimum standards for safe and healthy communities?
Ed Sharrow, Playa Del Rey, Calif., USA
TV commercials
It doesn't take much to figure out whether a movie or TV program will contain violence. But what is less obvious, and more troubling, is the content of the TV commercials displayed during what one would think should be OK for all audiences. My kids are no longer permitted to watch "American Idol," because of the constant commercial promotion of other shows that are not family friendly. ("Prison Break," "Lost," etc.)
Anna Schwarz, Columbus, Ohio, USA
R-rated material: ID required?
A careful rating is helpful, but realistically I don't believe that even that will add more protection for our children - and that is the goal. It would work IF the parents go with the kids, read the ratings and are willing to fight the battle when they say, "no."
The more realistic scene rio is that young teens are dropped off at a mall for a couple of hours, have money, buy whatever they want and the parents are clueless or are willing to ignore the issue. Even if the parent is diligent, their children can be exposed to the materials at another child's home.
Perhaps anything R rated could be sold in a separate area with ID required, much like liquor and pornography.
Diane Kudrick, Reading, Mass., USA
The privilege of free speech
Gratuitous violence for purposes of entertainment brings back images of the Christians and the lions in the Roman Coliseum. Is this the image we want to convey to the world? To our children? To our children's children? The privilege of free speech carries with it a moral obligation to use that freedom wisely.
Sharyn Yulish, Athens, Ohio, USA
Inadequate ratings systems
It's not the content itself I'm worrying about, it's the rating systems. The ESRB and MPAA rating systems are inadequate because they are not accountable to anyone except for the associations that own them, their guidelines are nontransparent, and they show a lot of hypocrisy when it comes to violence and sex.
Ndubuisi Okeh, College Park, Md., USA
'Gratuitous violence'
I am careful not to purchase any entertainment that advertises violence and I am adept at knowing when to expect it, such as any crime or war movie, any mystery, and many adult and "children's " fantasy tales, etc. I also read the reviews and the ratings.
It is disturbing to me that many people I know and care about like what I call "gratuitous violence" and seem to enjoy viewing the infliction of pain on other living things. Apparently there is a difference in their brains than in people like me who abhor these depictions.
In the 80's and 90's I walked out of many movie theaters because of the violence and it is still escalating in movies and other entertainment. When our society allows and promotes this indulgence of pleasure and voyeurism in watching violence to become the main focus of our movie entertainment it means we are reinforcing a lack of empathy towards victims and perpetrators, indulging revenge fantasies, and creating a widespread devaluation of all forms of life.
Ann-Marie Wills, Thornton, Colo., USA
