Violence

The last five years have seen an increase in the stand on violence in movies.   As action


movies with their big stars are taken to new heights every year, more people seem to


argue that the violence is influencing our country’s youth.   Yet, each year, the amount of


viewers also increases.   This summer’s smash hit Independence Day   grossed more money


than any other film in history, and it was full of violence.   The other summer hits included


Mission: Impossible, Courage Under Fire, and A Time to Kill.   All of these movies


contained violence, and all were highly acclaimed.   And all, with the exception of


Independence Day, were aimed toward adults who understood the violence and could


separate screen violence from real violence.   There is nothing wrong with having violence


in film.   If an adult wants to spend an evening watching Arnold Schwartzenager Save the


world, then he should have that right.  


  Film critic Hal Hinson enjoys watching movies.   In fact, he fell in love with


movies at the same time that he remembers being afraid for the first time.   He was


watching Frankenstein, and, as he described in his essay “In Defense of Violence,” it


played with his senses in such a way that he instantaneously fell in love with movies.     .


The danger was fake, but Hinson described that it played with his senses in such a way


that he almost instantly fell in love.   Hinson feels that most movie lovers were incited by


the same hooks as himself.   Movies were thrilling, dangerous, and mesmerizing (Hinson


581-2).  


Hinson says that as a culture, we like violent art.   Yet this is not something that is


new to today's culture.   The ancient Greeks perfected the genre of tragedy with a use of


violence.   According to Hinson, they   believed that "while violence in life is destructive,


violence in art need not...