In 10 Years, We'll All Be Desensitized!

[FireCaptain4]

... Not to say that many of you aren't already desensitized.

What is this thread about? Ever since Rhett began the "Frankly, my dear..." sentence in Gone with the Wind, cinema has been on a gradual descent into violence, depravity, gratuity, and all around nastiness.

I just finished watching Crank 2-- one of the most shocking movies I've seen in awhile (about a week)-- and it was a pretty much a praise of all things unsanitary. The thought occurred to me, while watching it, that something like Crank 2 probably wouldn't have been made in 60s. Well, at least not for mainstream audiences.

My Question is thus:

In 10 years, what will ultra-violent/exploitation/shock cinema be like?

In 2019, what will there be left to violate? What will shock audiences? Will parents say "turn that garbage off and watch something a little more appropriate, like a Rob Zombie or Eli Roth film!"? Feast 2: Sloppy Seconds already made killing a baby "funny." I'm not saying I don't love violence-- on the contrary, most of the movies I love are R-rated and violent. It seems that with each passing decade, violence/sex/you-name-it garners, more and more, a stronger presence in cinema.

Then again, the 80s was full of stuff like Evil Dead and Cannibal Holocaust, so what do I know? (Though I don't think the uncut version of Evil Dead would get anything more than a R rating by today’s standards.)

Is this a pointless thread? Is the world going crazy? Am I douche?! Discuss!

I'm gonna go watch Showgirls...

[rocknblues81]

If only they would have killed those Olsen twins when they were kids....

It's just.. Movies like life somewhat. As the population continues to get bigger there will be more violence. More people equal's more criminals. I doubt Hollywood was scandal free back in the day either. You just can't hide that stuff no more. The Little Beaver and Andy Griffith days aren't coming back.

[Monotreme]

Very interesting thread - and a great, thought-provoking question that really has me thinking here! Good job.

So thing is... I don't really think there's any subject today (or for the past couple of decades for that matter) that HASN'T already been touched upon in some form or other. There are no true taboos that literally nobody talks about, because even the heavy subjects today that are considered taboo by most people (incest, rape, meaningless torture, mental disability, pedophilia, etc) have all been featured or brought up in some of the more blacker of stand-up comedy routines, and in many movies.

Still, the fact remains that there are still many older movies that are considered quite shocking and hard to watch today; movies whose contemporary counterparts are tame compared to them: Cannibal Holocaust, The Last House on the Left, Salo: or the 120 Days of Sodom, and the list goes on. So these are not "recent" movies that signify a decline in moral standards, but rather proof that this kind of shocking stuff has not only been around for a while, but also that it's STILL shocking today.

That said, I definitely do see where you're going in terms of this kind of shocking, ultra-violent material appearing in more "mainstream" movies and generally recieving more acceptance than it used to. But then again, Crank 2, Feast, Hostel and all that crap aren't exactly the most brutally realistic of movies, so it could just be that what "shocked" in the past doesn't shock anymore merely because that the way (most) contemporary filmmakers portray it, it's just too cartoony and over-the-top to actually manage to shock or get anyone to take it seriously.

[rilocay]

I couldn't tell if we would get desesnitized to what extent, but it definatly occurs and will happen. But i still think, on a story level, we'll be fine with films...whatever is happening in the world today, has already happened to someone else a hundred years ago, and much longer. As long as were still trying to express ourselves and figure out what we are as people - i think film will be just fine.

[Cbenz]

I don't think we need to worry so much about desensitization too much. If you look at movies from the 1970's, many of those exploitation films implied things that most modern films wouldn't even think of showing. Just look at some Japanese films like Star of David: Hunting for Beautiful Girls. The real difference in today's films is not the content, but the ability of special effects to actually show things that were only implied in the past. Modren films have really toned down the content, while simply amping up the realism of the violence. There are always your Crank 2's and Feast 2's that attempt to shock, but we have moved from controversial content to controversial images. Who is to say what is worse?

Are we really becoming desensitized? It was less that 100 years ago that families in America gathered around lynched corpses and took family pictures to use as postcards for loved ones. I think Crank 2 pales in comparison. In a way we are more sensitive to violence today than we ever were in the past...

[athf1980]

I think we will be. the only few things that bother me in movies actually one thing does and that is on-screen rape.

[John Galt]

In Men Behind The Sun,

SPOILER














there's a scene where a live cat is thrown into a pit full of thousands of rats and they just devour the poor kitty. I don't think I can bring myself to watch THAT part again.
Humans getting slaughtered I have no problem with though.

So yeah, I guess I'm desensitized.

[Bahs]

Things like "Antichrist" mabye- it may have set a new bar

i still want to see that movie

[Abbie Normal]

The violence part is true, but everyone will still be up in arms if there are bare boobies in a pg-13 movie. Desensitized to violence not sex.

[spacemonkey]

I thought the same thing while watching the previews for Crank 2. I was like, "wow, this is todays action movies?" They always gotta go faster, more violent, pushing the limit, going as vulgar and as out there as possible. Its like a movie on crack or something. But still, it lacks some of the ultra violence we use to see in action movies from the 80s. Todays action films have meaner attitudes, characters are meaner, but also, these films are more stylized then anything. They look mean, but when it gets down to it, theres not much gore or violence going on on screen. Not like we use to see anyways.

I was just watching Predator and Total Recall last week (back to back) and it brought back memories from action movies in the 80s which were a whole lot more violent then todays. Theres a scene in Total Recall where Arnold uses a dead man as a human shiled against bullets! Then hurls the body down the side of the escalator. Or hows about films like Robocop and its sequel Robocop 2. Ultraviolent films if there ever were any. As I watched these movies I felt that they dont make movies that violent anymore. Think about it, movies like Commando dont get made today either. Where one guy kills 100 guys through out the course of a movie in extremely violent and gory ways.

In a way, movies from the 80s where more violent. More graphic. They just dont make em like that anymore.

[hoojib127]

The violence part is true, but everyone will still be up in arms if there are bare boobies in a pg-13 movie. Desensitized to violence not sex.

Well, after all, kids don't jerk off to violence (unless, of course, they're truly demented). :p :D

[jackson13]

Desensitized to violence not sex.


Exactly. Show all the dead bodies you want, and its fine. But show someone having sex with a dead body.......

[drc5145]

Interesting. Monotreme put an interesting point that the older movies still feel more shocking than others that may be more brutal today. It's about the presentation, so stuff like Hostel and Crank are a bit more cartoonish in it's presentation. Compared to though, Anti-Christ, from it's actions and it's presentation will also be VERY brutal and shocking to watch.

Abbie also noted people seem to freak out more when it comes to Sex than Violence.

If anyone here sees CSI:, that show shows some pretty brutal stuff and gets away with it. If a show like NYPD Blue, which was pretty famous for the amount of nudity and sex shown, it would have gotten battered around in today's world.

[The Postmaster General]

Something to be said is that a lot of the things we are becoming desensitized to are the things that are becoming disposable plot devices in mass produced movies. Sure, there's been some brutal shit in older movies, but that doesn't change the fact that they've made like 5 Saw movies that were huge hits, but for most people totally forgettable. Another thing on the sex side is to look at something like Bob Carol Ted and Alice, the idea of couples swinging was really wild for a Hollywood movie, but then look at 1999 when Kubrick and Spike Lee made Eyes Wide Shut and Summer of Sam, both movies had group sex scenes are hardly batted an eye lid (maybe Eyes Wide Shut, but that was more about the talent involved, not the content... [the talent involved making another good case pointing at subject matter being less sensitive for audiences]) It's like over time, in films, acts that were once considered substantial are treated like no big deal. Count the number of ridiculously badass things Willis did in Die Hard compared to Stratham in Crank 2, or hell even Die Hard 4. It's like being a badass in 1988 doesn't cut it in 2008.

Of course people get desensitized to stuff from seeing it. That's common sense. Show a toddler a toilet flushing for the first time, and you'll see their mind get blown, but a year later, they aren't so excited. Movies are no different. Everything gets kicked up a notch.

I do, though, think it will swing back to, as someone put it, the days of Andy Griffith -- Of course it will have more content, but I think there will be a different approach to how it's shown. 2008 best picture noms No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood showed a more classic and conservative approach to content in film. You can even see it in films like American Pie, which is easily a more traditional approach to the topic of horny teenagers - compared to Porky's, Party Animal, Private Resort, at flat-out a lot of similar movies from the 80s, American Pie is way more sensitive and conservative in how it handles it's topics.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and all that jive...

[spacemonkey]

There are also other things that I think people are getting desensitized to. For example themes in film.

A good example of this is: Life of Brian and the recently released Year One.

Back in 1979, when Life of Brian was trying to get made, no studio wanted to produce it or touch it. The religious subject matter was taboo. Saying we dont need religion, and that you can choose where your life is going was something that no studio wanted anything to do with.

So much so that George Harrison (yeah, one of the Beatles) had to create a film studio (Handmade Films) solely for the purpose of getting this movie made and released! Once the film was released, it was banned in many countries! Boycotted! Screenings were picketed by rabbis and nuns! It was a huge deal when the film was unleashed upon the world.

Fastforward to 2009 and Year One, a film with the exact same themes gets released by a major studio, with major stars and a budget. And as a summer movie no less!! No picketing, no boycotting and no banning.

[blknge89]

If we should continue to see sales that were that of Friday the 13th during and even after this recession is completely dormant then it seems like were heading in that direction but I don't know, we see new styles, new thought processes and ideas form every decade and we often don't anticipate them. What will the popular music be like in the next 10 years, what will be the hot new thing, will we fall from our rising technology state and become simple folks again or will we "decline" into an even faster evolving technological planet.

Violence has never seemed to really stay asleep for a long time or the wonder of death and the dark macabre. With every decade there have been visionaries for more daring storytelling, it's apparent in many paintings pre dating films then to the point of it being real when we had roman gladiators killing in front of live audiences.

I believe a few newcomers or possibly just one will come along and alter the way violence and sex is looked at. Sexual content I can see becoming more open the way it is in Europe, take a peek at Observe and Report, Borat, The Hangover, I think sexual content will be greatly changed in the new decade to come.

I do hope it stops but if this 3D craze is still pleasing enough expect more horror films utilizing this tech, in these current times people seem bloodthirsty for more (amazing that many still choose to go to the movies, I work at a theaters and it seems as if people are fine, woman told me "man cut back your prices, were in a recession here", but they bought enough food.) but perhaps soon many will realize a great new way of thinking and that being

we don't want all of this these movies were fine for a while but I'm kind of tired, I should call my cousins and see if they want to hang out at the house

prediction: I think later 2010 violent films like the saw, hostel to even giant action films will taken better looked at, bigger and more disgusting won't go as well anymore.

[The Postmaster General]

There are also other things that I think people are getting desensitized to. For example themes in film.

A good example of this is: Life of Brian and the recently released Year One.

Back in 1979, when Life of Brian was trying to get made, no studio wanted to produce it or touch it. The religious subject matter was taboo. Saying we dont need religion, and that you can choose where your life is going was something that no studio wanted anything to do with.

So much so that George Harrison (yeah, one of the Beatles) had to create a film studio (Handmade Films) solely for the purpose of getting this movie made and released! Once the film was released, it was banned in many countries! Boycotted! Screenings were picketed by rabbis and nuns! It was a huge deal when the film was unleashed upon the world.

Fastforward to 2009 and Year One, a film with the exact same themes gets released by a major studio, with major stars and a budget. And as a summer movie no less!! No picketing, no boycotting and no banning.


I think that goes along with my take that things that were once taboo become disposable plot devises, because Life of Brian actually said something, but with Year One, it's like what was said in Life of Brian is just a backdrop for a bunch of jokes. I mean to say, you take away the theme from Life of Brian it's not the same movie, but you can do the same with Year One and it's Caveman 2009.