Fantasy Violence

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This may sound really stupid but just now I watched the first Iron Man on Blu Ray which I've seen many times before in the past and something really strange just popped up in my head, a question which was Is wrong for me to enjoy the fantasy violence? I'm not a religious person as I do not belong to any religion or go to church or anything like that but I almost feel like that watching people fight in a movie knowing the fact that it's make believe and enjoying it is making me think that I might be breaking one of or more of the seven deadly sins. But I'm pretty sure that there are a few religious people in the world including a few vicars maybe that like action films or anything that has swear words or stuff.

I know what your thinking when reading this, that it is absolutely ridiculous and I agree but this bullcrap just came right into my head. Maybe just writing this down and letting out will make me feel better and forget about this. In my defense I'm an Aspie and sometimes pretty fragile like the type of person thats afraid to go outside though I am not afraid of that. Anyway I just hope this all clears up before the Avengers come out.

I'm Catholic, and my religion has a reputation for being very strict. Sometimes I go through periods of guilt because of the movies I enjoy, which have a lot of fantasy/supernatural themes, not to mention a couple of them portraying Christians as bad guys. One time I hurt my Nana's feelings by refusing to watch a movie which I was afraid might offend me.

But the thing to remember is, they're just movies. You're not hurting anyone when you watch them. As long as you don't actually believe in or imitate the objectionable things you watch, then it's no big deal.

there is nothing wrong with it as long as you know it is fantasy

Oh, you mean I won't really die? That's a long time, and I have ADD!!

IdahoRose wrote

I do kinda feel stupid for writing all that down now as I'm sure I'll forget it. Anyway I'm a guy who likes to escape into fantasy all the time but I don't become part of the fantasy but sometimes I wish most of the things from fantasy were real like superheroes and magic. I don't imitate like shooting someone though if I got the chance to become Iron Man then that would be cool. But I would never actually kill anyone in real life. But if I see something like say Batman punching a criminal then I would say to myself that was cool. Or how about in Jurassic Park when the T-Rex eats the lawyer guy. Is it wrong to say that I absolutely love that scene. If that happened in real life then it wouldn't be funny but I guess I'm saying at times death is funny in the world of fiction when it comes to moments like that one scene in Jurassic Park or how about when that fat guy got killed and also when that hunter guy was killed by the raptor, I don't consider the last thing funny but it's kinda cool. So death and violence is also cool and awesome in movies and tv shows sometimes. I hope that doesn't make me sound sick. Death isn't always funny in movies and shows. I would not laugh at say the exicution of John Coffy in The Green Mile or the death of Spock in Wrath of Khan.

Of course not! Everybody loves an explosion, and while slapstick deaths don't appeal to everyone they do to a lot of people. It's not my kind of thing — I like violence to be treated respectfully and realistically in films — but a lot of other people go for it! It's entertainment; that's what it's intended for.



If you laughed at that, now, then I would have to say you were sick indeed.

Nope nothing wrong here.

As long as you DON'T practice those fantasy violence moves, it's all fine in my radar

Unfortunately, I like simulated violence more (Ie GTA, Kate an Lynch, etc)

Last edited by NorthPark on 27 Apr 2012, 7:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

If it makes you feel any better, my dad, who is even more conservative than I am, thinks death/action scenes in movies are cool. He loves watching Westerns where Clint Eastwood puts bullets in people left and right. He also loves Terminator movies and, although he is not big on superhero movies, told me he wants to see The Avengers. Also, my younger brother loves watching Hellboy and The Punisher and didn't feel guilty about it even when he was still a really conservative Christian.

I was just watching Captain America and some of those feelings are coming back. If there is an almighty (I'm not saying if there is and there isn't) then would he be okay with me watching action movies in which people are fighting and shooting and killing and swearing at each other. It doesn't mean I'm gonna imatate any of those stuff, though on occasions I do swear even in front of my family who don't mind but lighter words like hell, s**t, damn but not the F word though I do mutter that under my breath sometimes. The problems are that I watch too much tv and films which I basically thrive on and I think too much. I'm actually pretty scared about this. I'm going to see The Avengers tommorow which I was pretty hype about but with these damn feelings I'm pretty sure when I'm watching the movie then all I will be thinking about is all that crap and I won't be able to enjoy the film. I figured maybe I was too excited that perhaps I blew a fuse in a matter of speaking. No one gets hurt in these movies so why on earth should I worry? Sometimes I don't even understand myself. Sometimes I even have fears of dying or of other people dying but they go away eventually but with this thing going on now I have a feeling it won't go straight away so if I can't really enjoy the film tommorow then I may have to see it more than once until I do. If there's one thing I hate it's thinking.

tb86, when I was little, I was a huge Transformers fan. I was always drawing them and reading their comics and playing with thir toys and everything. At one point, there was a social worker from school who visited our home every once in a while. She saw I had been drawing Transformers, and asked me and my mother if Transformers is not too violent for me too watch. Now, I was 9 or 10 at the time, and 10-year olds are still part of Transformers' target demographic. Anyway, my answer to the social worker was: "It's not that bad, because the good guys always win." Furthermore, the Autobots always try to play fair in battle, and display virtues like courage, cooperation, selflessness, care, etc.

As for the examples you name of the dinosaurs either eating or ripping up some characters in 'Jurassic Park', and you enjoying it? Frankly, all those characters were unsympathetic to the viewer. In-story, it could be said that they each get 'what's coming to them'. That's not to say that everyone who does bad things should be eaten by dinosaurs, but in the context of Jurassic Park, the writers of the film (and the book? haven't read it yet!) were going for sort of karmic deaths for these antagonistic characters. If the death was built up dramatically in favour of the character in question, and we'd be led to feel for the characters, then you probably wouldn't laugh about it. The manner in which these deaths are written and shown on screen, is very important here. There's a guy who gets picked up off a toilet by a T. rex. You can't deny that there's some element of intentional humour in there.

Now don't get me wrong, I myself have worried about enjoying violence in fiction, too. I've also worried about enjoying violence in video games. I used to really enjoy Mortal Kombat, one of the bloodiest fighting game series in history. I even enjoyed the death moves you can perform at the end. I've asked myself multiple times: wait, why am I enjoying this?

I think that enjoying fantasy violence in movies or on television is something that's inherent to human nature, in the sense that people enjoy a good fight. We were a violent species back in the Stone Age, we are a violent species now. It doesn't mean you're going to emulate the violence you see in films or on TV, in real life. I sure do not, after watching an episode of Cowboy Bebop, go out into the street and subject innocent passers-by to some jeet kune do moves.

If you believe that you're watching too many violent movies and/or cartoons, you should probably listen to yourself and dial it down a little. There's very little fun to be had if you have to keep worrying about things like this.

Nothing wrong with it at all. If you can maintain the distinction between reality and fantasy, fantasy violence (especially in video games) can be a great anger release.