The problem of staged violence

The problem of staged violence

The Editorial Team, January 3, 2026, in Prague

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDQ2cm18pFU

Why is staged violence harmful?

Although we are not discussing the positive aspects of cinema here, it would be unfair not to acknowledge that it is an art form that has more positives than negatives: it entertains, relaxes, and provides a broad understanding of the world in terms of geography, history, etc. The Old and New Testaments have been brought to the screen, along with countless films of high moral value.

Traditionally, the media has tended to denounce displays and sins related to the sixth commandment. However, unjust violence and so many other crimes have been overlooked, so it is time for greater awareness of this problem.

Since time immemorial, all civilizations have sought the pleasure of watching violence, as in the Roman Empire, for example. It is a historical fact that gladiators fought to the death in the Roman Colosseum, either against each other or against ferocious animals. And many Christians have suffered martyrdom in this arena. But why does watching violence give us a certain pleasure? Among other reasons, the most profound is that the viewer who experiences the scene becomes immersed in it, identifying with the triumphant hero.

Psychologically, the staging allows, for a brief time, an escape and a forgetting of the reality of one’s own limitations and impotence, in order to immerse oneself in a purely virtual reality. Thus, for a few moments, the viewer can feel a greatness that he would like to have in the real world, seeking deep down to be like God, but moved rather by pride, which seeks the exaltation of the self.

The staging of violence has important ethical relevance when the consumer of a visual medium identifies with immoral attitudes, such as the hero’s hatred and revenge, his marital infidelity, his criminal intent, etc. To overcome the barrier that conscience poses to this identification and delight, Hollywood often first presents scenes of unjust wrongdoing with a high emotional charge, in order to then justify the disproportionate reaction of taking the law into one’s own hands.

A mature person with character and firm principles is usually much less affected by the figure of the killer hero because, thanks to their education in the faith, they have internal filters that protect them. But the big problem is children and adolescents, who have fewer internal defenses, leading them to admire violence, which tends to translate into aggressive behavior: there are shootings in schools, gangs seeking to beat up the weakest, and harsh and resentful behavior, as if everyone around them were their enemy.

Here is a concrete example of this mechanism: in the film “The Fugitive,” released in 1993, Harrison Ford’s wife is first raped and murdered, which serves as justification for him to kill many suspects. Just think of the classic scenes from cowboy movies, or the movie “Rambo” and so many others. https://thinktanklatam.org/the-good-and-the-evil-i/

Scientific research

Various psychologists, psychiatrists, and communication specialists have studied the effects of violence in film, television, and video games on aggression, empathy, and risky behavior for decades. All studies agree that they produce more physical aggression and that media violence should be treated as a risk factor in the same category as other classic psychosocial factors. The most cited scientific institutions in this field in the US are the following:

University of Michigan (USA). Here, L. Rowell Huesmann and colleagues have conducted studies on television and media violence. We could cite many more scientific authorities and institutions such as the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI).

Then we have experimental psychologists who have done valuable work in this area, such as Craig A. Anderson (Iowa State University), a pioneer in longitudinal and cross-cultural studies on how violent media consumption is associated with increased aggression, aggressive thoughts, and decreased empathy in young people in various countries.

1. Rowell Huesmann (University of Michigan) has focused his study on the long-term effects of television and film violence on children, demonstrating that repeated exposure predicts greater aggression decades later. The glorification of violence in films, especially when it is carried out by admired characters, facilitates the learning and imitation of violent behavior.

Iconic forms of violence

Here we mention only the main forms. For example, the construction of violent scenes in the Western film genre: the classic is the dusty town, the casino bar where the hero kills one or more people, or the shootout between the bad guys and the good guys, or the classic duel on the main street of the town.

The gangster format in Chicago or New York, with their black Ford cars from which they kill the ‘enemy family’ with machine guns, etc.

Then there are zombie movies, which have a strong ideological charge that attempts to degrade man, as an individual and as a human mass, in the face of an untainted elite that controls everything.

More iconic forms: war, science fiction, and disaster movies…

Very positive are films in the style of ‘The Passion’, ‘The Chosen’, ‘The Tone of Freedom’, ‘The Lord of the Rings’: these types of feature films have only the ingredient of noble attitudes that elevate the viewer. Why is it that such films have been the most successful and highest-grossing? Good cinema, which abounds, shines as art precisely in this type of filmmaking. Here, violence is used as a just defense, so identification with the hero can be morally positive.