If you're over 40, does graphic violence/gore in movies, TV, books,

[raccoon]

bother you more than it used to?

It does me. I used to read Patricia Cornwall's Kay Scarpetta books regularly. I unflinchingly watched SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Not any more.

Your experience?

[MorningGlow]

1. I've always been somewhat averse to graphic violence

I don't seek it out by any means, but if I come across a violent scene in a movie or whatnot, I just tough it out. But I refuse to read/watch torture porn masquerading as horror--it's sick and nasty and not entertainment (IMO). I know that's different from young folks' view of it, so maybe that is age related.

The one change I've noticed is not age related, but mommy-hormone related: I can't bear to watch movies or read books--or even hear stories--about children who are harmed in any way. So a lot of murder mysteries with child corpses are on my "no way in hell" list--things like that.

[DS1]

2. When I was a teen I'd watch all the horror stuff

read the gorezone magazines and all that. These days I don't care for it. The latest Saw movie was the final straw, I think. The pigs scene.

[RainDog]

13. are you over 40?

I always thought you were more of a baby (not mentally, just chronologically) - like mid-30s or something.

[DS1]

15. 34

so perhaps I'm ahead of the game :D

[RainDog]

16. I don't think my taste in movies has changed much over the years

I'm probably more tolerant of Spielberg than I used to be. He used to drive me crazy cause he just hit you over the head with sentiment when he really, really didn't need to.

[Lex]

3. Never been able to tolerate it. Lots of movies I haven't seen

because I knew it to be full of violence and graphic images.

[BuelahWitch]

4. It's always bothered me

I remember when I was a teenager watching "Sybil." I couldn't watch the parts with the little girl being abused. That wasn't gore, but it was violence, all the same.

[CBHagman]

36. That's not one you can easily forget.

Sybil, with its implied torture, is one of the most disturbing pieces of television I've ever seen. In fact, that makes a point about older films: Sometimes the implied is as powerful, if not more so, than the gratuitously depicted.

As for graphic violence, I don't actively seek it out and will often avoid movies with particularly disturbing elements. I've no use whatsoever for the current obsession with scenes of sadism or its aftermath, and the fact that so many people consume a diet of this dreck on a regular basis concerns me.

Then again, there are other ways the media encourages voyeurism and lack of empathy (both traits you don't want to cultivate in anyone). And human brutality and the watching is nothing new at all, not at all.

[Dora]

5. I'm 39, and I've always had difficulty tolerating violence.

I remember seeing the movie Natural Born Killers when I was 23-24, and leaving the theater sobbing hysterically, and the sense of upset stayed with me for a couple of days. As an adolescent, I never saw much violence on television (no cable), and I was attracted to the brat-pack type of movies.

I also loved Cornwall's Scarpetta books, and though the gore often grossed me out, it always seemed so clinical that it didn't phase me. It's been a few years since I've been able to sit down and chew up a novel like I used to, so I don't know how I'd react to any of the Scarpetta stories that I've missed.

I often turn my head, close my eyes, or leave the room if I find myself accosted by violence in movies. I really don't have the stomach for it. I have quite an anxiety response to it.

[edbermac]

6. Depends on the movie.

I liked Clockwork Orange and still do. I liked Taxi Driver many years ago. When I see it now I feel very disturbed, especially the "You talkin' to me?" mirror scene.

[WinkyDink]

7. Very much so. It has crept into the commercials of even the most innocuous products.

[skygazer]

8. No more than it ever did

If it drives the story, it doesn't bother me at all. If its gratuitous, it irritates me but doesn't make me uncomfortable.

I'm not a fan of violence but I'm not squeamish either.

[MrsMatt]

9. yes it does!

I tried to watch "Resevoir Dogs" a year or so ago and the torture scene really turned my stomach to the point that I had to turn off the movie. It bothered me some the first time I saw it, but now it just makes me physically ill.

[LanternWaste]

10. I imagine a person accumulates a LOT of memories of ugliness and violence

Yeah. It's not because I'm particularly prudish mind you-- it's just that over the years, I imagine a person accumulates a LOT of memories of ugliness and violence we've see and experienced throughout our lives. And as for me, more often than not, I just don't want to add more to the bank.

When I was ten or eleven and Jaws had just come out, I was at the theater every weekend for the matinée showing, thinking to myself, "oh boy! a shark! and he eats people!"

These days, I have but to go to work and observe my boss's boss to think, "oh boy! a shark! and he eats people!"

It takes a special mood (which happens more and more rarely) for me to get the guilty temptation to read the newest of Stephen King's body-count books. I can read the body count stories in the local newspaper-- whether the count is happening in my hometown, or in Iraq, or in Myanmar.

And slasher movies? Forget about it-- there's an old Cary Grant/Irene Dunne film on AMC that tickles my senses a little better.

I suppose real life has slowly begun to satiate my youthful inner needs to see violence and ugliness projected on screen.

Just my opinion, is all. :hi:

[RainDog]

11. depends

when I saw Apocalypse Now, I got sick to my stomach. it bothered me a lot. but I was younger. I've never been a fan of horror movies, beyond the cheesy old Vincent Price stuff. can't watch stuff like texas chainsaw, etc.

when I saw Pulp Fiction, I was blown away. the violence didn't bother me. when I saw Reservoir Dogs, I couldn't watch the torture scene. I was younger then, too... they're a decade plus old.

I quit playing video games with Sonic Spinball (sega gensis... that's also a while ago. the 3-d stuff makes me dizzy, but so do ferris wheels, and they have for a long time.)

I've also never liked really sappy movies, tho - as much as I don't like horror movies. I hated The Green Mile. I'm one of those ppl whose preferences have always run to stuff like the Coen brothers' movies, or foreign-language movies, or, if it's a big production sort of thing, movies like Amadeus or Memoirs of a Geisha... I like studio ghibli and crouching tiger sorts of movies, and old b&w movies of all kinds, esp. film noir. that's been a constant for me since I was a kid and watched them on tv.

[raccoon]

26. Torture, of people or animals, in movies/tv/books especially bothers me.

It bothered the hell out of me in the Sam Peckinpah film where the bad guys shot the poor donkey that was tied up. It bothered the hell out of me in that POS movie NURSE BETTY when that man was tortured (I won't say what happened so as not to offend some peoples' sensibilities.) It bothered me in IT (the book) when that POS psychopathic boy tortured that puppy.

[NJmaverick]

12. Depends on my mood. Sometimes it bothers me, other times no

although as a rule, I was never a big fan of the ultra violent movies.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

14. No bother, if the violence is stylish ...

Kill Bill 1

great violence!

[Carnea]

17. Not yet

with the exception of that Aston Kutcher movie where they burn the dog alive and blow up the baby.That still bothers me.
But I've noticed other tastes changing and I have become more Liberal relaxed and less self-centered. It's like I'm not American anymore

[bif]

18. Never could tolerate violence in movies

I couldn't watch "Full Metal Jacket" or any of the Russian Roulette scenes in "Dear Hunter."

[RadiationTherapy]

19. This happened to me just before 30. I can't bear the explicit violence anymore.

My old faves: Seven, Goodfellas, Nat. Born Killers, all that kind of stuff. It is too much for me. This "horror" trend these days competing for the most sadistic, graphic and "creative" ways of hurting, then killing is ridiculous to me. The Saw series, Hostel, Rob Zombie's flicks. I know they have "points" and "context", but I can't pollute my beautiful mind with this stuff anymore.

I feel the same way about the modern approach to porn. The "gonzo" stuff is abhorrent and disrespectful to me regardless of the willingness of the participants.

[Zavulon]

20. Not at all.

The soundtracks to the movies bother the shit out of me these days, though, and it never used to be so bad.

[AlCzervik]

21. i like being scared but not grossed out.

Unless it's cartoon like blood i don't really want to see it or i watch it between my fingers and i hate slasher films. The last slasher type movie i saw was Wolf Creek and that was just too much for me, i'd prefer aliens and monsters, not human human monsters.

[femmocrat]

22. It always bothered me.

I could never stand gory movies or TV.

[regularguy]

23. Yeah, but I don't think it's age.

It's just that I don't see as much tv or movies as I did when I was younger and now I'm *way* sensitized to stuff that I never used to think twice about.

[BarenakedLady]

24. Not yet 40, and it depends on my mood.

I was a big horror movie buff as a pre-teen. It still takes a lot to frighten and disgust me (on screen), but I do think my tolerence level is lowering.

[qb]

25. As a teen I was fascinated by the special effects in horror & action movies.

I am not bothered by movie violence because I am usually critiquing the special effects.
Real-life violence and human suffering, however, disturbs me intensely.

[Coyote_Bandit]

27. Forty Something Here

Never have liked watching graphic violence. I try to avoid it.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

28. 50 here. I generally wince at or can't watch realistic depictions of violence or torture.

No problem with the Stooges, though. :)

[flvegan]

29. Depends on the violence.

The realistic could-happen or did-happen does bother me. "Saving Private Ryan" was very disturbing to me. I could watch a slasher flick and not be bothered though.

Rape scenes, on the other hand, I've never been able to watch. Same with torture or animal abuse.

[My Good Babushka]

30. I've discovered I'm much more weepy

after having children. I watched Schindler's List a coupla dozen times and it was always very sad, but after my boys were born, I can't watch it without turning on the waterworks, all weepy and womanish.

[Forkboy]

31. Depends on the context, but I still love the gore in movies.

Planet Terror, for example, was the most over the top movie I've seen in decades and I loved every second of it. In that context (zombies) it was a lot of fun. For a movie like Saving Private Ryan I think it was integral to show the true ugliness and terror of war to paint the picture they were aiming for, and as such it didn't bother me.

However, the Faces of Death stuff, and others that use real violence for entertainment is offensive to me, not because of the gore or blood itself, but because of the idea that other people's real suffering is somehow cool.

I'm very into the behind the scenes stuff and how special effects are done, and I always know that it's fake (and usually exactly how it's done) which takes the edge off, no matter how realistic it is. I'm a huge fan of people like Rob Bottin, Tom Savini, Greg Nicotero, etc, and read Fangoria regularly until I was 30 or so (I'm 40 now).

In the end, it's simply different strokes for different folks. I don't see anything wrong me liking it, or you not liking it.

[applegrove]

32. If it is a good movie I can watch scary stuff. If it is a hollywood blockbuster I can

watch. If it is over the top (like kill bill) I can watch. I just have to stay away from psychological thrillers. They get me every time.

Oh and I never watched horror and never do. I hate the genre.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

33. Chuggo bothers me, and I'm not even 40 yet.

http://www.myspace.com/chuggo

[logosoco]

34. I don't know if it bothers me MORE than it used to...

the real life stuff I've been seeing in the past 10 years does (I'm 43). I am a huge Stephan King fan, and i like to be "scared" more than grossed out. Last week I was babysitting a 6 year old who brought the movie "Haunted Mansion" (w/Eddie Murphy), I was only watching parts of it, but there was a part (where there were dead bodies chasing the people) and I thought that would have been too much for me when I was that age, but it didn't seem to phase this little girl in the least!
Saving Private Ryan was really hard to watch because it reminded me that that horrible stuff and worse happened in real life.

[Orsino]

35. Yeah. I'm not a complete pacifist...

...but graphic violence in itself doesn't entertain me.

[Iggo]

37. I'm 46.

When I was little, graphic violence bothered me. Not so much in my teens and twenties. Nowadays, it's real violence that I can't stand. The fictional stuff I can compartmentalize.

A side note: The stuff that reallyreallyREALLY scares the shit out of me, but I can't look away from nor get enough of, is Asian horror flicks. Apparently, Japanese girl ghosts are the scariest thing on the planet.

[Brigid]

38. Depends on context.

"Saving Private Ryan," for example, I can deal with; because the gore is being used to help make the point of the extreme chaos and violence of combat. If it's used just for the purposes of sensationalism, as it usually is these days, then it does bother me more than it used to.

Several years ago, I was a member of a site devoted to a TV show that was fairly popular at the time. The show was fun and original at first, but it didn't take too long for it to start sliding downhill. Poor writing was mostly to blame. Then came an episode that I found extremely offensive (it involved torturing a pregnant woman). I was furious. The younger crowd on the site didn't seem to be bothered at all by it. "It's just entertainment," they said when I complained. Since when has torture become entertainment? :wtf:

I was in my forties then, BTW; now I'm 50.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

39. Depends on the context.

For exsample, in Saving Private Ryan it works becuase we get a taste of what combat is like.
But in many cases it's just there to make you watch, like your watch a car wreck or something....

[grannylib]

40. It doesn't bother me as much to read about it; I still love Scarpetta

but I've never been a big fan of violence/gore in movies, and I hate hate hate hate graphic rape scenes, even if they are integral to the story; I just canNOT watch that. So much of it is so excessive; a little subtlety and mystery can be so much more effective anyway.

[Rabrrrrrr]

41. No, not at all. Although the depictions of REAL violence bothers me more.

(such as documentaries, news, etc.)

[jobycom]

42. Bother how? Disgust at the gore, or disgust at the violent message/assumptions?

Either way, no, not really. Maybe less. I'm less queasy about things, and I've always been bothered by gratuitous violence, so that's not gotten worse.