Violent Movies and MBTI types

[SearchingforPeace]

I was discussing movies with my brother the other day and he said that he can't watch TV or movies with violence (he needs to avert his eyes when someone gets shot, even at 50 years old).

I have never had any problems watching violent movies. Exploding brains, cut up bodies, etc., no big deal for me. Even excessive gratuitous violence seems to not be an issue.

So, do how do you do with violence depicted in films? Are you OK with graphically depicted gun battles, slicing heads off, etc.?

Is there a type related issue here, or is it just not type related?

 

[Norrsken]

I can deal with them for the most part, save for the very deprave ones which just makes me light headed or nausea, then I have to look away or get out of the room. But that's kind of rare. I generally have a pretty strong stomach for violence. I guess my Ti just sort of logics it out inside my head that it just isn't real, so why flip out?

 

[Totenkindly]

The could be type correlation in the sense of how much you naturally empathize with fictional characters and how much you can accept violence as a reality of life, I guess. I'm afraid any conjecture would just be conjecture unless you were polling folks with verified type characteristics. You might as well ask which types enjoy violent video games and which types are really turned off by them.

I've always had a fascination with darker elements of human experience, and pain is just part of life experience. I know for me, darker things both disturb and interest me because they make me think... and also they up the stakes. I've having trouble putting it into words -- I don't like seeing bad things happen to people, and I empathize with people; but for some reason the "horrors" of human experience have some kind of gritty relevance to me maybe because they ARE so intense and because they shape us and motivate us in some direction. It is one type of crucible in which character, courage, and clarity is formed.

I remember when Alien came out, I was only 11 and of course couldn't go see it. But I bought the book adaptation from some school book fair, the cover said "on space no one can hear you scream," and my ISFJ mom took it from me and wouldn't let me read it. (Of course, that did not deter me.) The violence inherent in the movie is based on primal fears of being impregnated by The Other, or grabbed by the Thing in the Dark, etc. It's not just meant to be a gore fest per se.

I guess it's where violence served no purpose, it can then seem banal or even offensive to me. Oddly enough, one of the movies (and few movies) I remember feeling offended by was "Surf Nazis Must Die." To start with, I experienced it as a stupid/pointless movie which I wasn't enjoying, and then I ended up walking out of the room after one character randomly bit off part of another character's cheek for no real purpose. I just remember it really offending me, although the magnitude of the act compared to, let's say the opening of "Saving Private Ryan," wasn't very large; it just seemed banal and pointlessly cruel and stupid. I guess the point of the violence really matters to me, how it contributes to the story and what it is accomplishing. Some other people just seem to focus on identifying their own feelings with a victim, so the point of the violence is irrelevant.

(It seems silly but the kind of movie I can't deal with is actually where a character is publicly humiliated or embarrassed, especially by unfair accusations -- I actually have to pause the movie a few times to get through the scene.)

I've watched some pretty intense movies otherwise, but it's how it all fits into the whole. (I just watched Kill List this weekend, which I can't get out of my head in terms of trying to figure the movie out. But it does have an occasional extremely violent scene, which was meant to make the movie feel unpredictable and keep the viewer on edge... and that is the effect it caused.)

Meanwhile, I am not a fan of Friday the 13th and that ilk.

 

[Butze]

Depravity of the mind: Bring it on.
Splatter: No-No.
Killer hidden in the dark the whole movie and you don't know when it is going to come out: if done well, I usually cannot make it to the end, or at least need a break.

 

[Siúil a Rúin]

I avoid gratuitous violence - if there is no meaning in the story and just gore, then it is just like any other unpleasant sensation to be avoided.

I will watch psychological horror movies even though they can affect me negatively on an emotional level at times. There is a lot of horror in actual life, and so I can appreciate certain horror movies for their artistic expression and what they say about human existence, even when metaphorically. My two favorite horror movies are "May" and "Carrie". "May" is especially symbolic and psychologically deep and so it puts me into an internally analytical mode.

Seeing violence does bother me, and the scenes can come back to haunt me, but it doesn't stop me from watching some of it because I have high emotional pain threshold.

 

[magpie]

I have a hard time watching violence, even movie or TV violence, because I empathize and relate to fictional characters and circumstances to a degree which has me feeling what the characters are feeling and living through them. I blend other people's / character's lives and feelings into my own, I suppose, and am just sensitive in general I guess.

I find violence that's important for character development to be cathartic to watch. I find pointless violence that's extreme and merely there for effect (like in the Saw movies) to be grotesque and exploitative, and I do have a very intense inner reaction to it that's negative. I have to be careful with what I watch because the emotions I absorb from fictional characters in books, movies, and TV can last for weeks.

 

[Agent Washington]

I avoid those and stick to comedy.

...Unless they suck me in and turn into plot, like RVB. fucking RVB.

 

[cascadeco]

A lot of violence in movies is 'distant' enough that it doesn't really bother me.

An example of violence that truly disturbed me, though, would be a few scenes from Pan's Labyrinth, where the sheer sadism and 'realism', where I realize people like this do exist, is really horrifying to me.

Also, when it becomes so pervasive and never ending in a movie, I just have no interest in watching. Example would be Reservoir Dogs. I got far into it and then there was a scene I believe towards the end, where it just drug on, and I was like, 'Uggh, this is a waste of time, and is just nothing I'm remotely interested in continuing to watch.' So I didn't. The same occurred like 2 or 3 hrs into 'Casino', it was this long drug out violent scene, I just found it distasteful, pointless, and why would I want to watch it?

 

[magpie]

An example of violence that truly disturbed me, though, would be a few scenes from Pan's Labyrinth, where the sheer sadism and 'realism', where I realize people like this do exist, is really horrifying to me.

Weirdly that's the type of violence I'm actually okay with watching, because it's a reflection of life and humanity and is important for character development. It's also overcome by Ofelia - she transcends it. That movie still had a huge effect on my mood for a long time after but I'd watch it again because it felt so beautiful and worthwhile.

 

[cascadeco]

Weirdly that's the type of violence I'm actually okay with watching, because it's a reflection of life and humanity and is important for character development. It's also overcome by Ofelia - she transcends it. That movie still had a huge effect on my mood for a long time after but I'd watch it again because it felt so beautiful and worthwhile.

I can understand that. The movie is actually quite powerful and without those scenes it wouldn't be the same. The scenes are crucial. It is just the type of violence that sticks with you, that really does impact you, vs most violent movies where you're just like 'oh, someone just got shot, oops, there's an explosion', and it doesn't really phase you.

 

[Totenkindly]

Weirdly that's the type of violence I'm actually okay with watching, because it's a reflection of life and humanity and is important for character development. It's also overcome by Ofelia - she transcends it. That movie still had a huge effect on my mood for a long time after but I'd watch it again because it felt so beautiful and worthwhile.

Pan's Labyrinth is one of my favorite movies ever... while also having some of the most brutally violent scenes (emotionally) that I have witnessed in a movie. And you're right, to me it was essential for character development as well as the point of the movie... her "real wordl" is dark and brutal, emotionally and physically, and it justifies her pursuit of this other world that can be macabre but also filled with great beauty. The movie juxtaposes all these elements and is also noting the banality of human evil -- the most monstrous figure in the movie isn't one of these fantasy creatures, it's just a man who insists on controlling others and having no empathy for them. Yet somehow Ophelia is able to transcend that.

But I still cringe every time I remember the scene with the two hunters. It sticks with you.

Also, when it becomes so pervasive and never ending in a movie, I just have no interest in watching. Example would be Reservoir Dogs. I got far into it and then there was a scene I believe towards the end, where it just drug on, and I was like, 'Uggh, this is a waste of time, and is just nothing I'm remotely interested in continuing to watch.' So I didn't. The same occurred like 2 or 3 hrs into 'Casino', it was this long drug out violent scene, I just found it distasteful, pointless, and why would I want to watch it?

Reservoir Dogs is a Tarantino movie, so I wouldn't categorize is a "transcending" movie, it's a different type of "violence" in terms of function.

I know it can bother some people, esp with Tarantino going way off the reservation into hyperbolic violence. For some reason Tarantino violence doesn't bother me in general. Maybe because it's SO over the top and simply doesn't feel real (re: Crazy 88 from Kill Bill), and I'm more interested in the expression of will between his characters (because really, his movies tend to be about characters with strong egos showboating, and the violence is just an externalized manifestation of the conflict of wills that is supposed to be either funny or interesting to watch). RD was probably rougher because there was little of props or set, just these characters bleeding. And the Mr. Blonde sequence was pretty sadistic... although it served a plot point. But he has a lot of stuff like that -- like the whole crazy scene in Pulp Fiction when a gun accidentally goes off, and part of the absurdity is that no one seems to care about the guy who got shot, they instead are bickering about how to clean it up.

 

[SearchingforPeace]

I have problem with "evil" or "sick" more than violence. As such, if the film vibes "evil" or "sick", it just really bothers me. The violence does not.

The movie that really got me like this I watched as a teenager, Angel Heart. If you haven't seen it, it is the absolutely most disturbing film I have ever watched, while being one of the absolutely most beautiful and compelling. I keep thinking that I would love to watch it again to just view the beauty of it, but I can't and even the thought 30 years later gives me goose bumps.

I never enjoyed horror films that much, though I sat through a few with friends as a teenager, going along with the crowd.

So, disturbing, no. Violent, yes.

 

[Smilephantomhive]

I can watch any violence was long as it doesn't have to do with eyes, but I think I can harden up to it if I train myself to.

 

[Lexicon]

I relate to a lot of what [MENTION=7]Totenkindly[/MENTION] said, insofar as not being disturbed by the macabre because it's thought-provoking, and has some degree of relevance to the human experience. The shades of human experience, the psyche, we don't want to think about, don't want to see. Our capacity to suffer, and cause suffering. Our capacity to overcome, at times, too.

I prefer when there's a point to it, when it's well-written, but I also don't mind when it's gratuitous to the point of stupidity. Usually the whole movie is poorly done in my mind, and I can just make MST3K commentary in my head or with friends to derive enjoyment from what is otherwise a bunch of garbage. Gratuitous movies are my comedy. I actually dislike most films in the 'comedy' genre. I think action movies like Die Hard are equally cool and hilarious. Absurdity in extreme situations really tickles me, I guess.


Special effects makeup has always been fascinating to me. I love finding out what the artists use to create realistic effects - or, if not entirely realistic - still intensely weird effects. Like how they used roast ham & chocolate sauce in the original Night of The Living Dead film, when zombies were eating their victims. Or all the cool ways you can use liquid latex to build up a host of very authentic-looking wounds on a person - anything from abrasions to avulsions and burns. Deep or superficial lacerations. You can even use it to make wrinkles/do aging effects, or gnarly scars. Adding in various browns/purples/greens and red pigments for bruising or other discoloration (like various stages of decomp, skin marbling, slippage, etc). And don't get me started on prosthetics...





Not a fan of drawn-out torture porn. On one level it completely bores me. I'm desensitized to blood and gore (reading Stephen King novels in 3rd-4th grade, watching the films based on the books will do that - latchkey kids aren't censored much, haha), but I think what gets under my skin with films like Hostel, for example, is perhaps the fact that someone out there with sadistic tendencies might genuinely be enjoying this. Fueling their own fantasies.
And no matter the amount of detail and focus on the suffering, it just feels cheap.



George A. Romero might've said it best: “I don’t get the torture porn films. They’re lacking metaphor. For me the gore is always a slap in the face saying: ‘Wait a minute. Look at this other thing.’ ”



To answer the OP - I don't think it's necessarily type-related. Everyone filters differently, and may enjoy or be repelled by certain things for too wide a variety of reasons to really narrow anything else down.

 

[thepink-cloakedninja]

I've never actually seen truly violent movies or horror movies because I was sheltered and now I'm too busy. I can take action movies like Iron Man or The Hunger Games though I'm usually very tense and have to occasionally "pull" myself out of the movie world by looking around at my surroundings and reminding myself it's not real (and then shutting up the little voice inside that's like "but violence similar to this has really occurred!"). I'll also cry at odd places like a part where a couple of skyscrapers get smashed or something because I start thinking about all of those people who were inside. Also, I can become pretty grumpy/quiet after semi-violent movies if I start relating the themes too much to real life.

 

[Yama]

I don't feel affected by film violence at all because I know it's not real.

 

[Hive]

There's a movie called Kill List, in which there is a scene involving a labile contract killer, a pedophile bound to a chair, and a hammer. The camera doesn't flinch. There are no cuts when the hammer hits the head, again and again, until the bone is crushed and blood and brains are splattered all over. I cringed and had to watch the scene through my fingers. On the other hand, I've also seen grainy amateur films of prisoners being executed by religious fundamentalists and the both the emotional and immediate visceral impact it had on me was negligible.

Can't say for sure what factors prime my reaction. Perhaps context and expectations. In the former example there's a thick tension running through the movie, being released in a particularly violent scene explicitly showing the brutal impact of the hammer, something most would soften up by cutting the scene differently, which to the viewer makes the stark display very unexpected. In the latter, I knew what I was going into, there was no buildup or context other than "shitstain's doing horrendous things", it delivered exactly what it promised, and was shot with what seemed like a normal phone camera. It seems intuitive to think that movie violence won't disturb you because it isn't real, and conversely that real violence would, but I think in many cases that's not true. The reasons for this are harder for me to pin down however.

But in general, I have no problems watching or enjoying movie violence, whether it's graphic and gruesome, comedically over-the-top, stylishly choreographed, highly stylized, or just plain dumb.

 

[Zeego]

I don't mind movie violence, in fact I've always been a bit of a gorehound. Even when I was a kid, I was obsessed with horror movies and grotesque imagery. Don't know what that says about me as a person...

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I have a difficult time getting through rape scenes and the aftermath of them. I had to turn off Irreversible. The rape scene in Last House On The Left remake unrated cut was troubling. It depends though...Road Warrior rape scene doesn't bother me at all. Deliverance isn't too bad. But the threat of it and aftermath in films often bothers me.

Most other violence and gore doesn't bother me. I even find it tantalizing at times. I like gory old grindhouse violence like Cannibal Ferox type stuff and 80s slasher films. Except for harm to fingers and toes.

Sometimes depictions of harm to animals and children gets under my skin. Not as much as depictions of missing children/pets or frantic parents though.