Movies Today Aren’t Violent Enough

When I was a child, of about 7 years of age, my parents rented a film for me at Blockbuster Video (ask your parents what that is). That film was Raiders of the Lost Ark. I fell instantly head over heels in love with this movie. It had everything: action, adventure, romance. Next to Star Wars, it’s probably my favorite series of movies to this day.

But that film had one thing I really didn’t notice at the time: Brutal, intense violence.

Sure, I noticed the climax, where the villains’ faces melt and their heads explode, but that was just one scene. To me, the rest of the move was just this fun, swashbuckling adventure.

The same can be said for a lot of the other movies I grew up with. Tim Burton’s Batman kills tons of people. Then there’s Die Hard, Terminator, Jackie Chan’s films, Lethal Weapon, and even The Empire Strikes Back, with still the grittiest and most intense lightsaber battle in any Star Wars movie to date. Plus, we can’t forget Tom and Jerry, the Loony Tunes, and The Three Stooges. Different kind of violence, but it counts.

But what’s crazy is that I never noticed it was missing until recently. And the reason I didn’t notice it, is because it doesn’t really happen anymore.

That’s not to say we don’t get some good, gritty action movies here and there. They do happen. But they’re not the kind of films made with a general audience in mind anymore. Everyone knows Indiana Jones. It’s an iconic character and series. They have the merchandise at Disney World for crap’s sake. You’re not gonna see John Wick toys any time soon I don’t think.

Why is this a problem?

Well, frankly, it’s a problem because it leads to mediocre movies.

Why did we all go crazy over Deadpool? And why are we all clamoring for more R rated superhero movies? It’s because seeing that film reminded us of the time when movies had balls. When they weren’t afraid to show people die on screen horribly. And it reminded us that it could happen in a fun movie. I am going to focus mostly on superhero movies, because those are the most popular right now.

The problem with a lot of the current superhero movies nowadays, is that the violence in them is so safe, there’s almost no real feeling of threat anymore. It’s impossible for me to be concerned for Captain America or Iron Man because they operate in a cartoon world. I’m about as concerned for them as I am for Tom and Jerry. There’s no grit. No pain.

Oh there’s action, plenty of it. But it’s action without consequence. We never see any blood, and rarely anything that confirms these people are feeling pain. Sure, cities get leveled, but the true horror of that kind of event is glossed over. Remember that scene in Raiders where Indy is getting pummeled by that massive German? Can you point to one scene in a modern superhero movie that brutal? I can’t. Maybe it’s in Batman v Superman — I didn’t watch that cause it looked like a piece of shit.

Anyway, in order for a story like that to be engaging, the vulnerability of our heroes must be present. I don’t want to get into the whole Mary Sue debate, but let’s just say they never feel like they’re in jeopardy. At least, not to me. Again, you probably won’t notice it because you’re not looking for it. And these films do a good job of making you think you’re watching something ultra-violent, but it’s really not. Funny enough, the one movie I thought recaptured some of that grit was The Force Awakens, and that’s the one everyone complains about. That fight at the end actually did feel a little dangerous. Still not great, but in the right direction.

I’m not saying I hate the Marvel movies or anything, but they get by on the strength of their characters and quips. The action is usually mediocre. Kind of fun in a classic James Bond sort of way, but not much else. Now, the Netflix series are whole different story. Those are brutal in the best way possible.

How did this happen?

You think SJWs are exclusive to Tumblr? Ha! They’ve been around forever, and they basically ruined movies. Just like they do now.

Basically, there used to be 3 ratings: G, PG, and R (and X, but that’s a different topic).

Then, in the 80s, some focus groups of psychiatrists or some shit decided that films like Gremlins, Temple of Doom, and others were too intense for children under 13, but didn’t deserve to be rated R (17+). They said that our fragile little minds couldn’t handle it and that we’d all become mass murderers or whatever. Thus, to appease these whiners, a new rating was made: PG-13.

Okay, sounds fine in theory. Everyone gets what they want.

However, what ended up happening is more and more movies were forced to tone down the violence for fear of losing a huge chunk of their audience. What would get you a PG in in 1980 would be PG-13 in 1990, and would probably get you an R today.

Add to this, the requirements for what gets you a certain rating have changed, and are often completely arbitrary. Sometimes it’s just cutting 8 frames off a particular scene that makes the difference between PG-13 and R. The people in charge of this are literally just making it up.

Each one of those ratings has a certain demographic accompanying it that they have to sell to. And because blockbuster movies have to sell enormous amounts of tickets, it’s too big of a risk to lose that much money. Most, as in practically all, action movies shoot for PG-13. They can be just edgy enough to please teens and adults, but still safe enough that they can get in to see it. And because the MPAA is trying so desperately hard to appease SJWs from writing nasty letters about little Bobby seeing brutal murder (unless it’s Jesus) the people in charge of the ratings are scared of letting anything even the slightest bit edgy through without an R. And that is why we can’t have nice things.

Can we fix it?

Not really. Not until Netflix becomes the primary distributor of all movies and TV shows.