07-24-2017, 08:07 PM
You definitely have a point. Films and TV shows are showing more and more gratuitous violence. Even the Marvel adaptions, which have been reasonably family friendly for the most part, are getting more dark and nasty. I finished the 2nd season of Daredevil just yesterday and I was surprised how much gore was in it. I don't remember there being that much in season one (only thing that stands out in my mind is when Wilson Fisk smashes a guy's head to a pulp with a car door, but that scene actually serves a purpose: it reveals Fisk's true sociopathic nature to the viewer for the first time). In season 2 there's heads being blown/chopped off left and right, throats being slit, people getting stabbed in the eyeballs and generally blood all over the place. Now don't get me wrong, Frank Miller's Daredevil -- on which I believe the show is largely based -- was NOT a cute little superhereo comic. It was dark, it was definitely violent, and it had a realistic, gritty edge to it that other Marvel stuff lacked at the time. Which is probably what made it so popular. But the violence was still... tasteful if you know what I mean. I'm not squeamish at all but excessive gore just feels out of place in a show like Daredevil.
I think the explanation for this trend can largely be summed up in three words: Game of Thrones.
Now I love GoT, but not because of the gore and excessive violence. Yes, in a way it makes sense. It's a violent, primitive world and medieval combat wasn't pretty. But at the same time... it goes too far, just for the sake of shocking the viewer. That's IMO a cheap trick that a show like GoT shouldn't actually need to stoop to in order attract viewers. I mean everything else is really, really good. It's almost as if the showrunners initially were afraid everyone would hate the show so they threw in a lot of violence and boobs to get better ratings. And as it seemed to work, they kept doing it. GoT became a success, so everyone starts doing it. And before long the gore gets normalized.
I dunno. Like I said I'm not squeamish and I'm not a moral panicky old lady either. But the tastelessness of it all bothers me. Gore has always been a trope of slasher/splatter movies, and when it starts creeping into more serious stuff it cheapens the experience IMO.
I think the explanation for this trend can largely be summed up in three words: Game of Thrones.
Now I love GoT, but not because of the gore and excessive violence. Yes, in a way it makes sense. It's a violent, primitive world and medieval combat wasn't pretty. But at the same time... it goes too far, just for the sake of shocking the viewer. That's IMO a cheap trick that a show like GoT shouldn't actually need to stoop to in order attract viewers. I mean everything else is really, really good. It's almost as if the showrunners initially were afraid everyone would hate the show so they threw in a lot of violence and boobs to get better ratings. And as it seemed to work, they kept doing it. GoT became a success, so everyone starts doing it. And before long the gore gets normalized.
I dunno. Like I said I'm not squeamish and I'm not a moral panicky old lady either. But the tastelessness of it all bothers me. Gore has always been a trope of slasher/splatter movies, and when it starts creeping into more serious stuff it cheapens the experience IMO.
