A survey on movie violence. Please help me out. (1 Viewer)

[Chris_House]

I am conducting a survey on movie violence for my Sociology class. I am trying to determine whether or not real life violence is related to movie violence, and if so, in what way and to what extent. All I need is for you guys to answer these 15 questions. You may elaborate on any of them. Also, feel free to make this a discussion thread, but if you do, please take the time to complete the survey first. Thanks for any and all help.
For the purposes of this survey, lets consider a "violent movie" as any movie that is rated R for violence. If you are unsure of the rating, just use your best judgment.
1. What is your age?
2. What is your sex?
3. What is your race?
4. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last month was violent? (Estimate if necessary)
5. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last year was violent?
6. What percentage of movies you own is violent?
7. If you had the choice, would you rather watch a violent or non- violent movie (if no other deciding factors came into play)
8. When you witness on-screen violence, what is your immediate reaction?
9. Do you feel any more aggressive immediately after viewing a violent movie?
10. How likely are you to imitate a violent act you saw in a movie? Use a scale of 1-10, 1 being extremely unlikely, 10 being extremely likely.
11. From your experience, do you believe that movies have the ability to make a person act out more aggressively than he or she otherwise would?
12. Have you ever committed a violent act? (Giving an example is not necessary, but feel free to do so)
13. Do you ever see violence on the news and are reminded of a movie with a similar scenario?
14. Do you believe that film directors base elements of their films (plot, characters etc) on real life events?
15. If you answered "yes" to #14, do you believe that those real life events are more likely to be incorporated into a film if they are violent in nature?
Thanks for your help!

 

[felix_suwarno]

1. What is your age? 27


2. What is your sex? M


3. What is your race? chinese


4. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last month was violent? (Estimate if necessary)

what is violence? when a mom hits her daughter when she is mad, is it considered violence? or are we talking about a movie that is full of violence or based on violence, like pulp fiction? i think the question is ambiguous.
the list on my netflix account from the middle of october :

Dersu Uzala, 1975
A Beautiful Mind, 2001
Rat Race, 2001
Princess Mononoke, 1997
Eight Legged Freaks, 2002
Windtalkers, 2002
The Game, 1997
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, 1997
Scooby-Doo, 2002
The Usual Suspects, 1995
Vanilla Sky, 2001


5. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last year was violent?

how am i supposed to answer that? i am not a statistician, and it is impossible for me to remember what movies i have seen in the last one year.


6. What percentage of movies you own is violent?
all of them, i think. i even think monsters inc is violent. and what about the lightsaber battle in episode1? people losing limbs...


7. If you had the choice, would you rather watch a violent or non- violent movie (if no other deciding factors came into play)

i choose whichever movie that grabs my interest, i dont care whether they are violent or not. thats why i found it hard to answer number 4 to 6. i simply dont care about violence in movies.


8. When you witness on-screen violence, what is your immediate reaction?

no reaction, i just keep watching it, since i am soooo used to the so called violence in movies or videogames.


9. Do you feel any more aggressive immediately after viewing a violent movie?

i am sooo used to watching hollywood action movies that i am not affected by it. i dont think i am going to try whatever jacky chan does in his movies.


10. How likely are you to imitate a violent act you saw in a movie? Use a scale of 1-10, 1 being extremely unlikely, 10 being extremely likely.

zero.

11. From your experience, do you believe that movies have the ability to make a person act out more aggressively than he or she otherwise would?

if the person were unstable, yes. if the person were too young to understand what he sees, yes ( i have seen little kids tried to do whatever power rangers do in the movies ). otherwise, no.


12. Have you ever committed a violent act? (Giving an example is not necessary, but feel free to do so)

like, a fight at school? yea. inspired by movies? no.


13. Do you ever see violence on the news and are reminded of a movie with a similar scenario?

i dont watch tv or news, but i do visit htf!


14. Do you believe that film directors base elements of their films (plot, characters etc) on real life events?

sure. otherwise, how do they come up with ideas? how do you think they invented jurrasic park if there were dinosaurs living on this planet in the past? how did they get the idea of doing the matrix if computers and world wide web did not exist?

15. If you answered "yes" to #12, do you believe that those real life events are more likely to be incorporated into a film if they are violent in nature?

 

[Andy Olivera]

1. What is your age? 22
2. What is your sex? Male
3. What is your race? White
4. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last month was violent? 66%
5. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last year was violent? No clue, but I'd guess near 75%; possibly higher.
6. What percentage of movies you own is violent? Again, 75% or more.
7. If you had the choice, would you rather watch a violent or non- violent movie (if no other deciding factors came into play)? Violent
8. When you witness on-screen violence, what is your immediate reaction? Depends on the type of violence and the way it's displayed. Most action, from SPR or BHD to John Woo, it's a feeling of exhilaration; an adrenaline thing. In a non-action scenario, it tends to be fascination. Again, it depends on how it's displayed. I can enjoy any good gore flick, while I find films like Last House On The Left and Maniac repulsive. Who's on the receiving end of the violence also makes a difference.
9. Do you feel any more aggressive immediately after viewing a violent movie? No
10. How likely are you to imitate a violent act you saw in a movie? Use a scale of 1-10, 1 being extremely unlikely, 10 being extremely likely. If we're talking about violence just for the hell of it, then I'll say 1. If I had a reason(which I haven't, yet) I can see it being higher. How high, I don't know. Even then, imitation probably isn't the right word. Maybe adaptation.
11. From your experience, do you believe that movies have the ability to make a person act out more aggressively than he or she otherwise would? Movies can't make anyone do anything. They may bring out violent or aggressive behavior in a person, but the potential for such behavior has to be within that person. It was said perfectly in Scream: "Movies don't create psychos, they just make psychos more creative.".
12. Have you ever committed a violent act? If attempted suicide counts, then yes.
13. Do you ever see violence on the news and are reminded of a movie with a similar scenario? Very rarely. Most of what's displayed on the news is bland.
14. Do you believe that film directors base elements of their films (plot, characters etc) on real life events? Absolutely
15. If you answered "yes" to #14, do you believe that those real life events are more likely to be incorporated into a film if they are violent in nature? No

 

[Carl Johnson]

1. What is your age? 27


2. What is your sex? M


3. What is your race? Black


4. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last month was violent? (Estimate if necessary) 100%


5. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last year was violent? 90%


6. What percentage of movies you own is violent? 85%


7. If you had the choice, would you rather watch a violent or non- violent movie (if no other deciding factors came into play) violent


8. When you witness on-screen violence, what is your immediate reaction? As with any other scene it depends on how it's done. Been there done that I guess.


9. Do you feel any more aggressive immediately after viewing a violent movie? no


10. How likely are you to imitate a violent act you saw in a movie? Use a scale of 1-10, 1 being extremely unlikely, 10 being extremely likely. 2 I'll add the scene to my mental rolodex and will only use it if necessary.


11. From your experience, do you believe that movies have the ability to make a person act out more aggressively than he or she otherwise would? Not really, if the person was otherwise passive they would be unlikley to watch the movie in the first place.


12. Have you ever committed a violent act? (Giving an example is not necessary, but feel free to do so) I'll have to use a liberal definition of violent but yes. On more than one occasion I've used stuff I learned in violent movies to my advantage.


13. Do you ever see violence on the news and are reminded of a movie with a similar scenario? sure


14. Do you believe that film directors base elements of their films (plot, characters etc) on real life events? of course, if the scene isn't at all based in reality it wouldn't be very entertaining


15. If you answered "yes" to #12, do you believe that those real life events are more likely to be incorporated into a film if they are violent in nature? sure

 

[JasenP]

1. What is your age?
28
2. What is your sex?
yes please! errr... Male
3. What is your race?
White guy
4. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last month was violent? (Estimate if necessary)
40%
5. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last year was violent?
70%
6. What percentage of movies you own is violent?
40%
7. If you had the choice, would you rather watch a violent or non- violent movie (if no other deciding factors came into play)
Odd question, I'm not sure how to answer.
8. When you witness on-screen violence, what is your immediate reaction?
If it is realistic, usually an "ooooh" "ughhh" escapes my lips. If an intricate non-realistic stunt is involved, it's usually "cool"!
9. Do you feel any more aggressive immediately after viewing a violent movie?
No, but watching Fried Green Tomatoes sends me into a fit of violent rage.
10. How likely are you to imitate a violent act you saw in a movie? Use a scale of 1-10, 1 being extremely unlikely, 10 being extremely likely.
1 (no Jackass mentality here)
11. From your experience, do you believe that movies have the ability to make a person act out more aggressively than he or she otherwise would?
Only those who are easily influenced such as children who have not yet learned to completely comprehend such things.
12. Have you ever committed a violent act? (Giving an example is not necessary, but feel free to do so)
Yes, but never on another living thing. Plaster and wood are my only victims.
13. Do you ever see violence on the news and are reminded of a movie with a similar scenario?
The lines between reality and fiction are often blurred on the "news".
14. Do you believe that film directors base elements of their films (plot, characters etc) on real life events?
of course..
15. If you answered "yes" to #12, do you believe that those real life events are more likely to be incorporated into a film if they are violent in nature?
No

 

[Dennis Reno]

1. What is your age?
32

2. What is your sex?
Male

3. What is your race?
American (Italian, Irish, German, French, Austrian, etc. "Heinz 57")

4. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last month was violent? (Estimate if necessary)
Approx 50%

5. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last year was violent?
Approx 50%

6. What percentage of movies you own is violent?
Approx. 60-70% (including violence in animation such as Toy Story 2, Prince of Persia, etc.)

7. If you had the choice, would you rather watch a violent or non- violent movie (if no other deciding factors came into play)
Not a factor

8. When you witness on-screen violence, what is your immediate reaction?
Depends on how graphic it is.

9. Do you feel any more aggressive immediately after viewing a violent movie?
Possibly, depends on the level of violence.

10. How likely are you to imitate a violent act you saw in a movie? Use a scale of 1-10, 1 being extremely unlikely, 10 being extremely likely.
#1 - extrmely unlikely

11. From your experience, do you believe that movies have the ability to make a person act out more aggressively than he or she otherwise would?
Yes, without a doubt (especially in younger people)

12. Have you ever committed a violent act? (Giving an example is not necessary, but feel free to do so)
If you mean something like a fight in the school yard 20 years ago... Yes. In the last 15+ years, no.

13. Do you ever see violence on the news and are reminded of a movie with a similar scenario?
Yes

14. Do you believe that film directors base elements of their films (plot, characters etc) on real life events?
Almost always

15. If you answered "yes" to #12, do you believe that those real life events are more likely to be incorporated into a film if they are violent in nature?
It depends. IMO acts that are common experiences (school fights, car accidents, etc.) or historical in nature (D-Day, Gettysburg, etc.) are more likely to be incorporated not simply because of the violence but because of the role they play in everyone's life or the impact they had in history.

 

[Anders Englund]

1. What is your age?
27

2. What is your sex?
Male

3. What is your race?
White

4. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last month was violent? (Estimate if necessary)
100%
(Been going through the Friday the 13th movies)

5. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last year was violent?
Uhmmmm, 60%

6. What percentage of movies you own is violent?
Maybe 60% also

7. If you had the choice, would you rather watch a violent or non- violent movie (if no other deciding factors came into play)
Violent

8. When you witness on-screen violence, what is your immediate reaction?
That would depend on the nature of the violence and who's the target. It's impossible to give a general answer.

9. Do you feel any more aggressive immediately after viewing a violent movie?
Can't say I do, no.

10. How likely are you to imitate a violent act you saw in a movie? Use a scale of 1-10, 1 being extremely unlikely, 10 being extremely likely.
1

11. From your experience, do you believe that movies have the ability to make a person act out more aggressively than he or she otherwise would?
Not as the only deciding factor.

12. Have you ever committed a violent act? (Giving an example is not necessary, but feel free to do so)
No

13. Do you ever see violence on the news and are reminded of a movie with a similar scenario?
That may happen. More likely the other way around.

14. Do you believe that film directors base elements of their films (plot, characters etc) on real life events?
Yes, of course.


--Anders

 

[Terry St]

1. What is your age?
Mentally or physically?
2. What is your sex?
Male
3. What is your race?
Soviet Kanuckistanian.
4. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last month was violent? (Estimate if necessary) For the purposes of this survey, lets consider a "violent movie" as any movie that is rated R for violence. If you are unsure of the rating, just use your best judgment.
If an R rating specifically for violence is the criteria here, probably less than 10%. Most R rated movies get that rating for nudity, subject matter, or foul language. Violence has to be quite gory to merit an R rating on its own. I would describe considerably more than 10% of the movies I watch as violent even though they didn't get an R rating.
5. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last year was violent?
I watch enough movies that making a reasonable estimate here would require hours. 'R' ratings aren't consistant enough for me to do this without looking up ratings. The above 10% is probably representative though.
6. What percentage of movies you own is violent?
Probably less than 10% got an R rating just for violence.
7. If you had the choice, would you rather watch a violent or non-violent movie (if no other deciding factors came into play)
This usually depends on my perception of the film's subject material. I might choose an R-rated war film over a PG-rated war film because of my belief that the PG film may have compromised the material in order to reach a broader audience. ("Restricted" means just what it says with regards to audience and box-office take.) Conversely, if I saw a re-make of Casablanca rated 'R' for violence I might suspect some gratuity and go with the classic version instead.
8. When you witness on-screen violence, what is your immediate reaction?
This depends on the scene. Watching a Jackie Chan fight might induce smiles or laughter. The Rocky vs. Apollo scene in Rocky might have me cheering for the protagonist. The toe-crushing scene in Payback would probably have me cringing in sympathy. Anything in Blade II or xXx might would either produce a "Wow! How'd they do that?" or "Gee, that was dumb" reaction. These last two films are basically effects films. The violence is so unrealistic and the targets so devoid of personality or development that there is no emotional component to the violence other than the occasional "Ew, gross!".
9. Do you feel any more aggressive immediately after viewing a violent movie?
Again, it depends on the movie. I don't think you'd see many people saying "Wow, let's go make some sticky-bombs and take on a panzer!" right after watching Saving Private Ryan. After the first time I saw this movie the thought of violence was anathema. Conversely, you might feel a bit rowdy after watching a Bruce Lee flick.
10. How likely are you to imitate a violent act you saw in a movie? Use a scale of 1-10, 1 being extremely unlikely, 10 being extremely likely.
This question needs to be split into two parts I think.
10a. How likely are you to commit a violent act because of a movie?
Not even a 1.
10b. If you were commiting a pre-meditated violent act, how likely would you be to imitate or adapt lines or scenarios from a movie?
This would be a 10 for me. I don't think I could resist dropping a Clint Eastwood line. However, if it were not pre-meditated I would probably not have enough composure to deliver any sort of movie line.
11. From your experience, do you believe that movies have the ability to make a person act out more aggressively than he or she otherwise would?
War propaganda has been successfully used in the past to inspire patriotism and dehumanize a nation's enemies to make agressive acts more palatable. (e.g. Joeseph Goebels) A lot of hollywood films easily fall into the category of propaganda. Rambo blowing away sadistic Communists by the score is a good example of cold war propaganda. Several movies released within the past few years also fit this bill with different targets. I will not discuss them here in order to avoid an OT political debate.
However, it isn't violence alone that promotes aggression. What does promote aggression is to dehumanize and provoke anger against a target individual, nation, religion, visible minority, etc.. Violence may be perpetrated by the film's target against someone or something the intended audience identifies with in order to evoke an angry response. Violence against the target may in turn be depicted as just or even fun. Violence may not be depicted at all in such a film. Sometimes the absence of violence is the most potent rage evoker of all. (e.g. "I can't believe they got away with that! We *have* to do something!")
12. Have you ever committed a violent act? (Giving an example is not necessary, but feel free to do so)
I abuse a foam stress-ball daily.
13. Do you ever see violence on the news and are reminded of a movie with a similar scenario?
Yes. The question is, did the movie inspire the violence or just the form that violence took?
14. Do you believe that film directors base elements of their films (plot, characters etc) on real life events?
It's a bit of a give-away when a movie starts with a little text message saying "The following is based on a true story..."
15. If you answered "yes" to #12, do you believe that those real life events are more likely to be incorporated into a film if they are violent in nature?
It would be pretty hard to make a good movie out of a guy abusing pieces of foam. (Well, maybe if you anthropomorphized the foam into cute little creatures voiced by hollywood celebrities.) Perhaps you were asking about #14...
With regards to violent events in real life being the basis of most movies: This is true of news media, books, and even historical accounts. It is human nature to love a good story, and a good story almost always has a conflict. Not all conflicts involve physical violence, but few that do involve violence are uninteresting. The story of how one Mrs. L Evans overcame her fear of dogs, salmonella, and sharp cutting instruments to produce a truly superb chicken stew on March 3, 1987 is simply not going to make as good a story (or movie) as it would if she had been abducted by terrorists and forced to fight her way to freedom using only a stale baguette and her martial arts skills.

 

[AaronChauncey]

1. What is your age? 29


2. What is your sex? Male


3. What is your race? Caucasian


4. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last month was violent? (Estimate if necessary) 50%

5. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last year was violent? 75%


6. What percentage of movies you own is violent? 75%


7. If you had the choice, would you rather watch a violent or non- violent movie (if no other deciding factors came into play) Violent (though this depends on what level of action you consider violence)


8. When you witness on-screen violence, what is your immediate reaction? Again, this depends on what level of action you are considering to be violent. Is a car chase violent? Other than feeling interested due to a high level of action, no real reaction.


9. Do you feel any more aggressive immediately after viewing a violent movie? Absolutely NOT!


10. How likely are you to imitate a violent act you saw in a movie? Use a scale of 1-10, 1 being extremely unlikely, 10 being extremely likely. 1


11. From your experience, do you believe that movies have the ability to make a person act out more aggressively than he or she otherwise would? No.


12. Have you ever committed a violent act? (Giving an example is not necessary, but feel free to do so) No.


13. Do you ever see violence on the news and are reminded of a movie with a similar scenario? Yes (but that reminder is usually given by someone who was too busy to be a parent to their child)


14. Do you believe that film directors base elements of their films (plot, characters etc) on real life events? Sure. And in that regard, so do musicians, writers, playwrights, and every other artist in the world.


15. If you answered "yes" to #12, do you believe that those real life events are more likely to be incorporated into a film if they are violent in nature?

 

[Zenas]

1. What is your age? 21
2. What is your sex? Male
3. What is your race? Brown
4. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last month was violent? (Estimate if necessary) 60%+
5. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last year was violent? 70%+
6. What percentage of movies you own is violent? 90%
7. If you had the choice, would you rather watch a violent or non- violent movie (if no other deciding factors came into play) If the violence is over the top, I'd rather watch a non-violent movie.
8. When you witness on-screen violence, what is your immediate reaction? If the one upon whom violence is being visited is shown as evil, then it's exhilarating... otherwise, some discomfort.
9. Do you feel any more aggressive immediately after viewing a violent movie? No.
10. How likely are you to imitate a violent act you saw in a movie? Use a scale of 1-10, 1 being extremely unlikely, 10 being extremely likely. Zero
11. From your experience, do you believe that movies have the ability to make a person act out more aggressively than he or she otherwise would? Really depends on the person. If a person is naturally non-violent, no amount of violence in a movie will make them more aggressive.
12. Have you ever committed a violent act? (Giving an example is not necessary, but feel free to do so) No, not really.
13. Do you ever see violence on the news and are reminded of a movie with a similar scenario? Often.
14. Do you believe that film directors base elements of their films (plot, characters etc) on real life events? Without any doubt!
15. If you answered "yes" to #12, do you believe that those real life events are more likely to be incorporated into a film if they are violent in nature? If the event is tragic (like the events in Somalia as depicted in Black Hawk Down), then they will most likely be depicted.

 

[Ted Lee]

1. What is your age?
34
2. What is your sex?
male
3. What is your race?
asian
4. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last month was violent? (Estimate if necessary)
for purposes of this survey, i'll define violent as physical harm. so, i'd say approx 60%
5. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last year was violent?
40-50%
6. What percentage of movies you own is violent?
50%
7. If you had the choice, would you rather watch a violent or non- violent movie (if no other deciding factors came into play)
indifferent
8. When you witness on-screen violence, what is your immediate reaction?
neutral - it doesn't affect me one way or the other. i may go "whoa" but i know it's fake so it doesn't really count. snuff films need not apply.
9. Do you feel any more aggressive immediately after viewing a violent movie?
no
10. How likely are you to imitate a violent act you saw in a movie? Use a scale of 1-10, 1 being extremely unlikely, 10 being extremely likely.
zero
11. From your experience, do you believe that movies have the ability to make a person act out more aggressively than he or she otherwise would?
from personal experience no...but i do believe some people may
12. Have you ever committed a violent act? (Giving an example is not necessary, but feel free to do so)
do fights in junior-high count? otherwise, no.
13. Do you ever see violence on the news and are reminded of a movie with a similar scenario?
yes
14. Do you believe that film directors base elements of their films (plot, characters etc) on real life events?
absolutely
15. If you answered "yes" to #12, do you believe that those real life events are more likely to be incorporated into a film if they are violent in nature?

 

[Matt Stone]

1. What is your age?
-21
2. What is your sex?
-Male
3. What is your race?
-Caucasian
4. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last month was violent? (Estimate if necessary)
-75%
5. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last year was violent?
-75%
6. What percentage of movies you own is violent?
-80%
7. If you had the choice, would you rather watch a violent or non- violent movie (if no other deciding factors came into play)
-If violence is the only factor, then I would rather watch a Non-Violent movie.
8. When you witness on-screen violence, what is your immediate reaction?
-Indifference most of the time. Movie violence, justified or not, usually doesn't affect me. That being said, depending on the context of the violence (ie Schindler's List) my reaction can range from vindication to extreme discomfort.
9. Do you feel any more aggressive immediately after viewing a violent movie?
-No.
10. How likely are you to imitate a violent act you saw in a movie? Use a scale of 1-10, 1 being extremely unlikely, 10 being extremely likely.
-1
11. From your experience, do you believe that movies have the ability to make a person act out more aggressively than he or she otherwise would?
-I believe that violence can magnify pre-existing traits in people. So if a person was inherently violent, then a violent movie would definitely make them more aggressive.
12. Have you ever committed a violent act? (Giving an example is not necessary, but feel free to do so)
-To another person...No. To objects around me during a Purdue game...Yes.
13. Do you ever see violence on the news and are reminded of a movie with a similar scenario?
-I usually don't tie the two together, but if I do, it is usually the other way around (a movie event reminds me of a real life event, ie seeing the Phone Booth trailer after watching the sniper story unfold on the news).
14. Do you believe that film directors base elements of their films (plot, characters etc) on real life events?
-Probably, because it is natural to base stories upon ones which you have already seen.
15. If you answered "yes" to #12, do you believe that those real life events are more likely to be incorporated into a film if they are violent in nature?
-Certainly not my experience with violence, since it is never toward other people. But if violence ties directly into some "human" element, I think it is pretty likely that it will be incorporated into films.

 

[Rob T]

1. What is your age?21


2. What is your sex?M


3. What is your race?
mixed
mostly white


4. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last month was violent? (Estimate if necessary)
100%

5. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last year was violent?
80% (estimation)

6. What percentage of movies you own is violent?
85%

7. If you had the choice, would you rather watch a violent or non- violent movie (if no other deciding factors came into play)
violent

8. When you witness on-screen violence, what is your immediate reaction?
neutral

9. Do you feel any more aggressive immediately after viewing a violent movie?
no

10. How likely are you to imitate a violent act you saw in a movie? Use a scale of 1-10, 1 being extremely unlikely, 10 being extremely likely.
1

11. From your experience, do you believe that movies have the ability to make a person act out more aggressively than he or she otherwise would?
no

12. Have you ever committed a violent act? (Giving an example is not necessary, but feel free to do so)
yes but not in a long time

13. Do you ever see violence on the news and are reminded of a movie with a similar scenario?
no

14. Do you believe that film directors base elements of their films (plot, characters etc) on real life events?
sometimes yes

15. If you answered "yes" to #12, do you believe that those real life events are more likely to be incorporated into a film if they are violent in nature?
no

 

[Chris_House]

Please take all these questions at face value, and try not to over-anylize them. I know there are many movies that contain violence that don't get an R rating, but I had to set a standard since many people have a different idea of what "violent" is.

Thanks a lot for the help so far guys. Keep 'em coming!

 

[Todd_B]

1. What is your age? 26
2. What is your sex? M
3. What is your race? Hispanic
4. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last month was violent? (Estimate if necessary) 25%
5. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last year was violent? 35%
6. What percentage of movies you own is violent? 35%
7. If you had the choice, would you rather watch a violent or non- violent movie (if no other deciding factors came into play) Violent
8. When you witness on-screen violence, what is your immediate reaction? Indifference..it's a movie for Pete's sake
9. Do you feel any more aggressive immediately after viewing a violent movie? no
10. How likely are you to imitate a violent act you saw in a movie? Use a scale of 1-10, 1 being extremely unlikely, 10 being extremely likely. 2
11. From your experience, do you believe that movies have the ability to make a person act out more aggressively than he or she otherwise would? NO
12. Have you ever committed a violent act? (Giving an example is not necessary, but feel free to do so) No, not unless fist fights in your youth count
13. Do you ever see violence on the news and are reminded of a movie with a similar scenario? Yes
14. Do you believe that film directors base elements of their films (plot, characters etc) on real life events? Yes
15. If you answered "yes" to #14, do you believe that those real life events are more likely to be incorporated into a film if they are violent in nature? Yes
Todd B

 

[Chris_House]

Damn. I just realized I messed up on question #15. It should have been "If you answered yes to #14..." I renumbered the questions a few times and didn't catch this. For those who already answered, don't worry about it. For those who haven't replied yet, I will go back and change it. I'm surprised it took me so long to notice this.

 

[Vickie_M]

I can tell you one thing. Sometimes violence in movies is funny. Just now, for the 2nd time in my life, I laughed at someone getting shot in a film. The first was when Indiana Jones shot the swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the 2nd was when Cheech shot Olive in Bullets Over Broadway and says "now I won't have to listen to her talk anymore!". In context, it's the funniest thing in a very funny movie.
I'm not going to go shoot anybody then laugh, though

 

[DeepakJR]

1. What is your age?
15

2. What is your sex?
Male

3. What is your race?
Asian/Hispanic

4. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last month was violent? (Estimate if necessary)
85%?

5. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last year was violent?
90%?

6. What percentage of movies you own is violent?
About 80%

7. If you had the choice, would you rather watch a violent or non- violent movie (if no other deciding factors came into play)
Non-Violent

8. When you witness on-screen violence, what is your immediate reaction?
"They did that in that other movie!", "right...", "Holy Shit!", and "kool!"

9. Do you feel any more aggressive immediately after viewing a violent movie?
Not really.

10. How likely are you to imitate a violent act you saw in a movie? Use a scale of 1-10, 1 being extremely unlikely, 10 being extremely likely.
1-2

11. From your experience, do you believe that movies have the ability to make a person act out more aggressively than he or she otherwise would?
Not necesarily, people usually act violently on past events in their lives, not because of movies.

12. Have you ever committed a violent act? (Giving an example is not necessary, but feel free to do so)
Yea, 6th grade a stabbed a guy with a pen on his back because he had me headlocked and was trying to kill me. Besides that, nuthin that I recall as being outside of playing w/friends or my brother.

13. Do you ever see violence on the news and are reminded of a movie with a similar scenario?
Rarely, usually only violent riots remind me of some violent movies.

14. Do you believe that film directors base elements of their films (plot, characters etc) on real life events?
Of course, how else would they get their ideas?

15. If you answered "yes" to #14, do you believe that those real life events are more likely to be incorporated into a film if they are violent in nature?
Obviously if they are violent in reality, then will make a much bigger impact if inciorporated into a movie.


l8rz,
Deepak Jr.

 

[StephenA]

1. 23
2. male
3. white
4. Have no idea, at least half.
5. Same as above.
6. Depends on what you consider violent, but at least a third to half.
7. Doesn't matter to me, as long the movie keeps my interest
8. Depends on the situation, if someone beats up a child for no reason I don't like it, but if someone gets what's coming to them I don't mind as much.
9. No I don't.
10. A 1, I see no use in it.
11. Unless you consider kids acting out scenes in cowboy movies or stuff like Star Wars while they play, then no I've never experienced it.
12. Yes. Been in fights and hit a kid in the head with a baseball bat once because he was throwing rocks at me.
13. No.
14. Yes.
15. No I don't think that they put stuff in because it's violent. I think they tend to put in stuff that they've experinced in life, and if they've experience violent stuff, it goes in. But I don't think they necessarily add violent stuff.

 

[Nate Anderson]

1. What is your age? 21

2. What is your sex? Male

3. What is your race? White

4. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last month was violent? (Estimate if necessary)

Roughly 50% give or take...


5. What percentage of the movies you watched in the last year was violent?

Maybe about 30-40%...

6. What percentage of movies you own is violent?

Probably about 40%...

7. If you had the choice, would you rather watch a violent or non- violent movie (if no other deciding factors came into play)

Whether it's violent or not doesn't really come into play. I tend to go by what genre I'm in the mood for. Sometimes I want to watch something funny, sometimes something serious, sometimes something in the Action genre, and sometimes I want to watch something scary. Those last two genres tend to be the more violent ones.

8. When you witness on-screen violence, what is your immediate reaction?

Usually it's surprise, if I haven't seen the film before. (This usually occurs in the Horror or thriller genre.) Sometimes it's excitement if I'm watching a good action movie and it's an intense fight scene or gunfight or something.

9. Do you feel any more aggressive immediately after viewing a violent movie?

Not really. Maybe worked up a little if it's a good action flick or something, but not aggressive.

10. How likely are you to imitate a violent act you saw in a movie? Use a scale of 1-10, 1 being extremely unlikely, 10 being extremely likely.

Probably a 2. You never know what could happen, but still unlikely.

11. From your experience, do you believe that movies have the ability to make a person act out more aggressively than he or she otherwise would?

No. Movies don't create psychos. Movies make psychos more creative.

12. Have you ever committed a violent act? (Giving an example is not necessary, but feel free to do so)

I got in a pretty nasty fist fight once. That's about it though.

13. Do you ever see violence on the news and are reminded of a movie with a similar scenario?

9-11...the whole thing seemed like it was a fucking movie. It was so unreal. I just couldn't believe Human beings would do such things.

14. Do you believe that film directors base elements of their films (plot, characters etc) on real life events?

Some of them do. I think that that is more apparent in Romantic comedies and dramas than Action or Thrillers. But I could be wrong...

15. If you answered "yes" to #14, do you believe that those real life events are more likely to be incorporated into a film if they are violent in nature?

Possibly, but not as much as in other genres, I guess.