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Post by curiousgirl on May 12, 2018 9:45:39 GMT
So, I'm surprised to find myself thinking this way.
I decided to try out Sons of Anarchy because I'd heard good things about from a number of people, including our admin 4th Chord. Its taken me a while to get into because it is such a macho, patricarchal world. I'm about half way though S1 but I do care about the characters now.
Last night, it was episode 1, S4 of a show I love The Bridge. The lead detective, Saga Noren is a character you either love (I do) or you don't. She's outspoken, slightly strange but we don't know why, and you know that if anyone can solve the case Saga can.
But the opening scene of Ep 1 was of a woman, buried in a hole with only her head/neck above ground, being stoned to death. Then Saga is in jail, all cowed and terrified. And the 3rd female guest character is hiding from her violent ex husband. I feel so oppressed by this that I'm not sure I'm even going to continue with the show.
And suddenly SoA seems preferable. Although I don't enjoy seeing men being violent, they do seem to be equal in their levels of it. Even the women are tough. Except for Rachel Menken from Mad Men. (the doctor). But with The Bridge, and many of the Scandi shows, the main victims are mostly women. And can't fight back as their usually dead.
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Post by 4th Chord on May 12, 2018 12:13:38 GMT
So, I'm surprised to find myself thinking this way. I decided to try out Sons of Anarchy because I'd heard good things about from a number of people, including our admin 4th Chord. Its taken me a while to get into because it is such a macho, patricarchal world. I'm about half way though S1 but I do care about the characters now. Last night, it was episode 1, S4 of a show I love The Bridge. The lead detective, Saga Noren is a character you either love (I do) or you don't. She's outspoken, slightly strange but we don't know why, and you know that if anyone can solve the case Saga can. But the opening scene of Ep 1 was of a woman, buried in a hole with only her head/neck above ground, being stoned to death. Then Saga is in jail, all cowed and terrified. And the 3rd female guest character is hiding from her violent ex husband. I feel so oppressed by this that I'm not sure I'm even going to continue with the show. And suddenly SoA seems preferable. Although I don't enjoy seeing men being violent, they do seem to be equal in their levels of it. Even the women are tough. Except for Rachel Menken from Mad Men. (the doctor). But with The Bridge, and many of the Scandi shows, the main victims are mostly women. And can't fight back as their usually dead. An interesting discussion to have. SOA has some very violent scenes, but we see the impacts it can have on characters, so it’s not usually completely gratuitous. I’ve not seen The Bridge. I’ll have a watch to see what you mean. I often wonder about stuff like this. I’m not really into realistic gory horror, say like Saw or similar, but then love the completely OTT Ash vs Evil DEAD, and Evil Dead 2 is, in my book (of the dead) a classic horror. Historically in horrors and thrillers it’s the screaming young female victim, but certainly more recently they tend to be portrayed less like this, e.g in Ash vs Evil Dead.
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Post by curiousgirl on May 12, 2018 12:33:04 GMT
4th Chord, yep, I agree on SoA about showing the impact of violence. And in a good way, its saying these people do bad things and have to face the consequences of their actions. And they're fully rounded characters and even show remorse. And that whole strand about the code which Jax is reading in his Dad's memoirs is for that too. It is questioning the violence rather than simply glorifying in it. And it also has an equally gruesome Ep1 opener with those poor women burned to death in the fire. But we only get a glimpse of that. When compared to The Bridge of S4, ep1.. well prepare yourself, I had to look away as it goes on and on. If you really want to know what is good about The Bridge, start with season 1 which is on iplayer. All 1st 3 seasons are there for another month. Its a combination of crazy puzzle solving with some great characters. I'm not a fan of another Scandi noir, The Killing because it was also about a murdered teenage girl and we had a long opening scene of her abduction etc... Yes, it showed a family suffering the loss but I dunno, I didn't get drawn into it or rave about it as others have done. I suppose the argument is that these victims have suffered and we need to see that. And I can understand that, a bit. But with most tech shows, so many stories are about battered women when I suspect in reality, more men experience violence on a regular basis, as SoA shows. What I'm enjoying with SoA is the surprising ways characters evolve. That keeps me interested, even if I don't like them. I might have to move on to S2. Time will tell.
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Post by quomaster on May 22, 2018 22:40:46 GMT
Amazes me that with the amount of sex and extreme violence on the box now that I get criticised for watching "offensive shows" like "Till Death Us Do Part" or "Love Thy Neighbour" on DVD.
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Post by Victor on May 23, 2018 16:31:27 GMT
If I read the topic title I have my own thoughts about the subject. I guess I have a different view on it all from lots of others. I can only say that I don't like any movies or tv series where there is a strong emphasis on any kind of violence. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I have problems with the normal kind of violence in action movies or police series or whatever other movies. I don't. But the more violence up to it becoming totally gory in the end... Sorry but no thanks for me. I'd much rather watch another movie with a focus on something totally different. It's not even that the violence really grosses me out , I just don't feel any attraction for it at all. And the reason is simple: I have seen and see enough violence in real life and in newspapers, don't need a movie with a focus on it as well.
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Post by Rick Roper on May 25, 2018 10:31:12 GMT
I don't mind seeing extreme violence on the teevee... Some of the Scandi series are pretty gory, as well as being very gritty, not like modern American films and series, which are completely unbelievable in many cases. That said, I am not a fan of violence - I can just watch it if it happens to be on...
What does worry me though, is the number of people on the planet who can't seem to differentiate between something fictional on a screen, and that which forms the reality of life.... I am perfectly able to watch something in a film or on Teevee, and go to bed at night without having thoughts about wanting to hack someone / multiple people to death.
Rick Roper.
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Post by Mrs Flittersnoop on May 25, 2018 13:31:47 GMT
I can take a certain amount if it's about the story and if they don't linger ... once it starts to spin out, I'm off on a channel surf, regardless. There's enough real-world violence on the news. The thing I disliked most about Horror, is, why does anyone want to think that way? Yet I've discovered many horror fans are really nice mild mannered people ... it seems to be about levels of adrenaline with most people, not wanting to imitate it.
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2018 18:53:46 GMT
Hi All, Violence for violence sake just to make whatever media attractive to some viewers is not warranted IMPO. Extreme violence is when applicable in a storyline as where it should be, I mean for example Snuff movies what is all that about ? (Before anyone asks yes I do know what a snuff film is ) I have see the original 'I spit On Your Grave' and 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre' films but that was about my limit.
I can and do like Horror movies etc when a decent one comes along but the violence has to fit into the storyline and be believable, like Victor states we already have enough in the real world. I would say that the only down side to watching is those who cannot distinguish between screen and reality because more often than not the end results can have very different outcomes.
At the end of the day it's down to an individual to either accept or not what is on the screen whether it be in the cinema or on the one eyed god that languishes in our homes. If your in a cinema walk out at home switch off or change channels simple!
Geoff.
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Post by Victor on May 30, 2018 21:14:44 GMT
Remember the A-Team?.....comedy "violence". Ten million bullets fired, every one misses. A car crashes at high speed, does 43 somersaults, smashes into a tree, then lands on its roof, and the four blokes inside all just walk out without a scratch, saying "Oo me fookin arse" They've even censored "Tom and Jerry" now. Laughably pathetic.Yea I can agree completely with that ! That's ridiculous.
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Post by Victor on May 30, 2018 21:17:17 GMT
I can take a certain amount if it's about the story and if they don't linger ... once it starts to spin out, I'm off on a channel surf, regardless. There's enough real-world violence on the news. The thing I disliked most about Horror, is, why does anyone want to think that way? Yet I've discovered many horror fans are really nice mild mannered people ... it seems to be about levels of adrenaline with most people, not wanting to imitate it. You have a good point there...I have noticed something similar with horror and violence book writers...seems strange ... I can't understand why anyone would want to think that way...
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2018 10:24:40 GMT
The violence and gore will increase as more people become desensitised to it.
Another thing is the need for screenwriters/filmmakers to come up with original ideas otherwise their stuff won't get made.
Get Out, a horror film from last year involved racism. A lot of horrors nowadays touch on social commentary. The clichéd lone female survivor and jump scares don't cut it anymore.
It's the same for every genre. Cop shows can't be like The Bill so need conventions of horror/thriller to appear fresh and pull in the viewers. Dramas need violence otherwise they will be negatively compared to soaps.
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Post by Railroad17 on May 31, 2018 20:49:17 GMT
I get strangely irritated when an innocent worker gets killed.There's a bad one in Skyfall when a bloke manning a desk gets shot in a very callous way.Must be my age when I start wondering about the phone call to his wife.
Like the caretaker in the Charlie Hebdo shooting,what did he do but go to work.
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Post by Detroit on May 31, 2018 21:19:58 GMT
If you prefer cartoon violence this is epic. Funny as well.
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Post by Victor on May 31, 2018 23:13:15 GMT
If you prefer cartoon violence this is epic. Funny as well. That would probably trigger some loonies over here to ban it lol
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Post by Mrs Flittersnoop on Jun 1, 2018 10:03:22 GMT
I get strangely irritated when an innocent worker gets killed.There's a bad one in Skyfall when a bloke manning a desk gets shot in a very callous way.Must be my age when I start wondering about the phone call to his wife. Like the caretaker in the Charlie Hebdo shooting,what did he do but go to work.
In drama, "spear carriers". I find myself increasingly sensitised to this on TV and in movies. You can almost see who it's going to be, some of the time. Must be old age
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