The Increase in Violence In Movies

By now, you’ve all probably seen a PG-13 movie with violence in it. You could have not even batted an eye at the violence. Violence in movies is common these days. We’re used to it. A recent survey done by professor Brad Bushman, at Ohio State University even found movie violence has doubled since the 50’s and for PG-13 movies gun violence is shown to have tripled since 1985. Some say this is going to have a negative impact on our society and that the MPAA should change their ratings system so that violence is a theme that is only allowed in R-rated movies. Still, their claims have no evidence of media violence harming people in the real world. Violence in movies does not have long-term negative effects on our society proving that the MPAA shouldn’t have to restrict violence in PG-13 movies.

Recently, the MPAA has been receiving complaints on how they rate movies. To give you some background, there 5 basic ratings for movies: G, PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17. Today, the issue is between PG-13 and R. The PG-13 rating stands for Parents Strongly Cautioned and R means Restricted and if you’re under 17, you have to be accompanied by a parent or guardian. People are complaining that violence shouldn’t be allowed in PG-13 movies and that they should be as hard on violence as they are with other themes. MPAA points out often that they do not police films and instead assign warning labels so parents can choose what they want their kids to watch. Joan Groves, head of MPAA’s ratings board said parents often object to language in movies more so over violence and that, “they feel they’re getting the correct information about violence.”

So, what makes people think movie violence is a bad thing? Well, a key factor is that people are concer...

... middle of paper ...

...ng societal aggression on the media. This has become a serious problem lately. It’s the same as blaming violence on movies. Recently, over 230 independent scholars wrote an open letter to academic journal publishers asking them to refrain from publishing statements that link media violence to societal aggression.

Movie violence is not having a negative impact in our everyday lives or harming anyone so why should the MPAA have to change their ratings system. Instead of harassing the MPAA, they could instead just prevent their children from watching a movie if they don’t approve of it. You can’t blame a movie for a person’s actions. People decide how they act, not a film. When you make a decision, it’s entirely up to you. A movie doesn’t force you to go out and harm others. You make that decision. We can’t put the bad choices of other people on violence in movies.