Movie violence may 'provide teens with scripts for using guns'
Most parents rely on ratings to decide whether a film is appropriate for their children to watch, but a recent study shows that gun violence in PG-13 movies (age 13+) has surpassed that in R movies, which only admit those aged 17 and older.
"Seeing guns in films might also provide youth with scripts
for using guns," the authors of the study ‘Gun Violence
Trends in Movies’ warn.
They analyzed 945 movies cherry-picked from the 30 top-grossing
movies from 1950 to 2012.
Trained coders identified the presence of violence in each
five-minute film segment for half of the leading 30 films since
1950, and the presence of guns in violent segments since 1985,
the first year the PG-13 rating was used.
According to the study, conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy
Center at the University of Pennsylvania and Ohio State
University, violence in films has more than doubled since 1950,
while gun violence in PG-13–rated films, especially popular among
younger people, has more than tripled since 1985.
"Gun violence in PG-13 films has increased to the point where it
recently exceeded the rate in R-rated films," the authors of
the study said. In 2012, the level of gun violence in PG-13 films
exceeded the mean in R-rated films, they found.
Research shows that teens frequently choose to watch extremely
violent films. Among the top-grossing films in 2012, rated PG-13,
were such violence-packed dramas as ‘Skyfall’, ‘The Avengers’,
‘Taken 2’, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ and ‘The Amazing
Spider-Man’.
The authors of the study also couldn't ignore PG-13 rated
‘Terminator Salvation’ (2009), ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’
(2011) and ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ (2011), ‘Mission
Impossible: Ghost Protocol’ (2011).
"It's disturbing that PG-13 movies are filled with so much gun
violence," study co-author and the director of the Annenberg
Center's Adolescent Communication Institute, Dan Romer, said.
"We know that movies teach children how adults behave, and they
make gun use appear exciting and attractive," he added.
A number of scientific studies have previously concluded that the
mere presence of guns can increase aggression, a phenomenon
dubbed the “weapons effect.”
"By including guns in violent scenes, film producers may be
strengthening the weapons effect and providing youth with scripts
for using guns," the authors of the study, published in the
latest issue of the US Pediatrics journal, emphasize.
They give an example when movies have served as a catalyst for
violence. In July 2012, James Holmes bought a ticket to see the
new Batman movie in Colorado. About 20 minutes after the show
started, the 25-year-old left the theater and returned dressed in
full tactical gear, equipped with several guns and a huge amount
of ammunition. Holmes, who later identified himself to the police
as ‘The Joker’, launched two canisters that emitted tear gas and
began firing into the crowd, killing 12 and wounding 70 others.
"We do not draw a direct causal link to the recent rise in
school and other public shootings, but the rise in gun violence
in films certainly coincides with those events," Romer told
AFP.
In theory, PG-13 rated movies come with the warning ‘Parents
strongly cautioned’, and are supposed to feature less violence
than R movies. Film ratings and guidelines are issued by the
trade group the Motion Picture Association of America, which says
that "violence in a PG-13 movie does not reach the restricted R
category".
The rise in levels of violence in PG-13 films comes as access to
films of all classifications becomes easier via the internet,
making the monitoring of teens’ viewing all the more challenging.
