Every one of us loves watching movies. These movies are a part of our lives. They are popular with people of all ages and across the world. We see a lot of fighting and action in superhero movies, crime stories and Violent movies. In real life, people are usually scared of violence and try to avoid it. When we watch it in movies, we often like it and even think it is cool.
This is weird because it seems like people should not like watching violence. But why do people like watching movies when they are on screen? People really like movies like Baahubali, John Wick and The Dark Knight. These movies have a lot of fight sequences in them and have reached the box office with great success. Let’s explore the reasons behind it in detail.
From Screen to Psyche: Catharsis Theory
The term catharsis originates from Greek philosophy, which describes emotional cleansing or relief. Catharsis theory suggests that “human beings carry suppressed emotions such as anger, frustration, and aggression, which need a safer place to release. According to this, watching violent movies allows individuals to experience and release these emotions without causing any harm.
Sigmund Freud’s idea about people’s minds says that it is natural for people to have feelings, and if we keep these feelings inside all the time, it can make us feel anxious . Violent movies give people a way to deal with these feelings.When people watch movies with a lot of fighting, they might feel better because they can relate to the characters on screen. This can make people feel like their anger has gone away, at least for a little while, because they saw the characters in the movie being angry and fighting.
Stimulated, Not Sedated
People like things that get them excited and safe. This is what Zillmann’s Arousal Theory says. Zillmann’s Arousal explains why people enjoy things that would normally be scary. When people see violence in life, it is very frightening. When people watch fights in a movie, it is different. The violence in movies is not real, so people do not get frightened. They can feel excited, without getting hurt. This is why violent movies can be so thrilling, according to Zillmann’s Arousal Theory. (Zillmann, 1983)
For example, during a fight scene, the audience may feel their heart beat, even though they know that they are only watching a movie. This physiological arousal makes people engage and keeps attention focused on the screen. Once the scene ends, the arousal slowly decreases, leaving behind a sense of relief or enjoyment.
Zillmann’s Excitation Transfer Theory says that when we see movies, it makes us feel according to the scene. For example, we feel happy when the hero wins or when bad people get what is coming to them. This is because the violent scenes can make our feelings stronger. That is why people like watching violent movies; they are more exciting, and we remember them better. Zillmann’s Excitation Transfer Theory is important to understand why people like violent movies. However, individuals differ in their responses. People with high sensation enjoy violent movies, while others find them stressful. (Goldstein, 1998).
Read More: The Psychological Impacts of Violent Films on Viewers
Heroes, Villains, and Moral Clarity
Moral clarity means getting to know what is good and bad. Movies make it simple for us to see the difference between a hero and a villain. Moral clarity in movies makes us think that the violent actions are necessary and justified, which is what makes them seem acceptable when we are watching the film.
People like stories that make things clear and simple. In real life, things are hard to know what is right or wrong. Movies with violence can make things easier to understand by showing a guy who fights against bad people and makes things right. When violence is used to fight for what’s right, people are more likely to think it is okay, as in the movie. The idea of violence being used for a reason makes it more acceptable, as seen in the work of Zillmann in 1998.
For example, in movies where people get back at others or fights between bad guy is usually shown as being really mean or unfair. When the hero does something violent, it is shown as something they have to do to keep their people safe. This way of showing things helps people watching the movie feel like what the good guy is doing is okay, so they do not feel bad or uncomfortable when they see violent things happening in the movie. The movies make people think that the hero is doing things like the hero is protecting loved ones or society, and that is why the hero has to be violent sometimes.
From a psychological view, it involves moral disengagement, where the individuals temporarily suspend normal moral judgments because violence is portrayed as deserved (Bandura, 1999). As a result, the audience experiences satisfaction when justice is delivered through violence.
Read More: How Superheroes and Mythological Figures Shape Our Values
Manufactured Thrills
The film industry uses a strategy called selective marketing. They make trailers, posters and videos that show the parts of the movie like fights and explosions. Even if these parts are not a deal in the movie, they still show them to get people excited. This kind of marketing works because people like to get excited and feel something when they watch a movie. It makes movies with a lot of violence seem fun and interesting to watch, as Goldstein said in 1998. The film industry does this because they know people like action and drama, and they want to make their movies seem like they have a lot of that, even if they do not.
Villains are often shown as strong and fearless. While heroes use violence to get what they want, it is seen as a thing. People think it is okay to use violence to get justice. The thing is, when we see violence on screen, and it seems to work out for the person using it, we start to think that it is okay to use violence in real life too. This is what Bandura said in his cognitive theory in 2001. The movies make it okay by giving awards to movies with violent heroes and making more movies about them. When violent movies consistently achieve box-office success, movie directors are encouraged to make movies of a similar pattern
Read More: The Psychology behind Violent Pretend Play: Monsters, Heroes and Guns
Conclusion
People like movies, and it is not just because they like fighting. There are a lot of reasons why people like violent movies. One of the reasons is that violent movies help people deal with their anger and stress, called as catharsis. People can let out their feelings in a way when they watch movies. Violent movies are also exciting because it is thrill, but nobody gets really hurt.
Violent movies are liked by audiences for reasons, including psychological and social, rather than just an interest in violence. On the whole, people do not enjoy these violent movies only because they support violence, but because these movies offer them emotional release, excitement, and entertainment. Getting to know these reasons would help us to view violent movies with more awareness and encourage us to be aware of how the media influences our thoughts and emotions.
References +
Bushman, B. J. (2002). Does venting anger feed or extinguish the flame? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28(6), 724–731. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167202289002
Goldstein, J. H. (1998). Why we watch: The attractions of violent entertainment. Oxford University Press.
Zillmann, D. (1971). Excitation transfer in communication-mediated aggressive behaviour. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 7(4), 419–434. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022- 1031(71)90075-8
Zillmann, D. (1983). Transfer of excitation in emotional behaviour. In J. T. Cacioppo & R. E. Petty (Eds.), Social psychophysiology (pp. 215–240). Guilford Press.
Bandura, A. (1999). Moral disengagement in the perpetration of inhumanities. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3(3), 193–209. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr0303_3
Zillmann, D. (1998). The psychology of suspense in dramatic exposition. In P. Vorderer, H. J. Wulff, & M. Friedrichsen (Eds.), Suspense: Conceptualisations, theoretical analyses, and empirical explorations (pp. 199–231). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Anderson, C. A., Berkowitz, L., Donnerstein, E., Huesmann, L. R., Johnson, J. D., Linz, D., Malamuth, N. M., & Wartella, E. (2003). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1529-1006.2003.pspi_1433.x
Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory of mass communication. Media Psychology, 3(3), 265–299. https://doi.org/10.1207/S1532785XMEP0303_03
