Christina here, and today I’m contemplating violence. No, not personally, but in books and films, as well as in real life. It’s kind of hard not to with everything that is happening around the world today!
Right now I’m in Sweden again, and there have been a lot of stories in the press here lately about how gun violence and the number of murders each year are escalating. When I was growing up, this used to be a very peaceful country and if there was even one murder a year, it was a sensational story picked over by the press for weeks, if not months. These days there’s maybe one a week. ONE A WEEK! How did this happen? It’s getting to the point where no one bats an eye at reading the headlines and that’s very sad.
I think we are all becoming desensitised to violence. Or perhaps going backwards to how things were in the past, when punishments were harsh and it was a dog-eat-dog kind of world. Having studied and written about the Vikings for a while now, I’m fully aware of the brutality some of them displayed (although as I keep saying, the marauders were a minority, not the majority of the population). They thought nothing of it, nor did their victims. Given half a chance, they would have been just as violent in return. It was the norm, but that was a 1,000 years ago!
I recently caught the tail end of the film Gladiator on TV, and was reminded of the Romans’ delight in watching bloody gladiator games. Not to mention people and animals being torn to pieces for their entertainment. It seems inconceivable now, that they would sit in an amphitheatre all day expecting to see blood flow and consider it fun, but they did. Are we regressing to those times? If so, why?
I’ve never enjoyed reading pure horror stories. I watched the film Carrie by mistake once and was appalled. I swore I’d never watch another such movie and I haven’t, unless you count Jaws which I consider a slightly different genre (if still awful and something I wish I hadn’t seen, especially as I was heading to Hawaii for a holiday right afterwards!).
I don’t usually read crime novels either, although I occasionally enjoy a thriller if it’s to do with historical mysteries like the Knights Templar or ancient treasure. (Indiana Jones has a lot to answer for!) And I do read romantic suspense, fully prepared for the hero and/or heroine to have to suffer at the hands of the villain before they get their happy ever after. Some of those books have very dark themes and the heroes in particular might have done some seriously bad deeds in the name of justice. And the things the couple have to go through just to survive can be harrowing, but the knowledge that they will pull through keeps me turning the pages.
In the last few months, I’ve also dipped my toe into some weird sub-genres of romance, like high school bullying stories. Initially, it was because I remember being bullied myself, and I figured that in fiction at least, the bad guys would eventually get their come-uppance. Since that didn’t happen in real life, I knew I’d find it incredibly satisfying (yes, I still occasionally dream of getting revenge on those who bullied me), plus there was a guaranteed romance at the heart of it. However, that’s not at all what most of them were like – or not just that, at any rate. They turned out to be more than dark, some of them downright vicious!
At first, I could not believe how violent they were, and I don’t just mean a little bit of physical bullying but full-on bloodthirsty brutality. Despite their young age (we’re talking seniors in high school usually, so 17-18 years of age), some of the heroes and heroines think nothing of hurting people by any means possible to find information, bully each other, or even kill those that (admittedly) deserve it. The main characters are trained in fighting from a young age, and often proficient with firearms – both the boys and girls. They’re tougher than some superheroes and usually come from difficult backgrounds where they’ve been through a lot. In short, they are desensitised to violence and inflict/receive it without batting an eye. The villains in these stories are, quite frankly, depraved, and the reader doesn’t mourn their demise. But still … these are basically kids!
And yet, I’m reading the books and becoming almost immune to what they’re doing, just like people in real life are getting past the point of caring what is happening in their communities. Should I be worried about myself?
The thing is, at some point I stopped really noticing the ferocity of their actions and just concentrated on the romance, the overall story and the chemistry between the characters. I started taking it for granted that they would be doing some seriously messed-up things, and that the villains going after them were truly evil. Does that mean I’m getting messed up too? Should I stop reading these kind of stories? Or is it OK, because I am fully aware that it is fiction and (hopefully) doesn't happen in real life?
There has been a lot of research done regarding the effect brutal books, films and video games are having on the psyche of young people. It is said that the risk of them behaving violently in turn is much greater than for those who are not exposed to this type of thing. Just like growing up in a harsh environment will make children behave badly themselves. They/we are being bombarded daily with news clips, text messages and social media. There is cyber-bullying and trolls who have nothing better to do than spew hate-filled messages. Often, it goes too far, and there are some harrowing stories of the consequences.
But is the answer to stop reading/watching the violence? Personally, I think young children should not be exposed to things like that until they are old enough to truly understand that it’s not real and should never be emulated. They have to be able to realise that it’s OK to kill monsters in a game, but in the everyday world, catching and punishing criminals is best left to law enforcement and those whose job it is. Taking matters into your own hands can never end well. Kids are smart and absorb learning like sponges, so if we educate them early on, they will grow up knowing the difference between right and wrong.
I’m not likely to go out and hurt someone just because it was satisfying to read about a villain getting what he deserved. I leave those thoughts behind as soon as I close the book. So no, I doubt I’ll stop reading those stories, even if each time I cringe less at the bloodshed. I am a rational person who can see the difference between fiction and reality, and I can only hope for a world where everyone gets to that point. But I will make sure to intersperse these dark stories with happy, light-hearted reads where life is much sunnier. I definitely need that!
What about you, do you read stories with violence or dark themes like bullying? How do they make you feel? And how much violence in a story is too much?