I am no stranger to writing about how I re-branded myself into a badass. That image is cultivated by my training in martial arts, my ability and willingness to do fight scenes, wield a weapon and be the aggressor — whether with words or weapons. As a writer, my scifi scripts have healthy doses of action and fight scenes often with the badass female character mowing down the alien enemy or kicking some douchebag’s ass. Kickass action scenes, whether writing or watching them ‘Pump Me Up’. But when I step back from this work, fiction or not, I am forced to admit that I am, in fact, glorifying, dramatizing and even condoning violence. Whether it is ‘Ironman’, ‘The Dark Knight’, ‘Lara Croft’ or ‘The Avengers’, action equals violence. So in the conflicted times we live in, this realization has spurred a question: What is our responsibility as female creators and artists in entertainment when it comes to fictionalized violence?
A light and fluffy post.
The world is violent… of that we can have no doubt. Images of real horrors across this country, from Colorado, to Newton, to Boston, to Egypt and now to Syria spill into our smart phones and across our computer screens. The US is on the verge of a military conflict against Syria that could have unseen international ramifications.
This potential world conflict comes on the heels of a summer soaked in disaster movies — Metropolis destroyed in ‘Man of Steel’, Zombies flooding the planet in ‘World War Z’, Kaijus emerging from the deep in ‘Pacific Rim’, some sort of huge world ending threat in ‘Fast and the Furious 6’ (I saw it and honestly can’t remember), ‘ST: Into Darkness’, ‘Kickass 2’, ‘Iron Man 3’… it all just blends together into one big violent CGI-driven fight-of-thousands-the-planet-is-about-to-explode-unless-our-hero-(in a neural-drifting exoskeleton)-saves-it mega-scene. And I am certainly not the first writer to point this out. This post was partly inspired by those written by Zack Stentz (‘Why has Destruction Become Default’) and Warren Ellis (‘Blood in the Eye’), and by an interview with Damon Lindelof. They coined the phrase ‘Disaster Porn’.
They agree that blockbusters just keep getting bigger, crazier and more violent. But why?
Studios wouldn’t make these movies if they didn’t think the demand was there. I found a fascinating article that chronicled the rise of violent films, from the ‘War’ movies of the 30s / 40s, to Westerns, to the realistic shoot outs of ‘Bonnie and Clyde’, to the violent madness of ‘A Clockwork Orange’, to a more operatic style of violence in ‘The Godfather’, to the gritty ‘Dirty Harry’, which led (through a windy path) to the extreme stylistic violence of Tarantino, and finally to protégée Eli Roth. Though an interesting highway through history, I think this list failed to detour to the land of Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay – where shootouts and explosions became music video cool — which ultimately lead to our summer blockbusters of the now: where death and violence are just as prevalent – though a bit more witty, a bit less gruesome, and often occurring between characters of super hero and super villain ilk (thus less realistic and more easily justified).
But beyond this 80 year history of violence in film, I believe television is also whetting society’s appetite for ‘Disaster Porn’. Ironically, we are in ‘The Golden Age of Television’. Most of our revered series, all on cable, are saturated with male anti heroes and violence: Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Homeland, Dexter, Low Winter Sun, Luther… second generation shows to the originators of the dark violent series: The Shield, The Wire, and of course The Sopranos. These shows utilize violence to reveal deeper darker corridors of our revered anti heroes persona… how low (and brutal) can you go… and we are rewarded with rich narratives, characters and storylines. But even a network show like Revolution is violence-soaked and to no deep effect except for ‘action’ sake. The final two episodes of the season moved the regular blade and pistol violence to Electro Magnetic weapons that literally ripped people apart as they flew across a room.
So what do we have? We have a history of violence transcending all styles across TV and film in many sub genres. The growing glamorization of it through the stellar cable TV shows, action blockbusters and scifi super hero movies. Where will it end?
As women we are ‘the gentler creatures’. We are more empathetic, emotional and intuitive. So returning to my original question, how can we help to shape the next era of content if over the top CGI mayhem and violence is a given?
Zack Stentz had wise and thoughtful suggestion using CGI not towards creating the spectacles of mayhem and destruction but instead to create wonder and awe. He named a number of rich scifi fantasy books that he’d love to see brought to life. I am an awe and wonder junkie – I cried at the Hubble IMAX film — but I don’t know if audiences will turn their back on explosion spectacles simply by building mind blowing scifi worlds on screen (eg. ‘Elysium’). Warren Ellis, however, made a point that resonated with me — as he commented on Jim Carrey’s refusal to support his involvement in ‘Kickass 2’ after the Newton Massacre . He suggested that Mr. Carrey use his involvement in violent entertainment as a platform to discuss real violence.
How about using violent entertainment not just to discuss, but to dissuade real life violence?
I wasn’t allowed to watch violent or scary movies as a child. It wasn’t because my parents were opposed to them, it was because the few times I had watched such movies I had succumbed to such awful night terrors that it just became a standard rule. I still have those key memories of terror that plagued me; they were to do with the clown in the closet from ‘Poltergeist’, Freddy Krueger (enough said)… and the ABC movie about nuclear war called The Day After.
I have no distinct memories of the movie mind you — I just know how it terrified me about nuclear war with the Russians. I couldn’t even tell you who was in it. But then a month ago I stumbled upon the movie on YouTube. All two hours of it. It was as if a dark ship from my youth had finally docked. It wasn’t so scary, just a little video on a Google channel. So I cleared my desk and watched it.
I was speechless. It was one of the most beautiful, horrific movies I have ever seen. Nothing fancy – effects obviously fake or stock footage but it seemed REAL; more than any expertly crafted CGI movie I can remember. Why? I cared about the families and characters established. I felt the impending doom of a nuclear attack, I felt the devastation when it happened, and the sheer bleakness when it was over. I watched as murder and looting took place between regular people, senseless acts of violence and cruelty. I watched everyone die. Even the good guy. I wept.
That violence and devastation affected me the way it is supposed to affect you: it made me want to prevent it. The historical effect of The Day After is epic. There were phone help lines opened after the showing. There was a special debate with Carl Sagan, Henry Kissinger, and Eli Weisel to name a few. It’s said that Reagan went into a deep depression after watching the film and that it precipitated his transition into being more open to an arms agreement with the Russians.
Now, I’m not saying that I think that every violent action movie needs to be a big budget PSA (there is one of those out there right now by Werner Herzog). But I think it’s worth pointing out how POWERFUL a movie showcasing violence can still be. There was intent behind it; there was a purpose, a theme. There was a forum to discuss it afterwards. Warren Ellis made an excellent point akin to this: “Fiction is how we both study and de-fang our monsters.”
Slowly but surely, more women writer, directors and actors are entering the high octane action realm. Some of the best TV I have watched this year has been written or directed by a woman (Game of Thrones, Ray Donovan, Justified). Violent content was an integral part of all those episodes but it wasn’t the star. We would be daft to stick our head in the sand and pretend that it’s not the case in other projects. How we chose to showcase the violence, ground it to the greater story and use it as a platform to bring light to real world issues can be our prerogative. I think we owe it to the next generation of audiences to do so. From now on, I know I will be.