In the movies: Why is crime and violence glorified?

 

When I think of organised crime, a few typical 20th Century productions come to mind - The Godfather (1972) featuring Al Pacino in a fictional New York crime family; The Goodfellas (1990) which narrates the true career of mob associate Henry Hill, portrayed by Ray Liotta. So, why is crime and violence glorified in movies, when the reality of it is anything but? 

 

Many directors make is so that through a series of events and time, characters are corrupted into thinking that what they are doing is justified and for a good cause - even a selfish one [1]. In psychology, denial is something which prevents stress and anxiety by keeping unpleasant realities out of the conscious mind [2]. By disguising cruelty and evil in films as attractive and engaging, it allows the audience to deny the reality of what they are seeing in order to disassociate themselves from gruesome reality and avoid discomfort. Alternately, it is possible that by watching these gloriously gruesome films, we are indulging in what some might call our hidden nature, which is limited by society’s instinct to reject evil. Admittedly, the appalling acts of these films, which encompass violence and other criminal acts, are not for the faint hearted – but through this denial, it is possible that we are engrained in a society which condones and glorifies violence. 

 

One confirmation of this comes from the familiar historic tale of the Kray Twins, active in The Firm in the 1950s and 60s. By day, the brothers were owners of a West End nightclub; by night, these men were gang leaders on the streets of East London who engaged in murder, extortion, bribery, smuggling, robbery, and contract killing amongst other outlawed acts. The Kray Twins were rivals with The Richardsons, who had an equally menacing and sadistic reputation. The Richardsons got their nickname, ‘The Torture Gang’, from rumours of pulling teeth, cutting off toes, electric shocks and nailing their victims to the floor. Whilst these facts may only make readers grimace and move on, on second thought the idea of the physical pain of being nailed to the floor or intensely physically shocked is keenly distressing and poignant. Perhaps a modern audience's regular exposure to violence through pop culture and media is what allows them to merely flinch and press on reading. Or perhaps, thinking more broadly, violence as an instinctual and ingrained second nature allows us to find it easy to process.  

 

Overall, the denial associated with violence and criminality through glorification in films and writing allows us, the audience, to escape our somewhat mundane lives, possibly to momentarily enjoy seeing a character give into what might be the self-denied violent nature of humans - as shown in the record-breaking film 'Joker' (2019). It ultimately benefits the film producers who profit from our attraction to temporary thrill, and will predictably continue into the foreseeable future. 

 

Bella Sutherland