Researchers have found an increase in homicide discussions in films, a trend they warn could pose health risks for both adults and children.
The study revealed a notable rise over the last 50 years in movie characters talking about murder or killing.
Brad Bushman, a communication professor at Ohio State University and co-author of the study, said, "The surprising part is that the increase isn't just in crime movies, which are violent, but also in other types of films."
The team believes this rise could mean more violence in movies and urges promoting "mindful media consumption and media literacy" to protect vulnerable groups, especially children.
Bushman added, "Adults can make their own choices, but I'm particularly worried about children being exposed to violence in the media."
The impact of on-screen violence on viewers has sparked debate. Some studies suggest violent media, like TV and video games, can make young people more aggressive and distressed, while others argue the connection is minimal.
In 2020, an analysis found that violent video games have a small impact on behavior, and violent movies' effect may depend on the viewer's predisposition to violence.
Bushman and his team analyzed 166,534 movies from 1970-2020, finding nearly 7% featured dialogue with "kill" or "murder" verbs. They excluded instances like questions or negations, and did not count other violent verbs like "shoot" or "stab."
“It is a very conservative estimate of murderous verbs during the past half century,” Bushman said.
The team then calculated the percentage of verbs within the dialogue of each movie that contained the roots “kill” and “murder”, and took the average for each year.
The team found that while the percentage of such murderous verbs within movies fluctuated over time, their use generally increased over the decades – a trend that held for both male and female characters. While across all genres and characters 0.21% of verbs within dialogue used “kill” or “murder” as their root in the early 1970s, this rose to 0.37% in 2020.
Researchers found that the use of violent language, such as "murder" or "kill," has increased over time in both crime and non-crime films. While male characters showed an increase in both categories, female characters only showed a rise in non-crime films.
The findings align with previous research showing that gun violence in top films has more than doubled since 1950.
Bushman expressed concern, noting that exposure to violent media can have a cumulative effect, leading to increased aggression and desensitization to the suffering of others.
However, Peter Etchells, a psychology professor, cautioned against jumping to health concerns based solely on the frequency of violent words, without considering the context in which they are used. He suggested it's not something to worry about.
Source: the Guardian
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