Under Category (Movies) in the WT Index
*** g88 5/8 p. 18 What’s So Horrible About Horror Movies? Young People Ask . . .
a reviewer (no name given) of the fourth “Friday the 13th” film remarked: “The 91-minute film consists of little more than bloody mayhem and teenage nudity . . . including brief shots of decapitation and garroting.” The featured character is “a demented killer named Jason, wearing a hockey mask, chopping up and skewering an assortment of teenage boys and girls.”
When asked why she frequented horror movies, 16-year-old Melissa admitted quite candidly: “I like, like, guts. I don’t like going to a movie that’s all like Goldilocks. I like going to a movie like Nightmare on Elm Street.” She adds, “I like seeing people get ripped apart.”
*** g96 7/22 p. 11 Freedom of Speech in the Home—Is It a Ticking Time Bomb? ***
Some may argue that television and movie violence may not be taken literally by children and that all those horror movies are having no effect on them. “In that case,” commented a British newspaper, “why did a school authority in America’s mid-west have to tell thousands of children that there were no Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the local storm drains? The tiny Turtle fans had been crawling into the drains to look for them, that’s why.”
*** jd chap. 9 p. 120 par. 18 Dealing With Others as God Desires ***
If Habakkuk were alive now, would he not be appalled by the violence of our time? Many are steeped in violence from their youth on. Cartoons that enthrall boys and girls feature violence—one character tries to smash, blow up, or otherwise destroy another. Before long, many youths graduate to video games in which they win by shooting, exploding, or demolishing opponents. “Those are only games,” some may protest. Still, violent games played on a home computer or in a video arcade immerse players in violence, shaping their attitudes and reactions. How true the inspired counsel: “A man of violence will seduce his fellow, and certainly causes him to go in a way that is not good”!—Proverbs 16:29.
*** g93 12/8 p. 11 Are Violent TV Cartoons Harmful? ***
“BUGS Bunny Blamed for School Fights,” headlined The Times of London. The newspaper reported how some teachers feel about the behavior of youngsters who, it is claimed, imitate violent scenes from TV cartoons.
Consider also the standards of behavior modern cartoons offer the next generation. The characters featured in one new cartoon craze are “an obnoxious family of loudmouths, layabouts and ‘underachievers,’” reports The Times of London. They appeal “partly because they are so anti-establishment. (Simpsons?)
*** g93 3/8 p. 29 Watching the World ***/Effect of Violent Movies
In an interview by the Brazilian magazine Veja, film director Steven Spielberg was asked about the effect that violence in entertainment may have on viewers. Said Spielberg: “Watching violence in movies or in TV programs stimulates the spectators to imitate what they see much more than if seen live or on TV news. In movies, violence is filmed with perfect illumination, spectacular scenery, and in slow motion, making it even romantic. However, in the news, the public has a much better perception of how horrible violence can be, and it is used with objectives that do not exist in the movies.” Spielberg adds that so far he has not permitted his young son to watch some of his well-known movies (Jaws, the Indiana Jones series) because of the amount of blood and violence shown.
*** w83 7/15 p. 28 Watch Out for This Deceiver! ***
Some years ago Roxanne went to see the movie The Exorcist, which spawned a host of imitations. She says: “The movie had a terrifying effect on me. I had to leave before it was over because I was afraid I would be sick to my stomach and felt like fainting. For about two months after seeing the movie, I continued to be terrified and would have nightmares
*** w83 4/1 p. 16 Insight on the News ***
Interest in extraterrestrial life has gained a tremendous popular following in recent years owing, in no small measure, to space travel, science fiction and the movie industry. Indeed, the two most popular motion pictures in history—Star Wars and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial—are both on this subject. At the same time, costly scientific projects are going on in real earnest to find life and/or intelligence in outer space. The result is that for many people, especially the young, it is becoming increasingly harder to tell where science ends and where fiction begins.
*** g84 1/22 p. 29 Watching the World/A New “Theology”?
Whatever else the proliferation of science-fiction movies is doing, it may be changing the image of God in the minds of some of today’s youth. “The grandfather and father images of God don’t do anything for me,” explains a 17-year-old, quoted in the newspaper USA Today. “God is more of a spirit, like The Force in Star Wars and The Return of the Jedi.”
Some clergymen apparently are capitalizing on the fad. “These new movies are good because they’re symbolic of a transcendent being and the power of God in life today,” says a Baptist Church official. “We utilize these themes from these movies in our teaching.” And a rabbi, who sees the trend as “a revival of theology under a different name: E.T., Star Wars, War Games, Superman, whatever,” claims that “theology is so important it is best not left solely to churches and synagogues.” Does this mean it should be left to science-fiction movie producers?
*** g84 4/8 pp. 13-14 Do You ‘Feed Your Child a Scorpion’? ***
Another director, Nicholas Meyer, “agrees that many movies are too gory. ‘Lots of movies are gratuitously violent. They pander to audiences—certainly, it’s a form of pornography.’” Then he was asked if he was concerned that children might be disturbed by the scorpion scene or by the sight of the bloody corpses in the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. His answer? “It’s a PG [Parental Guidance] movie. I never thought that either ‘Star Trek’ or ‘Time after Time’ should be seen by young children. . . . You can’t blame the film maker for the parents who don’t heed the rating system.”
*** g80 7/22 p. 31 Watching the World ***TV Triggers Terror
When the motion picture about demon possession “Exorcist II” was shown recently on U.S. television, a mother and her four-year-old daughter in Wichita Falls, Texas, reportedly watched it together. One scene is said to depict the cutting out of a girl’s heart to get rid of a demon. The little Texas girl was later found murdered in the same fashion. Her mother was charged with the homicide.
