Earlier this week, Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman weighed in on whether violence against women on the big screen contributes to violence in the real world.
Quick spoiler: She thinks it does.
Kidman was testifying before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Fund for Women. The subject at hand: violence against women internationally. The actress described such crimes as “perhaps the most systematic, widespread human rights violation in the world.”
When asked by a House representative whether she thought the movie industry had “played a bad role” in perpetuating violence against women and whether it treated them as weak “sex objects,” Kidman replied, “Probably,” and added that she tries to turn down roles that contribute to the problem.
“I get offered roles that often show violence,” she said. “I can’t be responsible for all of Hollywood, but I can certainly be responsible for my own career.”
Kidman’s admission that movies may contribute to real-world violence is refreshing, especially since many in the film industry disavow any potential connection between onscreen and real-world violence.
In April 2007, for example, Hostel director Eli Roth said, “I’d love to see us get to a point where you can go to theaters and see movies unrated and that people know it’s not real violence. It’s all pretend. It’s all fake. It’s just acting. It’s just magic tricks. Hopefully we’ll get to a point where people realize movies don’t cause violence.”
But others in the industry hew closer to Kidman’s point of view. In the wake of the massacre by Seung-Hui Cho at Virginia Tech in 2007, screenwriter Mike White (School of Rock) asked, “Can we really in good conscience conclude that the violence saturating our popular culture has no impact? … Before cashing those big checks, shouldn’t we at least pause to consider what we are saying with our movies about the value of life and the pleasures of mayhem?”
Those questions are especially relevant this time of year, with one graphically violent horror flick after another queuing up for their premieres at your local multiplex in the days leading up to Halloween.
So what think you? Do you think movies contribute to real-world violence? Do they desensitize us in any way when we watch them? Or is it all just gory make-believe that doesn’t have much to do with real life?
Let us know what you think.
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