Horror and Gangster Film Violence
Exposing Children to Graphic Imagery on Screen and in Cinema Ads
Advertising posters of the new genre blending aspects of horror and gangster movies are drawing criticism for exposing young children to images of graphic violence.
In Catherine Don Diego's article titled "Hits, Whacks, and Smokes: The Celluloid Gangster As Horror Icon" in the anthology "Gangster Film Reader," she asks "whether or not any generic boundaries can be employed to determine whether or not any particular film qualifies as horror." With their basic elements of murder, physical abuse, sadism, and ruthlessness, gangster movies have always had something of the tone of a horror movie and many gangster movies had explicit and often virtuoso scenes of violence and gore.
Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s with "Bonnie and Clyde" and "The Godfather" respectively, gangster movies began incorporating visual techniques and styles more associated with horror films and characters overtly portraying heinous traits of characters ordinarily found in horror movies. This trend culminated in movies such as "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991), "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" (1990), and "Seven" (1995) so that with many movies, it is impossible to define them as either a gangster or a horror movie.
The director Brian De Palma's 1983 remake of the gangster movie "Scarface" notably marks the change gangster movies were undergoing under the influence of horror movies. The original 1932 "Scarface" was one of the films seen by film historians and critics as originating the gangster movie genre along with the classics "Little Caesar" and "Public Enemy" also from the early 1930s. In the original "Scarface" directed by Howard Hawks, the gangsters were for the most part depicted as stereotypical thugs whose brutal acts were symbolic or ritualistic.
The stereotypes and the violence were rooted in the era's anxieties concerning immigrants and types of violence associated with Prohibition. The 1983 remake of "Scarface," however, was meant to appeal especially to the influential large audience of younger viewers by its "grisly, stark depiction of gang violence."
The blending of elements of gangster and horror movies into a popular movie style that is impossible to categorize has incorporated elements of comedy. In most "slasher" films, along with the horrifying, bloody violence, there are moments of irony and joking among young persons targeted by the deranged murderer. Some of the murders in the popular TV series "The Sopranos" have a macabre comic note, as when a rat is stuffed into the mouth of a mobster murdered for squealing to the police.
Posters, newspaper ads, trailers, and other visual promotion of the genre blending the old-time gangster and horror movies—unsurprisingly—depict images of extreme violence. In many places because of such ads on billboards or at bus stops, for instance, younger children who would not be able to see such a movie because of its rating are exposed to a glimpse of its horrifying violence.
In a March 24, 2007, New York Times' article, the journalist Michael Cieply found ads for four horror movies within a small area of Los Angeles. One of these ads was on a large billboard easily visible from a nearby elementary school.
Issues of Federal regulation of the marketing of violent movies and video games to younger persons are being raised again as the Federal Communications Commission nears completion of its follow-up study to its 2000 report on such marketing. Following this report, the film industry avoided regulation by promising to police its own practices after high-level industry executives were called before a Congressional committee.
The effectiveness of the guidelines set up by the film industry for its self-policing is being called into question re movie ratings and the placement of the posters. Regulation of such movie marketing will be more challenging now for either the FCC or the industry itself. Movies have become such a good source of income for many production studios,the number of businesses involved with movie production and profits has grown and some of the leading producers and distributors for the films are not members of the Motion Picture Association of America whose members embraced the voluntary guidelines.
One other indication of how difficult it could be to limit young persons' exposure to the violence in movies is found with the New York Times' article on this subject. Alongside one of the article's columns is an advertisement for the movie "Dead Silence" showing the face of an evil-looking, puppet-like character. In front of the face is a weathered, scarred hand with a pointed fingernail at the tip of an upraised finger. Underneath the forbidding head and inhuman hand are the words, "You Scream. You Die."
