🗡️Why Are We Obsessed With Violent Aesthetic Works❓

The aesthetics of violence usually shows the violent acts, such as killing, shooting, etc. in a beautiful way, often using slow motion to achieve a sense of paradoxical balance.

In the Korean drama Squid Game, there are many shots that have a good taste of violent aesthetics. People are locked in a closed space, the only way to survive is to fight till the end.

As a result, people crazy about the violent aesthetics works and in the recent plans of Netflix, we can see that the scale of gore is being further increased. It's proved that violent aesthetics works passes the verification of the market.

Violence is a frightening thing, but why do we all enjoy watching these so much?

Starting from Battle Royale, the violence begins to extend

Talking about "Squid Game", it is necessary to mention the originator of this series.

In 1996, Koushun Takami wrote the short story "Battle Royale" and submitted it to a horror novel competition in Japan, where it was judged as "the biggest problem novel of the century".

In 2000, the novel was adapted into a film, and its release rocked Japan. This is the classic film "Battle Royale".

Since then, people are obsessed with such simple and violent movies. Simply put, it's about people surviving in an apocalyptic environment, ending with death on one side and survival on the other. Here, we can imagine how vicious people can be.

Nowadays, Battle Royale theme has become a mainstream presenting violent aesthetics. From The Hunger Games, which took the world by storm in 2012, to Alice in Borderland, The Belko Experiment and The Purge in recent years, people are being more deeply affected by this trend.

Under the brutal rules of being limited, the more violent it is, the more pleasure can be reaped. Each viewer puts himself into the shoes of the protagonist who manages to survive to the end, it is as if he also gets a sense of the thrill of the aftermath.

Japanese manga adaptation Liar Game uses huge debt as the price of game failure

This situation is like the Colosseum in the Roman Empire thousands of years ago, when gladiators fought, you are sitting among the audience.

"Gladiator", Jean-Leon Gerome, 1872

Why does the aestheticization of violence makes people feel pleasant?

Everyone has a different opinion on how beautiful violence can be, but there are still rules to follow.

It often combines the attack power with good composition, high-contrast color and music, and we often marvel at the impact of this effects.

For example, Quentin, in addition to using multiple colors to show the fighting scenes, he loves using pop music as a BGM, He wants to pretend it is relaxing, but it's still bleeding.

In Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, the protagonist loves playing Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 when committing crimes. This symphony is soaring, but it heralds that the violence has reached the climax.

Suspiria by Dario Argento is a perfect example of the aestheticization of violence. For example, the scenes when characters are repeatedly stabbed, the director use extreme close-up to show the crime with high-contrast colors and an almost hysterical soundtrack.

All of this – stage-like lighting, strongly stylized set-up, and the actors' performances, jointly create a mysterious and dangerous world.

The surrealist presentation creates an atmosphere of a futuristic world, even taking the viewer away from concrete violent activities. This is the aestheticization of violence, cruel and delicate.

Most of this kind of action design of is exaggerated. It will not focus on the realism, even adding some musical elements. The final effect seems very dramatic. The director allows the protagonist to kill, but he deliberately makes the scene as the matter has no connection with him, thus gains an experience far from reality.

"Kill Bill: Volume 1" uses comics to reflect some of the violent scenes

The violent actions, thus, are romanticized under this expression. This incongruity just neutralizes their fear of violence and makes it become "interesting".

For example, in Bonnie and Clyde, the crime process is romantic, and in the end, the two protagonists smiling at each other and shot themselves, it is also one of the classic scenes of violent aesthetics works.

Takeshi Kitano also likes to make gangsters as rebellious urchins, making a mixture of humor and thrill.

The Outrage

But no matter how it is glorified, violence is still something that should be resisted. Does watching violent aesthetics works make us violent too?

The "violence" here is not so terrible

"A Clockwork Orange" is one of the most controversial films. After releasing, there were two cases seem following its plot. Stanley Kubrick then received a series of death threat letters and had to ask Warner Bros. to take back the UK distribution rights until 2000.

A shooting case had taken place in a Colorado theater during the screening of The Dark Knight Rises. A gunman with brightly colored light hair opened fire on the audience at the theater, killing 12 people. There was a rumor that he was the copycat of the Joker. For this reason, there was a public boycott of Joker before its release, arguing that the film promoted violent crime and it would lead to imitate.

In fact, many scientists examined the relationship between viewing violence and violent behavior. Currently, there is no evidence to show that the former has a lasting effect on the increase in the latter.

Psychologically speaking, there is a deep-seated fascination with violence, because in ancient times man had to rely on it to survive.

In modern civilized society, violence is a passion that must be repressed. It is instinctive and taboo, and taboo topics are always seductive.

Watching violent scenes being the excitement of breaking the limits, and you can enjoy the madness of violence for a short time. In turn, watching the villain receives punishment gives the audience moral satisfaction. Thus, watching violent aesthetics works can be a good way of expressing anxiety.

Existence is justified. Violent aesthetic works depict violent scenes in an artistic way, allowing people to release their stress in a short time and get the thrill of breaking the taboo from it. And those who commit crimes after watching violent films may be the potential criminals themselves.

So, I have to admit that watching violent aesthetic works makes me feel pleasant.