5 ms·

I am probably an outlier but I can't stand shows that are too gory or violent. I prefer the old school shows where even when someone was murdered you could hard

• seoulmetro 5y ago
  Squid games isn't remotely gory. In fact it's only a slight step up from nothing. There was only one gory part and that was the glass game. The old days where baddies died without a drop of blood were pretty bad. It was just cheaper. The show is good. It's not amazing, but it's good and it wouldn't have made sense to use olden style of "no blood, ever". And I'm actually quite squeamish, so understand that.
• agumonkey 5y ago
  Things come and go, late 70s were filled with crude horror and gore. I don't like it much, but as a kid I enjoyed bits of this. There would be no Alien without the chestb... So even if older I wouldn't mind no gore and more subtle ways to express things, I can't be against either.
• Barrin92 5y ago
  I mean it depends on the context of how the violence or gore is presented. In a lot of Korean shows / films in particular it is extremely stylized to the point where it's less disturbing and sometimes more comedic even. I'd agree that gratuitous or cheap violence is kind of disturbing or at least the implication of what is says about the viewers is. But I think categorically saying that depiction of violence is disturbing isn't true.
• echelon 5y ago
  We evolved under violent rather conditions. Think of life on the savannah, or more recently, hunter gatherers throttling one another to steal resources. Or barbarian life. It's only now that we get to live in comfy little bubbles. They're still occasionally punctuated by moments of the grim truth.
• throwaway675309 5y ago
  It likely depends on what you're accustomed to seeing. Lots of people, myself included, grew up on absurdly over the top violence in video games and some stylistic movies (terentino films for ex) with desensitization as a result, in much the same way how some people are extremely triggered by certain phonetic combinations that correspond to current culturally relevant profanities. If anything too much gore placed too gratuitously can actually provoke the wrong response and unintentional hilarity since we known it's a complete fiction.
• socialdemocrat 5y ago
  Yeah, I am getting really tired of how gory everything has to be today. I think as a culture we should not normalize so much blood and gore. Maybe I think more like this now because I am older and a parent. Plus I have just watched so much violence on TV over so many years that it kind of seems outdated. A cheap trick by people who don’t know how to make tension without gore.
  • sorenjan 5y ago
    I'm the opposite. I hate how some movies (PG-13) show people getting shot without a drop of blood, or people getting unconscious from a swift hit to the head and then waking up a few minutes later as if they just went to sleep. Violence without consequence is worse than gory violence, because it teaches the viewers that it's ok.
    • glenneroo 5y ago
      > Violence without consequence is worse than gory violence, because it teaches the viewers that it's ok. On the other hand, I would assume that it desensitizes viewers to violence. I'm not sure how or if that translates in any way to real life violence. I wonder if there are any studies out there on the subject?
    • npteljes 5y ago
      The alternative to gory violence is not cartoon violence. There's no problem with some shows being gory violent. The parent comment lamented that it seems to be a norm now. Films can tackle the consequence of violence, without explicitly showing it happen, and especially without zooming in it happening.
    • ZanyProgrammer 5y ago
      How is that the norm for so much tv and cinema? Maybe 30 years ago, but I don’t think you can say that violence and gore are underrepresented everywhere but network TV.
• stevenwoo 5y ago
  You might like publicly broadcast crime-centric kdramas, unlike Squid Game most do not ever show a bladed weapon (the blade is blurred out except in historical shows where the swords and knives are shown) although there is still gunplay.
• hhmc 5y ago
  There's arguably something more insidious about pretending murder is a pg-13 act. To paraphrase Michael Haneke: Violence must shown in all its vicious detail, The truth is obscene
  • Riseed 5y ago
    There's a full range of possible depictions on the scale from "pretending" murder is G-rated to showing gratuitous violence and unnecessary gory detail. For example, it's largely sufficient to the plot and character development to know that Batman's parents were killed by a mugger when Bruce was just a boy, and that Uncle Ben was killed by a petty criminal whom Spiderman had the chance to apprehend (but declined to do so). Nothing is added by showing entry/exit wounds, slow pans over puddles of and spurts of blood, or any other sort of gore porn.
  • deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  • voussoir 5y ago
    I'm a big fan of Haneke's work and I agree that depicting the truth, even obscene truths, is an important role of art. But in this case I am reminded of the "Thermian Argument" [1]. Squid Game isn't truth, it's fiction, and the authors of that fiction chose how much violence is needed to tell their story. If they go out of their way to make sure everybody gets murdered, it might not reveal a whole lot of truth. I haven't watched any of Squid Game, I just didn't want to miss a chance to share Folding Ideas's work. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxV8gAGmbtk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxV8gAGmbtk
    • gameman144 5y ago
      I dunno, I'm not super convinced by the "Thermian Argument" video linked here. It seems to be saying that defending objectionable content by appealing to the consistency of the world in which it takes place is a weak argument. For instance, the speaker says that it's unreasonable to object to gratuitous violence in a show by saying "that violence is part of this world." I think that it's totally laudable (and often leads to better stories) to exercise some restraint, or to remove the most jarring content that might bring viewers out of the story, but I disagree with the argument that doing otherwise to preserve the integrity of a fictional world is bad. If a storyteller wants to build a world which isn't aligned with our own concept of obscenity, I think that that's also a totally fine form of art. If a writer creates a world in which there is plentiful violence (or racism, or sexism, or cannibalism, or any other atrocious thing you can think of), I think that those stories are also totally valid. If, as the speaker mentions, a tribe of warrior women wears chainmail bikinis, that is totally fine if it's actually rational within the fictional world (the video sets up what feels like a strawman here, as "that's just what they do" feels like a very weak argument for any content in a fictional world). I'd argue that it's totally fair to criticize why an author constructed a world the way they did, or to say "I don't want to read a story that takes place in this world". In terms of criticizing specific content within that world, though, I'd say diegetic explanations are actually one of the best defenses for storytelling choices (essentially, the opposite of the "Thermian Argument", if I'm understanding it correctly).
• culi 5y ago
  I'm the same way. But I ended up being nearby other people watching it that I had a lot of the really gory scenes spoiled for me. Then when I finally got dragged into watching it I knew what was coming and it didn't end up being too much to overcome It's an important show, but yeah really brutal
• forgingahead 5y ago
  It's definitely not just you - I agree completely that "modern" shows have gone too far into the gratuitous violence and sex in their content. It's not because of the story either, it's just "let's make this as explicit as we can". Part of this is due to lack of standards of where the content is appearing (network TV used to have more red lines one couldn't cross, cable and others don't), but also because of the increased volume of content, shock imagery is certainly effective in pulling people in. Another commenter said it's normal because they were desensitised due to video games and so on, but I don't think that's the case. There's a huge difference between the cartoon violence of something like GTA5 or even obviously synthetic shooters, and the graphic gory detail that show runners seem to want to include now. That being said, one of the most recent Mortal Kombat ones though really went out of their way to make it graphic - I enjoyed the originals back in the 90s, but this was too much for me so I switched it off. We very heavily censor media in our household. Screen time is extremely limited, and even then only a filtered set of content. It's necessary as the natural content guardrails that were present when I was a kid are completely gone now. On a related note: we've been watching some Hercule Poirot mysteries recently - all movies, some were made for TV in the 80s, and even though they are murder mysteries, they handle it really well with no graphic gore or anything. If you're looking for something for this weekend!
• A4ET8a8uTh0 5y ago
  It may have something to do with age. I remember brushing off tv, computer violence like it was nothing ( partly because I did not think it was real ). These days, I don't watch horror movies, I talk through my problems with NPCs rather than use violence.. overall I agree with you that basically I stay away unnecessary violence as much as possible, because it disturbs me. Squid game falls into that category. Separately, I will also add that I did not buy the premise and didn't like the opening at all. I am clearly not the target demographic though based on its popularity.
• standardUser 5y ago
  I'm amazed at how a hyper-violent show like Squid Game could become a mainstream global megahit. But still, I know many people who haven't watched it because it's so violent. Same with Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad (though I find those shows far, far less disturbing than Squid Game).
• Kluny 5y ago
  Yeah, me too. There are lots of great shows I had to stop watching because of this. Breaking Bad, Dexter. I mean, I guess they did okay on those shows without my contribution, but I feel like they could have been just as powerful without as much blood.
• Natsu 5y ago
  I honestly disliked Squid Game a lot. The MC has serious Gary Stu vibes due to surviving despite his best efforts to fail. The plot itself feels like someone made their own version of the Liar Game manga, which does almost the same thing, but far more intelligently. The most intelligent thing that happens in Squid Game was the guy who is effectively an extra who just happens to know something about one of the games, but conceals this in a way that screws himself over pointlessly. That appears to be the main theme of the show so far, because nearly every character does something like that. I have a bet with myself that the next installment will be the MC suddenly discovering that they could've been cooperating against the people running the game the entire time.
• rchaud 5y ago
  That is why I enjoy the original Law & Order series. Barring a handful of exceptions over it's 400+ episodes, the only deaths happen in the first minute and are not shown; only the discovery of the body is. I was also a fan of L&O SVU but there is a lot of violence, more than what you would think would be permissible on network TV. There is a scene where the detectives walk in midway as a spouse being stabbed to death by her partner. Had to have a think about continuing with the show after that.