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Can't look anymore
RichardH
Veteran
There was a time when I could look at film footage of people experiencing terrible suffering or trauma, such as archive images of executions during war. These images were powerful and had an impact, they haunted, but I could still take it in. In fact I thought it necessary to take it in, because it is the reality of our world.
This evening there was a television documentary on xenophobic violence in present day Russia that included these kind of images. I could not bare to see or hear this suffering. I coverd my ears and looked away, then quickly changed the channel.
It is strange that the exposure to violence has had the opposite effect over time than one would suppose, not a de-sensitization, but an increase in sensitization to the point of not being able to look.
This evening there was a television documentary on xenophobic violence in present day Russia that included these kind of images. I could not bare to see or hear this suffering. I coverd my ears and looked away, then quickly changed the channel.
It is strange that the exposure to violence has had the opposite effect over time than one would suppose, not a de-sensitization, but an increase in sensitization to the point of not being able to look.
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Comments
You can only imagine then, what gazing upon such horror does to me now.
I won't even watch fictitious work of this nature.
I can't understand how all of the kids theses days can watch a 2 hours movie where all that happens is some people getting tortured for 2 hours...
I used to love watching scary movies, but those that scare you, not disgust you.
(anyone ever watch "Ju-on the grudge" in japanese?)
Scary is like going to a ride in the amusement park, you see these intense emotion arising inside of you, and appreciate their intensity, but you know they will pass...)
I do love the movies, but sometimes just have to look away. I chipped a top incisor years ago watching Godfather and Godfather II at a double feature. I told a fellow about it and he thought I was too much of a wimp. He said that he enjoyed gory movies, guts spurting out and all. Funny thing, I can't even remember the guy's name anymore. I guess some people just aren't worth the bother of remembering.
Anybody else here rejoice when they cannot even recall the name of an unfriendly person that they once had to be around?
However, some really good movies can also have really disturbing violence. "American History X" is one example: I think the message of the movie is awesome and even that of love and forgiveness, yet it also has some of the most disturbing scenes I've *ever* seen. But that's "violence to the point" (hate to say that) since the movie is about a neo-Nazi group and partially takes place in prison-- those situations are, indeed, very violent and not showing that would be deception.
However the fictional stuff is just nasty and I know that my distress is a result of being highly sensitive and imaginative. A student of mine said that he deals with it by imagining the film crew and all the mundane activites going on around the set while the scene is being filmed. In his mind he pulls the camera back to see the film studio and everyone else in the area. He also imagines the actors kidding around with eachother before and after the scene. As a psychologist, I think that's a really cool technique to use.
May I refer you to the Jewish legend of the Lamed Vav?
and see Schwartz-Bart's wonderful book Le dernier des justes ("The Last of the Just")
Also my favorite novelist is Jane Austen.
Testosterone is wasted on me. I'm just a shell of a man. ;-)
The last part reminds me of Alejandro Jodorowsky's film The Holy Mountain. Probably not a movie for people who are overly sensitive to unpleasant images, though.
mine too
for horror movies i use the 'film crew' is in front of the scene and this is 'filmed before'
and
try to see the 'cause and effect' for the characters
enjoyment and learning can get in one go
(Did I say that out loud......?) :eek:
If you'd like to watch the video, go here. It will open your eyes.
Palzang
I know video games have been discussed to death, but it seems to fit here. I have eliminated all "M" rated games across the board. If the game carries that rating, chances are you're going to need a strong stomach to play it.
I agree with you here 100% Palzang... Experiencing that kind of suffering (even though not in person) strengthens ones compassion for our fellow sentient beings...[/quote]
Being from Canada I was not able to view this video.
Example: I am quite passionate about Holocaust education and literature. My favorite writer was in Auschwitz, actually. For me, reading about Nazi atrocities and the different ways in which people reacted to them is a fascinating window into human nature.
However, I CANNOT DEAL with the images. If a history book I'm reading contains one of those photographs, I have to put my hand over it so I can think properly. As for the whole 'Schindler's List' phenomenon, I had to read Thomas Keneally's book instead of seeing the movie. Cliche time: a picture is worth a thousand words.
I can't watch the live footage of the gulf oil spill, either. I love my friend L, but when she started posting crime scene photos of murdered transgendered people on Facebook (she's into transgender rights activism), I had to hide her from my feed. Words are a buffer; images take a straighter path to the emotional core of one's brain.
I don't know if this hypersensitivity to images is normal or healthy, but I do know that people who "can't look" are not alone.
- A novel in which one major character is a torturer, and another is an assassin
- A history of the Arab/Zionist conflict in Palestine. Lots of atrocities on both sides. Considerably more and considerably more atrocious atrocities by the Zionists than by the Arabs so far, I would say, but I'm only up to about 1948.
- A few books written during the warring states period in ancient China.
The trick is to learn to rest in the experience of the pain you're witnessing.