Zombies may have once been human but no longer are, they are merely corpses barely puppeteered around by whatever inexplicable virus can control the function of rotting muscles. Demons are a manifestation of evil the simple nature of their existence is amoral. We are then allowed to be happy to kill these “enemies,” and see them die in horrific ways because they are morally bankrupt. Demons are admittedly less utilized outside of games however, trade them in for generic “aliens” in Hollywood and you have a pretty close match. Think of almost any piece of media set in World War II the countless zombie films, games, and TV shows. I’d be damned to try and count how many generic soldiers I shoot in any single “ Call of Duty” campaign.Ĭountless videogames, films, and television series utilize this shorthand. These generic antagonists are especially common in games as they have easily one of the highest body counts of all media. Some of the most common enemy archetypes have thus been demons, Nazis, and zombies. Antagonists and humanoid things are a lot easier to watch die if they are made more generic, and less human. With the whole film largely being a love letter to the golden age of Hollywood, the violent conclusion seems like it is setting something right in its depiction of the past.īut how do you keep depictions of violence comical and fun? Here the murderers are shown as aloof and almost comically stupid as they are murdered by Brad Pitt’s character Cliff Booth, as he is tripping on LSD. I would argue that the conclusion of “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” is the best example of this revenge element, as the film's conclusion shows the brutal killing of the perpetrators of the Manson murders. The component of historical “revenge” is an interesting theme in these films, even if not necessarily intended by Tarantino. Summing these up as simply power fantasy films is reductive, since the characters, plot and dialogue are executed so well. One might even suggest many of Tarantino’s later films are historical revenge power fantasies, where audiences revel in seeing the brutalization of some of the world’s greatest monsters, like the Nazis in “ Inglourious Basterds,” American slaveholders in “ Django Unchained” and the Manson Murderers in “ Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” Their spectacles of violence are, depending on the film, almost comical, and frequently play into power fantasy, a common aspect of violent videogames. ![]() While Tarantino’s films take their stories seriously, they have an amount of wit and levity. A director most notorious for his use of gore is Quentin Tarintino, whose films serve as a perfect example of this use of violence. Films have been doing this to an increasing degree as well. Videogames are not the only medium that have taken this tact. They are designed to evoke so-called “positive” emotions. This is what defines the increasing trend of hyperviolent media - these depictions of violence are supposed to be enjoyed. In “DOOM,” the mutilation of living things is supposed to be fun and satisfying, and it is. These animations are cathartic and visceral and vary from ripping demons' jaws off, to ripping off arms and beating their former owners with them. “DOOM,” however, contrasts in this way as one of the primary mechanics of the game called the “glory kill,” where players are rewarded for closing the distance with their opponents and performing brutal melee kills. There are some exceptions, such as comedic horror films, but even these films often don’t depict murder and death scenes themselves as comical. In horror and war films - two of the gorier genres - violence has the rhetorical purpose of fear and anxiety, or depicting the base brutality human nature can reach. The use of violence in media has differing rhetorical purposes based on the context however, generally speaking, gore and violence are rarely used to evoke positive emotions. “DOOM” 2016 is a great example of what could be regrded as an increasing trend in hyperviolence used in media. The line is followed by a first-person cutscene of the player character, the Doomslayer, grabbing the head of a demonified scientist and slamming it into the sarcophagus the slayer was sealed in, the head instantly exploding like an overripe tomato. “Rip and Tear until it is done” is the opening line of 2016’s reboot of classic ‘90s first-person-shooter “ DOOM”.
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