The Unbearable Grimness of TV and Film Today
I was beginning to think that I had an unusually low threshold for watching violent and gruesome scenes on TV and in film, until I came across this recap of the latest episode of Breaking Bad in Rolling Stone, a publication not exactly known for its cultural squeamishness:
"Gliding Over All," last night's "half-season" finale of Breaking Bad, was an exquisitely unpleasant viewing experience for most of its duration. Exhibit A: the first of the show's two montage sequences. Even on a show for which "Jesus Christ, I can barely stand to watch it sometimes" is a recommend-to-a-friend selling point, the montage of murders Walt orchestrates to eliminate Gus Fring's jailed co-conspirators was, for me at least, literally nauseating.
And I want to shake the hands of writer Moira Walley-Beckett and director Michelle MacLaren for that, because it didn't have to be so sickening. They could have taken the easy way out. Once we got an idea of the scope of the operation--the number of murders in separate locations that Walt decreed must go down practically simultaneously--and saw even hardened prison-gang killers balk at its degree of difficulty, the mass murder could have become another high-stakes heist, pretty much. You know, the sort of sprawling, dazzlingly choreographed, breathlessly edited loose-ends slayfest that gained prominence with the baptism massacre in The Godfather, and which crime shows from The Sopranos to Boardwalk Empire love to employ in their early seasons.
But instead of something slick and graceful, we saw men screaming in terror and agony as they were rendered immobile and stabbed repeatedly in the gut and chest, or shrieking as men tossed accelerants into their cells and then lit them on fire.
You get the idea.
Breaking Bad is an excellent show, by all accounts, including mine. I love the story, the characters, the drama, etc. But lately, it has gotten so grim that it's become hard to watch. And it's not alone in that distinction. The last season of Mad Men, for instance, had moments that went too far, like when Lane committed suicide and we saw his dead corpse hanging from the noose. Another recent example is the new movie Arbitrage, which is about the fall of a morally-challenged hedge-fund magnate Robert Miller (Richard Gere). It was a captivating movie, but again, grim: There's a car-crash death scene featuring a sliced neck that's spewing blood (Miller falls asleep at the wheel, and the car flips, killing his young and beautiful mistress in the seat next to him. This is the start of his downfall).
In each of these cases, the point seems to be that the immoral acts of other people leave a great deal of human suffering in their wake. Highlighting the blood and gore is, I suppose, meant to emphasize the extent of human suffering--which is a lot. That's a powerful message, certainly, but it borders on nihilism when all there is is evil and suffering and no redemption. In other words, there is no good that comes out the evil and suffering.
That message, repeated enough times in the popular culture, can be seriously demoralizing. It takes a toll on the psyche, as psychologist Barbara Fredrickson has pointed out in her great book from 2009, Positivity:
Violence is similarly used to captivate and entertain us, in movies, television, video games, and more. Audiences clearly enjoy being pushed to the edge of what they can comfortably take. Violent entertainment is becoming a booming part of the world economy. Yet the downstream psychological costs of viewing violent media have been well studied. Science shows that as you consume violent media, you increase the odds of becoming violent yourself, in large and small ways. You are more likely to hurt others, be suspicious of others, and find violence to be an acceptable solution to interpersonal problems. Media violence zaps your empathy and your kindness.
To Fredrickson, if we feed our negative emotions--as the media can do--then our happiness will pay the price. Her solution is to get rid of the gratuitous negativity that fills our lives. Instead of watching Breaking Bad, watch Modern Family.
Hollywood producer Lindsay Doran would agree:
After reading the book Flourish, by Martin E. P. Seligman, a catalyst of the positive-psychology movement, she began rewatching films through the lens of what Dr. Seligman identifies as the five essential elements of well-being: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. (He refers to these elements collectively as perma.)
The results surprised her. And they inspired a stealth campaign to reverse the Hollywood superstitions that a “movie is only art if it ends badly, and that you’ll only win an Academy Award if you write or direct a movie about misery or play someone miserable,” as she put it. During the past six months, at a symposium and in a series of presentations to filmmakers, she has strongly advocated the concept of cinematic Zoloft.
Her presentation hit a nerve with the actress Emma Thompson:
Ms. Thompson, who has worked with Ms. Doran on five movies including "Sense and Sensibility," was struck by three of her conclusions. First, some of the most elevating American movies “are about people desperate to achieve something that they do not get to achieve.” (George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life” doesn’t get to travel the world, Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird” doesn’t win an acquittal for his client.) Second, many of the greatest romances (“Roman Holiday,” “Casablanca”) are about lovers who can’t or don’t remain together. And in many of the most successful movies of all time accomplishment is accompanied by incalculable loss: In Ms. Doran’s words, “Obi-Wan dies, Dumbledore dies, Gandalf dies, 1,500 passengers on the Titanic die, thousands of Pandorans die.” The protagonist may be happy at the end, “but his smile,” she said, “is laced with the loss that’s come before.”
What this suggested to her is that “the accomplishment the audience values most is not when the heroine saves the day or the hero defeats his opponent.” Instead, she said, “the accomplishment the audience values most is resilience.”
So where does Ms. Doran go from here? As she continues speaking with filmmakers and studios, she said in an e-mail: “I think the thing that they’re getting out of it is that the ‘happy ending,’ the one that is most memorable and might make people go back to see the film a second time, might not be about winning. It might be about not winning, about finding something deeper that means more than victory.”
“A lot of people seem stunned,” she added, that ending with a character who survives loss “might be both the more inspiring and the more commercial way to end a movie.”
Along those lines, when I saw Arbitrage, one of the previews at the beginning was for a film called The Impossible, which is the incredible true story of a family who was caught in the tsunami that hit southeast Asia in 2004. The film's tagline is "nothing is more powerful than the human spirit." The trailer was deeply moving.
Despite what the critics say, I wish that there were more movies and TV shows in this vein. Maybe there soon will be, if Doran gets her way.
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Aug '10
Re: The Unbearable Grimness of TV and Film Today
Breaking Bad has to be grim and painful, otherwise it would be accused (and deservedly so) of glamorizing the drug trade.
Compare Breaking Bad to shows like Weeds or Hung, which use the same gimmick of "ordinary person turns to life of crime to pay the bills." The difference is that those shows totally glorify the protagonists' choices.
Breaking Bad is special because Walt is clearly awful. It's Shakespearean in its tragedy.
It's not unlike the wonderful Boss, with Kelsey Grammer. The show only works because the protagonist is bad.
Breaking Bad and Boss represent the return of the tragedy to mainstream drama. I fully endorse this trend.
Was the ending of Hamlet, where freakin' everybody dies, too "hard to watch"? Was the ending of Romeo & Juliet, where BOTH protagonists die due to a freakin' misunderstanding, too "hard to watch"? Was the ending of King Lear, with the old king insane and his kingdom in ruins, too "hard to watch"?
Breaking Bad is a masterpiece of tragedy. Deal with it.
Edited on September 19, 2012 at 7:11pmMay '11
Re: The Unbearable Grimness of TV and Film Today
Emily, have you watched Bunheads on ABCFamily? It sounds like just what you are looking for.
http://youtu.be/XUl0bT_FpHQ
Very enjoyable and well reviewed. Plus lots of great music and dancing.
EDIT: The pilot is online for free
Edited on September 20, 2012 at 3:06amAug '10
Re: The Unbearable Grimness of TV and Film Today
The Impossible looks like typical Hollywood pablum to me.
"White family survives against impossible odds as thousands of brown people die around them."
I much prefer this tsunami movie from South Korea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJTP_tYkwZY
Edited on September 19, 2012 at 6:00pmJun '12
Re: The Unbearable Grimness of TV and Film Today
Like catharsis, redemption is a bloody business.
Jan '11
Re: The Unbearable Grimness of TV and Film Today
Emily,
I couldn't "enjoy" Breaking Bad because of the gruesomeness. Didn't even make it half way through season one. Mad Men? I managed two seasons and then decided that I didn't want to watch a show about people destroying their own lives. Think I'll check out Bunheads!
May '11
Re: The Unbearable Grimness of TV and Film Today
Misthiocracy,
I think the problem is the notion that life itself is nothing but tragedy. I agree it's a good thing that Breaking Bad and Boss don't make excuses for their vile main characters, the viewer is supposed to dislike them (Vic Mackey from The Shield is the first type of these characters I can remember).
In high school almost every novel we were forced to read focused on man's inhumanity to man. Very depressing.
Aug '10
Re: The Unbearable Grimness of TV and Film Today
Ningrim: Misthiocracy,
I think the problem is the notion that life itself is nothing but tragedy.
But Breaking Bad does not make that case. In Breaking Bad, all the tragedy stems from Walt's decisions.
He CHOSE to refuse the offer of financial help from his former partners (pride).
He CHOSE to use his scientific mind to manufacture meth, because he thought he was smarter than everybody else (hubris).
He CHOSE to escalate the violence, even though he had defeated his cancer and he had enough money for several lifetimes (greed).
The show is not nihilistic.
Apr '11
Re: The Unbearable Grimness of TV and Film Today
You know what movies are good and fun to watch. Ones where the good guys win. Sure Obi-Wan dies, but the Death Start is destroyed. I like movies where the cavalry rides in at just the right time. Or in some cases movies where you don't even have bad guys, just singing and dancing.
Though I must admit I love Breaking Bad and I am glad that Walt is a bad bad man. I mean so many of these anti hero shows always seem to make criminality seem so much more glamorous and fun than it should. We see them love their families and care for their children and we want to sympathies with them. Well nuts to that I say. Why make the criminals so sympathetic.
Aug '10
Re: The Unbearable Grimness of TV and Film Today
Sure, but story-telling isn't a zero-sum game. Just because I like Star Wars doesn't mean I want every movie to be Star Wars.
Shakespeare wrote comedies as well as tragedies, after all.
In the 20th Century, tragedy was virtually abolished in our popular culture. With very few exceptions, the "happy ending" was a requirement written in stone if one wanted a project to get the green light.
So we end up with a bastardized First Blood, for example, where Rambo lives at the end because the studio wanted to make sequels, even though it ruins the whole point of the story.
Or we get Disney's version of The Little Mermaid, which omits the part where the mermaid commits suicide when the prince marries someone else.
Of COURSE, I'm not saying every story should be a tragedy.
Aug '10
Re: The Unbearable Grimness of TV and Film Today
<devil's advocate mode = on>
I think the danger for a tv series like Breaking Bad is that one needs to judge the series as a whole, right from the beginning.
When someone starts watching somewhere in the middle, or worse only starts watching in the final season, they miss a HECK of a lot of context.
With a movie or a play, it's easier for the writers because they can count on having the audience's attention from beginning to end.
For a tv series that runs for six years, one cannot count on the audience seeing (or even appreciating) every single episode. As such, there's the danger of missing some crucial piece of information about the characters' motivations and choices.
<devil's advocate mode = off>
Sep '10
Re: The Unbearable Grimness of TV and Film Today
I've enjoyed Breaking Bad, but have also had to look away from certain scenes. If you're so inured to violence and human suffering that you can stare at it without flinching, then you've become hardened in a way most have not. It may not necessarily be a bad thing. It might even be helpful inasmuch as it can help you cope with these things better in real life should you be unlucky enough to encounter them. But it is unusual.
The comparison to Shakespeare is misleading. Performances of Hamlet do not generally include voluminous amounts of blood and entrails on the floor. If they did, people would look away. Romeo and Juliet die tragically but without graphic violence.
Is it worth desensitizing yourself to human suffering and violence? I'm not sure. Even if the result is worthwhile, I don't look forward to the process.
Jul '12
Re: The Unbearable Grimness of TV and Film Today
Emma Thompson makes her point about Oscar-caliber films, but that overlooks an important point: they can't all be Oscar winners. If you watch one talkie at the cinema per month, that film can have all the gravity it cares to include. But today we're mass consumers of novel material, watching (on average) hours of television per day.
I think there's a place for both the heavy tragedies and the light-hearted novelties. I can't watch The Thin Red Line on Monday, Schindler's List on Tuesday, Sling Blade on Wednesday, Apocalypto on Thursday, and Mystic River on Friday. All of these are great films that have their place, but the question is not how a particular film stands on its own merits, but how one balances the media they consume.
I've never seen Breaking Bad (though many have recommended it to me), and given what I'm reading here, I'll probably never bother with it. Nevertheless, that's not a condemnation of the series in and of itself; I watch (and read) the Game of Thrones series. But that drives me all the more to enjoy more light-hearted fare for balance.
Aug '10
Re: The Unbearable Grimness of TV and Film Today
drlorentz:
If you're so inured to violence and human suffering that you can stare at it without flinching, then you've become hardened in a way most have not...
The comparison to Shakespeare is misleading. Performances of Hamlet do not generally include voluminous amounts of blood and entrails on the floor. If they did, people would look away. Romeo and Juliet die tragically but without graphic violence.
Edited on September 19, 2012 at 8:11pmI argue that Breaking Bad does not desensitize. On the contrary, Breaking Bad forces the audience to consider the reality and the consequences of crime and violence.
The death of Jesse's girlfriend, followed by the "suicide-by-planecrash" of her father, was heart-rending. The explosive death of Gus Fring was shocking. The senseless murder of Gale was horrible to watch.
Lots of Shakespearean performances include gore, on screen today and on stage in the old days.
Performances of Julius Caesar used plenty of fake blood and/or red velvet to simulate Caesar's blood pooling beneath him.
Does the violence and pain of the film versions of Richard III, Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, Coriolanus, The Tempest, Othello, or Titus Andronicus reduce the worth of the story?
Apr '11
Re: The Unbearable Grimness of TV and Film Today
drlorentz: ...If you're so inured to violence and human suffering that you can stare at it without flinching, then you've become hardened in a way most have not. It may not necessarily be a bad thing. ...
The comparison to Shakespeare is misleading. Performances of Hamlet do not generally include voluminous amounts of blood and entrails on the floor. If they did, people would look away. Romeo and Juliet die tragically but without graphic violence.
Is it worth desensitizing yourself to human suffering and violence? I'm not sure...
All very good points, with a qualification re: comparison to Shakespearean tragedy being 'misleading.' That term potentially implies an error or even deception. That's possible, but culturally speaking it's a real and valid one.
Your general point, however, is one I've made about, for example, Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ. Bloody detail like that that is rightfully called gratuitous or indulgent. If you read the firsthand accounts, for example, somehow, the Author managed to get the point across just fine without all the gore.
But, there is gore in the Bible, even graphic gore. But like Breaking Bad's, it is reserved for the villains.
Apr '11
Re: The Unbearable Grimness of TV and Film Today
Titus Andronicus alone calls into question the contention that the comparison of Breaking Bad to Shakespeare as 'misleading.' Granted, TA is not considered the Bard's finest work, but it's nothing, if not bloody & violent.
Additionally, get a load of show creator Vince Gilligan's recent response to an interview question about the aforementioned character Gale Boetticher (sp?):
Aug '10
Re: The Unbearable Grimness of TV and Film Today
The New Clear Option
Your general point, however, is one I've made about, for example, Mel Gibson'sPassion of the Christ. Bloody detail like that that is rightfully called gratuitous or indulgent.
I wholeheartedly disagree. I believe that it's when pain, violence, and horror are downplayed that we become desensitized.
I believe that over the centuries Christians and Non-Christians alike generally haven't contemplated the true horror of what Christ went through. The incalculable number of cutesy children's Easter pageants turn Christ's suffering into fodder for parents' nostalgic home videos of their kids.
In fact, I've always maintained that The Passion of the Christ is not graphic ENOUGH. Example: At the end of Christ's torture, he still has perfect teeth. I find it hard to believe that the Roman soldiers wouldn't have kicked him in the face a few times.
Dramatic violence can indeed be desensitizing, when the consequences are sugar-coated, like in a popcorn action or horror movie.
When producing a story that tries to explore the truth about violence and pain, it's better not to hold back. Examples: Schindler's List, Hotel Rwanda, or even In Bruges.
Aug '10
Re: The Unbearable Grimness of TV and Film Today
The New Clear Option
But, there isgore in the Bible, even graphic gore. But like Breaking Bad's, it is reserved for the villains.
Firstly, Emily's post about Breaking Bad wasn't about gore, per se. It was about the grim tone of the story-telling. There is no question, it's a depressing story.
Secondly, the amount of gore in Breaking Bad is pretty minimal. Ok, the death of Gus Fring was really over the top, granted. However, the prison murders in the half-season finale were violent, yes, but not especially gory.
I think Emily's complaint is less about gore and more about tone.
Finally, regarding the Bible, the greatest Hero of the entire tome meets an EXTREMELY gory end, up on the Roman cross. Not to mention the martyring of Stephen or James the son of Zebedee.
As for tone, other Biblical heroes endure very grim and depressing periods. Job's suffering is brutal, physically and emotionally. Not only does King David lose his son as punishment for his sin, but he also loses his best friend because of someone else's sin (King Saul's)!
Revelations is no walk in the park, either.
Mar '11
Re: The Unbearable Grimness of TV and Film Today
I wonder if two different trends are being conflated here. One seems to be the rebirth of tragedies as Misthiocracy notes with their attendant grim depictions of humanity and the other the purely gratuitous violence that seems to derive from the mainstreaming of "torture porn". The latter phenomenon appears to have encouraged creators of all sorts to gin up the violence and cruelty in their creations to no purpose. The "new normal" as it were.
Aug '10
Re: The Unbearable Grimness of TV and Film Today
I hate to be a broken record, but again I tend to disagree that the trend is for movies to become more gory over time. Rather, I think the level of depraved violence and gore has risen and fallen continuously since the end of the 1960s.
Yes, today we have the Saw franchise, but the horror flicks of the 1970s and 1980s were incredibly gory in their own right. You had the teen horror flicks like Friday The 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street, and you also had thoughtful horror like The Omen, Rosemary's Baby, and Carrie.
On television, there was WAY more violence on network tv in the 1970s and 1980s than today, and it was more cartoonish to boot. The body of work from Stephen Cannell, Glen Larson, and Donald Bellisario was nothing but gratuitous violence.
Aug '10
Re: The Unbearable Grimness of TV and Film Today
Another thought: Is Breaking Bad representative of television today, as Emily seems to claim?
Breaking Bad is merely one show, on a basic cable network. It's ratings are dwarfed by shows like America's Got Talent. It doesn't even break the top 10 of cable tv ratings.
In 2011, the top fictional shows on network tv were NCIS, The Big Bang Theory, NCIS: Los Angeles, and The Mentalist. These shows do not meet the criteria of "unbearable grimness". The good guys always win and the bad guys always lose.
In 2011, the top fictional shows on cable were Major Crimes, Burn Notice, True Blood, and Suits. These shows may be (arguably) pretty bad, but are they evidence of a trend of "grimness"?
Furthermore, is Arbitrage representative of movies today? I'd never even heard of it until Emily mentioned it.
The top 10 movies at the box-office in 2011 were Harry Potter 8, Transformers 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 4, Twilight 4, Mission Impossible 4, Kung Fu Panda 2, Fast & Furious 5, The Hangover 2, The Smurfs, and Cars 2.
Not the best crop of movies, to be sure, but evidence of "grimness"?