Thursday, November 01, 2007

Why Do men like violent movies?

(This is something I wrote for femina a couple of months back)

I sit there wide eyed as Arnold Swazewazizname blows a hole through the head of his evil nemesis in Terminator 2. He doesn’t die of course because his body parts are of liquid metal.
My better half looks on with her mouth agape. First at the screen, then at me. And I’ve known her long enough to hear her thoughts.

“Why the hell do you like this insane movie? And if you manage to answer that, then kindly tell again why I’m with you! I keep forgetting.”

I don’t really want to take my eyes off the screen, so I try and answer telepathically too. Apparently I have not perfected the art.

It is only at the end of the movie I realize that the better half had walked out shortly after intermission. It’s because of nights like these that I’ve been well acquainted with the sofa.
To cut a long story short, I thought the movie was nothing short of brilliant.

She didn’t.

All the guys I know love it too. It’s a classic.
Women think it’s too graphic and takes violence to a whole new level of insanity.
Whaaaaat? Do you think the robots should have sat down over coffee and settled it amicably? Yeah, he’ll stop trying to kill you if you give him a good telling off.
And it’s not just this movie. I’ve had debates with women about several such ‘artful’ movies.
What it boils down to is that men like violent flicks. Women don’t.

Why?

I’ll tell you why.
(cue ambient music please)

A couple of thousand years ago before language was invented and when dinosaurs weren’t just a couple of bones super glued together at a museum, men and women had distinct roles.
Yes, yes, we all know this part. Men were the food gatherers. The hunters and the providers.
Women, stayed indoors to look after the kids and, in the absence of inane soap operas about satanic mother-in-laws, did other house-hold chores. Some even dabbled in the arts. That’s where you get cave drawings and hieroglyphics from.

Coming back to the point, men were close to the action. Hunting wild boar, steering clear of vicious lions and bringing down woolly mammoths. Stuff that got the adrenaline pumping and the bones a-breaking.

Now fast forward to a couple of thousand years ahead. The closest we get to hunting is tracking down a mosquito that’s buzzing around your ear at 3 a.m in the morning.
We miss the good stuff.
The testosterone heavy, action packed activity that’s been instilled in our blood.
So who do we turn to for help.
You know it - good ole movies.
And not just any movies. Violent ones.

Give us car crashes. Men shooting at men. Men shooting at aliens. Men shooting at aliens while crashing their cars. Killer cyborgs with catchy lines. Computers that use humans as AA batteries. Zombies that have teamed up with aliens to crash all the cars on the planet.
It’s all good to us.

Women don’t seem to understand this need. They’ll be dragging us to movies about a book store owner that falls in love with an actress. Or a prostitute that falls in love with a millionaire.
Do they have the expertise to crash a four wheel drive?
Have they been keeping up with recent UFO sightings?
Nooooooo. Because they’re too busy falling in love, out of love and back again.
Well , Whoop-di-doo! Never saw that coming did we?

All we need is a bit of action with a semi-decent plot. Safe to say that we’re flexible on the plot part too.

And don’t you think that the gore, explosions, occasional sex scene and fighting isn’t integral to the movie. You might question it, but we’re pretty sure it’s justified.

Why does a respectable man with a doctorate eat people, and in the most gruesome fashion?”, you might ask.
C’mon…everyone is allowed to get hungry. He just ate what was closest to him - his friends. Give him a break.


“What are the chances of the helicopter crashing into a highly flammable LPG tanker which flips over a couple of times landing close to a petrol pump before exploding?”
I’m come up with a fail-proof formula to calculate the probability of the occurrence.
(N+1)p-3 . N being the number of helicopters in the world. And p being another fancy letter that I had to put up there to sound authentic.
The answer I came up with is - Pretty good.


“Why doesn’t she just kill her counterpart straight off. Why does she need to gouge her eye our and leave a deadly snake lying around to eventually bite the bejeezes out of her?”
Any violence aficionado knows that it’s a metaphor. What the director is trying to communicate is that the world has turned a blind eye to… errr… reptile conservation.
Yes, because we love them reptiles. (Snakes are reptiles right?)

One might also tend to believe that men have been conditioned by society to watch and enjoy violent movies.
We’re not. Trust me, it’s inherent.
Let’s say you have kids. A pair of twins. Give the boy a Barbie and the girl a toy truck. Odds are the boy will be ripping her head apart, maybe using the torso as a plane, whilst the girl has already painted here SUV with soft pink polka dots and invited it to her tea party.

Oh, stop complaining. You’ll be thanking us someday for the screen-attained knowledge. It’s only because of these kinds of violent movies that I have a plan, if, heaven forbid, disaster is eminent.
When monsters of the netherworld are near, if a killer in a hockey mask is on the loose, if a gun wielding mob has blocked the road, I know exactly what to do.

Run.
Scream like a little girl and run like crazy.

While you might have been keeping a close eye on the hero of the movie, I’ve been watching the tiny vanishing dot in the background. The extra who decided not to risk his unmentionables in the battle to save the earth. The one who left unscathed.
I am that man.
He who lived to tell the tale.
And all those who follow suit, are gonna be thanking their lucky stars that I’ve been well informed through the magic of cinema.
And what are the chances of that happening?
Pretty good.

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

look at you trying to be all manly.

Jonathan said...

The readers at Femina don't know me. I 'could' be manly!

Ajitesh said...

kaboom! i join the action-movies-are-better-than-sex group... ummm... ok, the action-movies-are-best-after-hot-sweaty-steamy-sex group.

thinKinBLaQ said...

i want to be that guy that gets laid & then may or may not die by the end of th movie!
hey at least i get laid! what does the hero get? a kiss! ONE FRIGGIN KISS!!! muaahahahahahhaha.

Jonathan said...

@ Supreet: I am Violent. My anger knows no bounds!

And Blaq, ummm...err... the post wasn't about who you'd like to play in a movie!

Kari said...

jon-tan..all i will say is "hmmmmm...."

opinionated said...

1)get used to the couch!!!!
2) i had cars which i played with when i was a kid and they weren't pink neither did the ever see tea parties.
3)Q:why is it that i am dating u again????u never did answer!!!

diya said...

I also cannot understand why men like horror movies. They really give me the creeps! A man or a woman is walking or sitting or lying down calmly when WHAM! out pops the ghost/ ghoul/ shark/ and strangles him/her / sticks knife/ drags away etc. I watch movies essentially to relax not to have a heart attack. I liked some action movies though- James Bond movies when you know Bond cannot suddenly die. I liked Die Hard and Teimntr2. But I think wrecking cars and stuff are a waste, why bring on the destruction of perfectly nice looking cars and buses when millions of people want to own one but cannot.
Let me tell you Jon my daughter has twisted the neck of all her dolls and poked fingers in their eyes, dislodging them. My son also destrys all his toys, but yes, my son is crazy about all vehicles and my daughter was interested in drawing and colouring at his age and still is.

Kathia Sousa Vaz said...

PRICELESS!!!!

prado said...

Well Jonathan, Jonathan!! I am so bored of blaming all theories back to the stoneage, poor guys. I guess we surely need to reinvent those for sure. I guess I must be from the herd of (she) animals then who were fighting the brave cavemen...........orelse how do we conclude a species like me whoz a girl and loves action/horror movies and never had any soft toys,pinks or polka dots as kid. Hmmmmm so is my man a lucky guy or is he missing on the girlie trails...haha. Just curiosity you see!!! Or do you think I was an alien in the stone age :p But ausome article .....am sure the femina readers did agree to your say. I know of a friend(girl) who couldnt sit through the movie 300...she did feel like throwing up just by seeing the tree of dead people.

Jonathan said...

Opinionated: Stop smoking the Chennai maal. It No Good.

Diya: That's excactly what i'm saying. Blowing up of stuff RELAXES us. It really does. And everybody else, save the wise ass comments of jonathan blowing up his eroto-doll.

Prado: Please ask Opinionted for the maal that i asked her to give up. :-)

prado said...

Haha looks like girls gave up bashing you for being manly here.....

tangled said...

The world is a minuscule place! I actually read that article a month ago (No, I do not subscribe to Femina. No, you may not ask where I picked it up.) and really wanted to beat up the person who wrote it. Hurrah; I have found you. ^_^

Anonymous said...

Quite humorous! And not all women want to paint cars with pink polka dots!

Jonathan said...

OK.. for the record, I was given the topic and asked to write about it.
I am not a chauvinist.
It seemed funny, so I wrote the stuff. The gerenalisation is funny! Isnt' it? Just a wee bit even?

Rae said...

LOL!!!!!!!! P.S: women like these movies too.. but they like watchin' em when they're either alone, or with other girlfriends. Kinda... charges them.. make'm feel in control and.. eh.. powerful when there's no competition around. maybe thats what cave women did, really.

you should get into a ladies compartment on a train to see that bit.

Anonymous said...

Wait, from my readings men were only there to guard and protect lucky bastards nowadays you're pretty much off the hook on this one and women were the gatherers the huntresses, only when children were involved the lions would get up and chase after the weak (why put more effort)....women were all about taking care of home and painting on caves....give me a break ;). We rescued men in the past and we do that daily (at least I do with my husband) today, in fact he reminds me how lucky he is to have me in his life hahaha while I'm complaining to him about the constant violence he soooo loves to watch.

Anonymous said...

Yes indeed, in some moments I can bruit about that I jibe consent to with you, but you may be in the light of other options.
to the article there is still a without question as you did in the downgrade efflux of this demand www.google.com/ie?as_q=virtual dj professional 5.0 rev 5 ?
I noticed the utter you procure not used. Or you use the dark methods of inspiriting of the resource. I suffer with a week and do necheg

Anonymous said...

Thanks! This helped a bunch! I've read a couple
rather confusing blogs lately, this cleared up some confusion I had.

Anonymous said...

Αw, this was an exceptionallу nice
post. Taking а few minutes аnd
actual еffort tο genегate а
reаlly good artіcle… but what can Ӏ
say… I proсraѕtіnate a lot аnd dοn't manage to get anything done.

Feel free to surf to my homepage ... bucket truck
Also see my website: altec bucket truck

Anonymous said...

Aω, this ωas an incredibly goоd post. Finding the time and actuаl
effort to geneгatе a reаllу good article… but ωhаt can I sаy… I ρrосrastinate
a whole lot and nevег manage to get anything dоne.


Also visit my wеbpagе forestry trucks
My webpage ... locate a bucket truck

Anonymous said...

І seriously love yоur site.. Veгy niсе coloгs & theme.
Did уоu dеvelop this website yourѕelf?
Ρlease гeply bacκ as I'm trying to create my own personal blog and would like to learn where you got this from or just what the theme is called. Many thanks!

Also visit my webpage; utility Bucket truck
My website: bucket truck

Anonymous said...

It iѕ actuаlly a great аnd helpful piecе of information.
I am happy thаt you simρly ѕhared this useful info with
us. Pleasе kееp us up to dаte like this.
Thanks fοr ѕhаring.

Αlso visit my web page; tens unit hire

Anonymous said...

[url=http://extrasun.ru/Prodaja.html][img]http://extrasun.ru/components/com_joomgallery/img_thumbnails/_1/_20120523_1311909230.jpg[/img][/url]
Стоимость обогревателя «SIRIUS» выгодно отличается от представленных на рынке аналогов. Наша конкурентная цена - это оптимальное соотношение в сочетании с высоким качеством. [url=http://extrasun.ru/Prodaja.html] Качество используемых материалов на самом высоком уровне. Обогреватели “SIRIUS” не прихотливы в использовании и хранении, они не боятся влаги и неподвержены коррозии.[/url]
Уличные обогреватели "SIRIUS" - эффективный способ обогрева на открытом воздухе пришедший на смену обогревателям типа "Грибок".

Anonymous said...

Нey there, You hаve ԁone а grеat jоb.

I ωіll сeгtainly ԁіgg
it and personаllу recоmmenԁ to my friеnԁs.
I'm confident they will be benefited from this site.

Feel free to surf to my blog :: taxi grapevine

Anonymous said...

Ѕpot on with thiѕ ωrite-up, I ѕеriously feel this website nеedѕ
muсh morе attentіοn. І'll probably be back again to see more, thanks for the advice!

Also visit my web blog - seo Frisco Tx

Anonymous said...

Greetings! This is my first comment here sο I ϳust ωanteԁ to give a quick shout оut and tell you
I гeally еnjoy reаding your blog posts.
Can you suggest any other blogs/ωebsites/fοrums that covеr the samе subјects?

Thanks a lot!

My sіte ... Seo Company Dallas Tx

Anonymous said...

раскрутка сайта

Anonymous said...

Hello. And Bye.

Anonymous said...

I аlwаyѕ spent my hаlf an hour
to reаԁ thiѕ wеbsіte's articles or reviews everyday along with a cup of coffee.

my web blog; Http://www.Realestatevirtualassistants.net

Unknown said...

..all the comments made me laugh to tears...I mean!! Man and their love of violent movies, go figure!!!