This past weekend, I took a trip to my local movie theater to see the new Marvel film, "Deadpool." While I was incredibly aware of the film's R-rating and expected the language to be more colorful than your friendly neighborhood superhero film, it did not dawn on me that this R-rating also implied more brutal violence as well. I enjoyed the film overall and it was incredibly entertaining, but I was especially unsettled by the copious amounts of sheer gore that was featured in this film. What I found to be even more unsettling was the fact that nobody was talking about this aspect of "Deadpool;" if they were going to be disgusted by anything, it was the sexual content, not the violence.
This isn't just an issue with "Deadpool" either. One of the most popular and talked-about shows on television nowadays is T"he Walking Dead," which heavily features gruesome acts of violence in every episode. Surprisingly enough, I've never heard a single person complain about the gore on that show. I know multiple people who won't watch shows on HBO like "Game of Thrones" because they commonly contain sex scenes, but they don't even question watching someone die a brutal, up-close-and-personal death on "The Walking Dead." "Game of Thrones" contains a fair amount of violent content, as well, yet, the first thing people tend to complain about is the nudity. Why are we so accepting of brutal violence in this day and age to the point where we don't even question its presence in the media we choose to consume?
Call me old-fashioned, but I miss the days when horrific acts of violence were implied, rather than shown, on film and television. Sometimes less is more when it comes to storytelling. Not to mention that when a violent act is implied instead of shown, it typically maintains the power of the scene, perhaps even enhancing whatever effect the scene intends to have on an audience. Additionally it doesn't desensitize the viewer in the process.
With it already being hailed as a critical and commercial success, "Deadpool" is more than likely going to inspire a lot of knock-off films of the same nature in the years to come. But I'm not sure if I want that. Sure, I'll take more wise-cracking, vulgar anti-heroes that break the fourth wall, but I don't want R-rated violence to become commonplace in these movies. I already have enough trouble sitting through PG-13 violence as it is, I don't want us to go even further in visually depicting every gory detail of each violent confrontation that our protagonists endure.
