I have never quite understood the attraction of gory films and especially not the modern type of horror movies such as Hostel I and II, the Saw series et al. However, their attraction is something that rather interests me both from a psychological and creative perspective.
I have figured out why young men - and they are mostly young men - like this sort of thing. They feel it's a virility test to sit through and not cringe or look away. It's even more so if there is a woman around who balks at the scenes on the screen. Why is this a manly test? Its because the media in the West, more specifically the Anglosphere, are keen to keep young adults naive about death and destruction.
They are so keen to create a bubble for people to live in that they have desensitised a whole generation of young men. These men seem to enjoy seeing depictions of torture and over-the-top violence. Is it any wonder that some of them, once in the military or another position of dominance, act in a despicable manner?
I am willing to bet that most of these viewers could not sit through a live autopsy or even in some cases an operation. Because violent entertainment is "not real" they can handle it, but when it's genuine, they would likely have a hard time. These are the types who are perfectly happy to see people disemboweled on screen but the thought of dressing a deer turns them off.
These sort of things show up on TV and in the newspapers in all but certain Western countries. I can remember, as a very small child, seeing pictures of the bodies that resulted from Hurricane Fifi in Honduras. Their press could care less about showing a dead baby recovered from a buried house. They were reporting the news as it happened, pulling no punches.
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