mounting violence in mainstream entertainment

I just had a thought the other day.

Being a MMA fan( mostly to see how the styles really stack up in a real time scenario) i wonder how long it will be until we start edging towards more and more violent forms of entertainment?

Most of us have seen ( Roller Ball(original and remake),and Running Man) types of extreme sport movies and the Japanese have some pretty far out gameshows that are pretty violent (MXS just to name one but there are more).

Movie concepts like"Condemned" (updated Running Man) or even "Hard Target" are scary to think about when you realize how easy it would be to pull off with a fat enough bankroll.

Is our collective attention span getting so reliant on a constant adrenalin rush to be entertained that we will soon turn to more violent and lethal forms of mainstream entertainment?

I see you are talking about real violence here, but have you noticed how many cop-oriented shows are beginning to resemble a nightly gore and gristle fest? And of course every one now has a scene of jack-booted storm troopers kicking people's doors down. It's all part of the conditioning process--gradually getting the dumbed-down public used to a more violent and brutal future ahead of us.

ps
what's MMA?

I dont mind war or combat violence in my media but I personally think they have been going over board with all these tourture and Saw like movies where the killer just kills for his own sick obsession.

If it was up to me though I would not mind if old style gladiator games were still allowed barring all competitors were willing participants. I dont mind watching violence that both parties agreed to partake in but I absolutley hate sensless random killing in media.

MMA (mixed martial arts, UFC, PRIDE, ETC...) sorry for not explaining, i forget sometimes that some ppl don't follow it.

Originally posted by Slickinfinity
I dont mind war or combat violence in my media but I personally think they have been going over board with all these tourture and Saw like movies where the killer just kills for his own sick obsession.

If it was up to me though I would not mind if old style gladiator games were still allowed barring all competitors were willing participants. I dont mind watching violence that both parties agreed to partake in but I absolutley hate sensless random killing in media.

by old style "Gladiator Games" do you mean like re-creations to display the skill involved(i hope so because fighting with weapons is no game, willing participants or not)

reply to post by howie0

Not to be flippant, but I bet there's some clever French theorist along the Baudrillard/Guy de Bord axis who would say that we already have ultraviolent media entertainment in the form of (for example) videotaped al-Qaeda beheadings, that the military/entertainment/industrial complex has simply outsourced all the snuff clip production to al-Qaeda and other job shops overseas because they can do the work cheaper and they're eager and they're not held back by a bunch of red tape and unnecessary laws. Kinda like how we export certain polluting manufacturing jobs to where workers are cheap and there's no concern for toxic dumping or labor conditions.

i have read some of the comments on the few vids (beheadings and military executions etc...) i have viewed and there is some merit to your take on "ultraviolent entertainment" as some of the commenters seem to be entertained by these vids.