The movie industry has grown beyond just graphical display to tell a story, it is now considered one of the major areas with lot of investment opportunities. Ever wondered if movies have any other motives apart from just entertainment, every movie is meant to communicate a message the audience but along the line the concept of a movie got lost in the action. The shift in the objectives of production of Tv shows and movies can't be fully attributed to the producers, they are only dancing to the tune of the audience. Only few people doesn't enjoy watching movies that involves violence, bloodshed e.t.c what is the point of producing a movie if it doesn't appeal to the audience? That is one of the things that runs through the mind of every producer.
When I was still a kid, we never really paid any attention to the message in a movie, all we cared about was the action. In most Nigerian homes, what parents really paid attention to was sexual related movies but when it comes to action most parents just let it slide. I remember the first time I watched a movie called "George of the jungle" at first it never really occurred to my parents that I was imitating every action in the movie till I eventually decided to hang a rope on the ceiling fan and take a spin across the sitting room. Everything went well except for the fact that I ended up landing on my arm, well it could have been worst but then that was just one out of the many action from a movie I tried to imitate. Who would blame me afterall every kid engage in fantasies.
It makes you wonder if such irrational behaviour caused by trying to imitate actions from a movie only apply to kids, sadly it is not. Movies have a way of influencing our imaginations and behaviours in ways we never thought possible. We might not notice immediately but subconsciously the things we watch in some movies manifest. Last year i finished watching a Tv series titled "The walking dead". I have watched a lot of zombie related movies and apocalypse but the kind of violence in this movie is inhumane. This series has about 11 seasons and every episode is packed with violence and tragedy. I'm a big fan of action movies especially the ones with a good story line which is one of the reasons why I chose to watch the movie. The weird thing is that after I finished the series I never tried to watch it again, Which happens to be an habit of mine but for this specific series I couldn't.
What happened was that after watching the series I suddenly became very paranoid and find it very difficult to relax. It was as if I was in danger but I wasn't. Based on the betrayal and pain I saw in the movie suddenly made me feel the world is no longer a safe place. It took me awhile to figure out the root of my suddenly paranoia. Naturally I'm a little bit paranoid but the movie escalated it. It turns out that the movie influenced my perspective of the world, though the leach of the movie influence was not tight enough to push me into doing things like acting on any of my imaginations.
It makes me wonder, if a violent movie could add to my paranoia, wouldn't it be possible that other movies that involves crimes, drugs e.t.c will also be capable of influencing people who already have a little bit of interest in it. A robbery occurred in Nigeria about 3 years ago, I have forgotten the exact state and which bank was involved but this robbery was a trend on social media for a while. The reason was that the armed robbers wore similar costume to the one that was worn in a Tv series called "Money heist" which happens to be one of the greatest series about robbery mastermind, I mean have you ever seen any other movies that armed robbers were granted national pardon? It mean it was no Brainer when people started suggesting that the series had something to do with the decisions made by the armed robbers. I mean they allowed their imagination from the movie to manifest.
I'm a fan of crime related movies too but some of these movies look so real that some people might even decide to imitate it in real life. We also have crime documentaries such as "The Jewel Thief" A real life documentary that involves the thief himself telling his own story and robbery adventures. He look so cool in that movie that you might even admire his creativity in stealing. Which is one of many documentaries that glorifies crimes.
I'm not saying crime movies are bad but I strongly believe there should be boundaries that suggests that for whatever reason crime is bad. Not movies that makes audience feel like in some ways they can walk freely after committing a crime just like a movie titled "how to get away with murder". Imagine everyone going around with the imagination that crime is cool or it has no consequences, how safe do you think our society will be?.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "Glorifying crime" in hive learners community.
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