Running Head: WHY DO VIOLENT FILMS SUCCEED 1

Why Do Violent Films Succeed at the Box Office?

Nha Nguyen

University of California, Berkeley

College Writing R1A

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Why Do Violent Films Succeed at the Box Office?

In 2017, the “John Wick” movie came out but sadly I could not watch the movie with my

friends at the theater. This is because John Wick was an action movie and rated (R) level. The

audience must be over 17 years old to watch without a parent. Most of the scenes involve

shooting and killing people. Even though the film was very violent and teenagers could not see

it, “John Wick”’s box office is 171.5 million USD (“John”, n.d, page 1,). Why was the “John Wick”

movie such a success? Sydney Pollack can help us understand.

Sydney Irwin Pollack (1934-2008) was a director, actor, and producer. Pollack

contributed over 100 works such as films, and television shows. His works got several awards,

for example: “Out of Africa” (1986) won the Academy Awards for director and producer, and he

nominated for Best Director Oscars for “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They” (1969) and “Tootsie”

(1982) (“Sydney”, 10 September 2018, para. 1). In short, Pollack was successful in Hollywood.

He said that even though he did not know exactly format for successful film in his “The Way We

Are” speech, he understood that engaging movies get more profit, and that includes violent

action movies.

Pollack gave his speech “The Way We Are” at a conference about values in media. The

audience is mostly white, very conservative folk, with Christian minds. The audience believes

movies with traditional values is the good choice for the American film industry. The audience

includes people like Ted Baehr, who is the head of MovieGuide, an organization that supports

films with the traditional Christian perspectives. He believes the perfect clean movie is non-sex,

non-violent, has no foul language and needs to have strong Christian, moral, biblical values.

Baehr believes such a film can educate people in a good way. For example, “The Lion The Witch
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And The Wardrobe” (1979) he rates with four stars on MovieGuide (“The Lion” 1979). The

movie revolves around four kids who travel to a new world, fight against a witch, and help

people. Pollack converses with his audience to show his argument that films are just products

and only reflect what happened in society at the time.

Pollack’s speech points out films created to make a profit but not for art or to educate

people. This is because the filmmaker needs investment support to make the film. Pollack

argues that “whether we say that we’re ‘creating a film’ or merely ‘making a movie' the

enterprise itself is sufficiently expensive and risky that it cannot be, and it will not be,

undertaken without the hope of reward” (para. 12). In another word, the filmmaker needs to

worry about financing as he makes a film because the film cost a lot of money to make. So, the

producer requires investment to create a movie. A report from Garon (2009) titled “Film

Financing: Equity and Debt Financing” verify that filmmakers have three ways get investment:

selling the right to distribute and exhibit the film prior, debt financing or equity investment.

Either way, when the film comes out to the market, they need to recoup all the investments

(para. 1-4).

The film is expensive to make, but convincing the consumer go to watch it is even more

challenging. As a consumer, my experience is that movies with traditional values do not get my

attention. The fact the film industry has more violent, sex, or foul language movies is because

these movies reflect the current society. In his speech “The Way We Are” Pollack also wants to

help the audience understand this new movie value. The filmmaker must have the same view

as the consumer, and connect to the consumer about what is happening in society now. So, the
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target consumer feels she can relate to the film and go to watch it. The film that makes the

most profit is the movie reflecting social values.

Filmmakers cannot bring back old values with their films. Pollack explains, “Attempting

to reinstall them by arbitrarily putting them into movies when they don’t exist in everyday life

will not get the people to go to the movie”. Life is not perfect. If the filmmaker tries to put

anything good into the movie then that movie just makes the audience feel the story is fake,

forced, and boring. Why do they need to pay their money to watch the filmmaker’s dream?

Instead, the perfect movie not makes the audience feel touch or connected to the movie.

In the U.S. the issue of violence is increasing every day. In the news, people are likely to

see a man shooting, killing people for reasons such as bullying, racism, domestic violence, or

robbery. There have been 280 mass shootings in 2018, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence

Archive, which tracks shooting in the U.S (“Gun Violence,” n.d.). Put into this respective, we are

282 days into the year, which means the U.S has had more than one mass shooting a day in

2018. Society is full of gun violence, and filmmakers want the consumers to feel they can relate

to their films. So, it is no wonder the new American value film is including more scenes of gun

violence. One study found that PG-13-gun violence movies are increasing in the film industry

(Bushman. B, Jamieson. P, Weitz. I, Romer. D, November 13, para. 3). The fact is guns depicted

in the top-selling films. The result is the violent movie can reach more consumers, because

these movies get more attention and interest from the audience. Like Pollack says, a good

movie does not make the consumer fall into sleep. Instead, good films engage our emotions, as

Pollack says, and violence makes us feel strong emotions. Pollack tells his audience, “You are

debating whether movies corrupt our souls or elevate them, and I’m debating whether a film
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will touch a soul” (para. 29). The films that tell real stories about society touch audiences, and

make them feel and care and want to discuss the film with friends. This is true not just of the

United States but other countries too as China.

My favorite movies that I watched the most were Chinese movies when I still was a kid

and I experienced the change of Chinese movies’ value over time. Pollack’s argument applies in

the Chinese movie industry too. The old films were based on the traditional culture and the way

the people used to live, with very limited or no sex at all because the conservative society did

not allow discussion about sexuality. The Chinese filmmakers followed the five constant virtues:

kindness, decency, uprightness, wisdom, and faithfulness. The filmmaker produced movies with

these values to educate people. However, that type of movie no longer gets the consumers’

attention in the China or foreign countries where people watch Chinese movies. The current

Chinese movies include scenes of nudity, sex, violence, shooting, fighting, and less about the

five constant virtues. The Chinese film reflects the social change from one of sexism, anti-sex,

and Kungfu to a mind of globalization, equality of gender and openness about sex, romance,

and fascination with technology. As a result, the Chinese film industry is reaching more foreign

countries. For example: the Chinese action film titled “The Grandmaster” is the Best Foreign

Language Film in the U.S. (“The Grandmaster”, n.d).

In sum, the film industry really shows what we have in common today. Pollack

understands that the values in film changes every day to reflect closely society in his speech

“The Way We Are”, and why these new value films make more profit and are successful.

Because films are just a form of storytelling, people want to know what is happening and going

on around them, and feel touched by the stories. Consumers watch movies to make their life
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more interesting, not to get an education through the film. The “John Wick” movie may not

teach anything to the audience but the movie makes the audience feel something. The movie

gets the audience’s attention and interest.

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References

Bushman. B, Jamieson. P, Weitz. I, Romer. D. Gun Violence Trends in Movie (November 2013).

Retrieved from

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2013/11/06/peds.2013-1600

Garon. J. Film Financial: Equity and Debt Financing. (August, 2009). Retrieved from

http://www.gcglaw.com/resources/entertainment/film_financing.html

John Wick: Chapter two. (n.d) boxofficemojo. Retrieved from

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=johnwick2.htm

Pollack, S. The way we are. (n.d). Retrieved from

https://bcourses.berkeley.edu/courses/1475286/files/folder/Readings/U2%20Readings

?preview=73496239

The Grandmaster (film). (n.d). Wikipedia. Retrieved from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grandmaster_(film)

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. (n.d). Movieguide.org. Retrieved from

https://www.movieguide.org/tv/the-lion-the-witch-and-the-wardrobe-1979

Sydney Pollack (10 September, 2018). Wikipedia. Retrieved from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Pollack