Are You Affected by Negative Scenes in Movies? How So?

Updated on February 24, 2013
L.F. asks from Petaluma, CA
13 answers

HI Ladies,

I would like to know if you are affected emotionally or have a strong physical response to violence,and or negative scenes in movies/documentaries etc. Some people can watch someone get shot in the head and it won't phase them because they know its fake and they don't take it on personally. Some have to close their eyes and can't look til its over. Others like me relate with the character and think about the reprocussions like their families, kids, how it changed their lives etc. Where do you see yourself?

I personally have always been extremely sensitive and reading the news, movies, and or social media has a big impact on me. Part of it is because of my personality and I want to help everyone in this world and part is due to my traumatic events in my life. I have PTSD (Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder) and just wanted to know how others are affected.

For example it is very hard for me to read a story about : Children being hurt, or animals---Any kind of social injustice--war crimes, especially anything with children involved. I know my limits and make sure I am careful about what I watch and what my kids watch.

When I watched Shindler's List a while back, I had nightmares for weeks and was physically ill and unable to watch many parts of the film. I am deeply empathetic of friends and their ancestors and seeing what they went through tears me up inside.

Does anyone else feel the same way???

Also just to let you know :

Counseling is awesome and I recommend it for everyone!

I am not seeking advice around anything other than the question.

Thanks so much!

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Featured Answers

F.H.

answers from Phoenix on

I feel the same way. I can't remember the name of the movie now, but it had a scene in it where a man was beating a woman, but it was graphic, went on and on and I was literally getting heart palpatations, upset stomach and stressed out. Same thing with *the* scene from Woman with a Dragon Tattoo. So now if I know ahead of time that there will be a scene like those, I won't see it. I don't like bloody, explicit movies either, but will close my eyes for those parts. I cannot watch at ALL any kind of evil spirit/ghost movies...I cover my eyes when they pop up in the previews in movies. And opposite, I cry and sob at happy endings. lol

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S.T.

answers from Washington DC on

giggling at the counseling fend-off.........
:)
yeah, some movie scenes hit me in the viscera even though my brain knows it's not real. i watched schindlers list once, then once again when i was doing world war II with my homeschoolers. i don't ever want to watch it again.
but it doesn't affect me to the degree it does you.
i don't think there's an easy line to draw about what's safe to watch. i did let my kids play video games (they're still fairly avid gamers as young adults), and never censored what they read. they've never had any trouble differentiating fact from fiction and are balanced, well-adjusted young men.
but they are almost certainly de-sensitized to violence to some degree.
if we think that hours of violent images have no effect, how is it that 20 second advertising blips actually work?
khairete
S.

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B.K.

answers from New York on

I can't watch movies where kids get hurt. I just always picture it happening to my kids and then I will be haunted by it for weeks and my poor husband will have to endure me crying over it because I can hardly cope with it. I tell family not to tell me when they hear about tragic stories of kids. I get really angry when they don't take me seriously and talk about something sad in front of me. It really effects me. I also don't watch scary movies because I imagine those things also happening to my kids or myself. No one around me seems to understand me.

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L.H.

answers from San Diego on

I have a friend who has a similar reaction to the one you describe. She's an artist, writer, sympathetic and sensitive.

I'm a therapist dealing with trauma and bereavement. I have to be careful not to overload so I typically watch comedies. Though I am a news junkie, I do have to disengage or I become a. bogged down by the world of hurt or b. experience compassion fatigue which obviously doesn't do anyone any good.

I'm sure you don't relish the symptoms of PTSD, but you are uniquely positioned to be that much more compassionate.

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S.G.

answers from Grand Forks on

A movie based on real events, such as Schindlers List has more of an effect on me then a movie that is based in fiction, like Inglourious Basterds. It is not a negative effect, just an emotional reaction. I did have a nightmare after watching a courtroom scene in Nuremberg. I am a news junkie and read the paper daily. Some stories obviously evoke a negative reaction, but I think knowledge is power and I would rather know.

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R.A.

answers from Boston on

Yeah, I'm an emotional wreak when it comes to watching movies. I cannot watch movies that are too dark/intense and disturbing. Although I can watch psychological thriller type movies without cringing.

Mostly because of my work in the mental health field, I find I try to analyze what is going on in that person's mind. What is making that person tick, their behaviors/etc. Movies like Silence of the Lambs, The Girl with Dragon Tattoo, Kiss the Girls/Along Came a Spider, etc..I can watch without cringing. Figuring out the ending makes it easier to watch these kinds of movies.

Now the ones that I cannot watch, or if I do, I usually get sick are movies like Precious, The Black Swan..I couldn't finish due to their extremely raw and disturbing nature.

I mostly watch period dramas. Ones that are either historically accurate, or based on well known novels. Movies like Jane Eyre, Anna Karenina, Gettysburg, etc. I actually was very fond of Schindler's List. One, because of the historical significance, and two, because it tells of a story of someone who risked their own lives to help save countless others.

Remembrance of what people went through isn't scary, you know? It's important, and makes you a better person in the long run.

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P.M.

answers from Indianapolis on

I cry. I analyze. Or both. And somethings I just can't watch, period.

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P.G.

answers from Dallas on

I could watch more before I had my son, but I am so much more sensitive now. I was able to watch Schlindler's List before, but now I cry at everything in the film. I tuned in at a scene when a woman was trying to get help to free her parents and he turned her away, then Ben Kingsley's character talks to him about how brutal the commandant is. Schlindler starts talking, and gives him his watch of his wrist to pay for their release. I started to cry when he started taking the watch off.

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I.X.

answers from Los Angeles on

Yes, I'm very sensitive to violence in movies and news stories involving children, animals, or innocent loss of life. My husband knows I close my eyes during violence and lets me know when its safe to open again. Since the nature of graphic violence has escalated, we don't even bother with most violent movies. Many times I yell at him for telling me news stories that I just don't want to hear about.

I watched a documentary on the Kinsey report and the extent to which children were molested to collect data. While everyone else in the room was saddened, I was almost unable to function. So many of the children molested were the age of my little girls.

I'm very sensitive yet, nothing traumatic has ever happened to me.

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~.~.

answers from Tulsa on

I am more affected if it was based on a true story, in that I might feel sad about the situation for a few days. If it is a purely fiction movie, I might feel sad while watching the movie, depending on if I like the character that was killed/tortured/whatever, but then I'm over it the next day.

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B.F.

answers from Dallas on

Yeah, I am pretty particular on the media violence. I like James Bond, the Bourne movies kind of smart, action, blow 'um up kind of stuff.

I would never even try to watch S. List or any CSI type shows or Silence of the Lambs or really anything R rated for violence. I have walked out on DVDs so H doesn't even try.

I am aware that there are women and kids living in terrible circumstances out there and I can't be a part of making that entertainment.

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S.H.

answers from Honolulu on

I like action flicks. James Bond, spy flicks, martial arts movies, those that are obviously not real.
Don't like horror flicks or those that depict people being raped/tortured.
Those kinds of "horrors" I do not watch those films.
Too graphic for my taste and too "real."

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R.H.

answers from Houston on

I hate movies that seem to be made for imbeciles--comedy that is soooo predictible, boy meets girl... way too basic for my taste. Those give me nightmares....

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