Schwarzenegger: Video Games Are More Violent Than My New Movie

[BlameTheWizards]

Schwarzenegger: Video Games Are More Violent Than My New Movie


Arnold's new movie about a DEA squad being viciously hunted following a drug cartel bust apparently has nothing on today's video games.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is making the interview rounds ahead of the launch of his new movie, Sabotage, and has said that the violence in the film is nothing compared to modern video games.

"I think violence is political now: 'maybe if there is no violence in movies, there will be no violence in the world.' I don't believe that. The video games our children play are much, much more violent than anything in this movie," Schwarzenegger said in an interview with <a href=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/10728766/Arnold-Schwarzenegger-Video-games-are-more-violent-than-my-new-movie.html>The Telegraph.

The movie features Schwarzenegger as the head of a DEA unit, whose family and colleagues become the target of vicious murders following a drug cartel bust. The movie is meant to be an homage to the films of directors like Sam Peckinpah, Brian De Palma and Walter Hill, "who made very brutal kind of masculine movies," Schwarzenegger said. We've posted a trailer for you to draw your own conclusions as to where Arnold's latest falls within the spectrum of media violence.

As pointed out by GamePolitics, the former Governator's statements are especially ironic considering recent events in California, where Schwarzenegger served as governor from 2003 to 2011. In 2005, Schwarzenegger signed and endorsed anti-game legislation sponsored by none other than Senator Leland Yee, who earlier this week <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/133259-Senator-Leland-Yee-Arrested-On-Corruption-Charges>was arrested on corruption charges. Since then, Yee has been accused of <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/133310-Leland-Yee-Affidavit-Reveals-a-Stunning-Array-Of-Charges>gun-running, ties to Chinese gangs and business with Russian arms dealers.

Source: <a href=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/10728766/Arnold-Schwarzenegger-Video-games-are-more-violent-than-my-new-movie.html>The Telegraph, via <a href=http://www.gamepolitics.com/2014/03/28/arnold-schwarzenegger-video-games-are-more-violent-my-new-film>GamePolitics

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[Alexander Kirby]

That's right, shift the blame, shift the blame. *sigh*
Also, the trailer smells of Breaking Bad.

 

[Alpha Maeko]

The Governator signed that?

I'm convinced. Time to go burn all my game discs.

 

[Ratty]

Well the trailer for his new movie makes it look boring so he's probably right. But I guess it's just indicative of the mindset of a lot of older individuals. "The video games our children play" is an incredibly broad spectrum. Your kid could be playing Pac-Man or Splatterhouse, Bejeweled or Manhunt. Unless you, you know, do some actual parenting when it comes to the media you let them consume.

 

[AJey]

If children are playing violent video games, the fault is not in the games themselves, but rather the parents who allow them. So nice try, Mr. Governor-that-could.

 

[CriticalMiss]

The video games our children play are much, much more violent than anything in this movie

Ok and what about your old movies Arnie? I guess those don't count though, because reasons.

 

[PuckFuppet]

I think people might be picking this up wrong. He wasn't criticising video games but instead criticising the concept that banning violent video games, films or books will somehow "fix" violence in society.

EDIT: Or just getting ahead of any "This film will influence children and convince them that violence is ok!" argument by pointing out the obvious, there are plenty of other avenues that this can happen and for the most part it doesn't.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

The video games our children play are much, much more violent than anything in this movie,"

Methinks someone does not understand the purpose of PEGI/ERSB rating systems.

If your young children are playing games more violent than a movie about drug busting, murdering, torture and strippers... YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!

 

[AnthrSolidSnake]

This debate was old years ago. Children playing violent video games is not the fault of the game, or the people that made the game. If parents would actually do some parenting, rather than blindly purchase something and then wait until someone cries "GAMEZ R EVUL" to make a fuss about it, we wouldn't be having this problem.

I'm not going to sit here and say violent games and movies don't desensitize people to said violence, because that's not the issue. The issue is parents not giving a crap until they are made out to be a bad parent, at which point they side along with politicians using video games as an incredibly convenient scapegoat.

Also, if I want to let my 8 year old play GTAV, that's my choice, as long as I was aware what I was giving them. Is it appropriate for an 8 year old? Most people would agree no, but I would have made the decision as an informed parent. If for some reason the child would decide to reenact something specifically from the game, I'M to blame, not the game itself.

 

[Commander Obvious]

We know. That's why we'll be playing our awesomely violent video games instead of watching his lame movie.

 

[DeathDaisy]

'Movies are more violent than my new video game' would be an equally valid claim by quite a lot of game developers. The whole thing is quite silly.

 

[SilverStuddedSquirre]

The video games our children play are much, much more violent than anything in this movie

Ok and what about your old movies Arnie? I guess those don't count though, because reasons.

I was gonna say, when I was a child, Arnold Schwarzenegger was the most Violent thing on the planet.
How dare Conan the Barbarian, The Terminator, Slayer of the Predator, say jack shit about Violence in Media?
YOU are the FACE of a DECADE of violent media.

Jesus, Fuck! ************! (Penn Jillette voice)

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Then why are "our children" (which are actually "your children" because I don't have any) playing these games? Why aren't their parents stopping them?

Besides, there may be more violence in games than in movies, but the violence in movies is typically much more realistically displayed. Arnold, don't you remember throwing aside a pair of dismemebered arms while quipping "see you at the party, Ricther"? Or the body of a bystander getting chewed apart by submachine guns and pistols while you used it as a shield? Or blowing the brains out of a bald guy's head? All this was in Total Recall, that movie you starred in back in 1990. And show me a game that has the carnage of the first Starship Troopers movie, where Marines are literally torn in half by giant insects, and a drill sergeant pins a recruit's hand to a wall with a thrown knife. (And before anyone tells me that the movies are rated R and "wouldn't be seen by kids", I saw a woman bring her two prepubescent kids into a theater showing of Starship Troopers.)

The pot should always look in the mirror before telling the kettle that it's black.

 

[fluxy100]

Okay so can anyone point out to me where Arnold said anything about the violence in games was bad? All he said was that games are more violent then movies. I'd agree with him, games are pretty violent but that doesn't make them bad or good. So why is everyone jumping to defend video games or bash Arnold? Are we this quick to jump to the side of defend video games at any perceived slight even when there aren't any?

 

[MatsVS]

Eh, everything in this homogeneous, broken culture of ours has to be violent and stupid and ironic to the point where there are no themes, no meaning, no substance. It's disheartening, but I'm not sure what Arnie is getting at here.

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

Oh, here we go again.

This debate was old years ago. Children playing violent video games is not the fault of the game, or the people that made the game. If parents would actually do some parenting, rather than blindly purchase something and then wait until someone cries "GAMEZ R EVUL" to make a fuss about it, we wouldn't be having this problem.

I'm not going to sit here and say violent games and movies don't desensitize people to said violence, because that's not the issue. The issue is parents not giving a crap until they are made out to be a bad parent, at which point they side along with politicians using video games as an incredibly convenient scapegoat.

Also, if I want to let my 8 year old play GTAV, that's my choice, as long as I was aware what I was giving them. Is it appropriate for an 8 year old? Most people would agree no, but I would have made the decision as an informed parent. If for some reason the child would decide to reenact something specifically from the game, I'M to blame, not the game itself.

I'm just quoting this because there's not much more that needs to be said. Don't outlaw beef because a baby can't chew it. If your kids are consuming age-inappropriate media, you only have yourself to blame.

 

[PuckFuppet]

Are we this quick to jump to the side of defend video games at any perceived slight even when there aren't any?

Apparently yes. Maybe it was the tone of the article or just a set of assumptions made by the first poster and followed on from there.

 

[AnthrSolidSnake]

Okay so can anyone point out to me where Arnold said anything about the violence in games was bad? All he said was that games are more violent then movies. I'd agree with him, games are pretty violent but that doesn't make them bad or good. So why is everyone jumping to defend video games or bash Arnold? Are we this quick to jump to the side of defend video games at any perceived slight even when there aren't any?

I think we might have jumped the gun a little bit, but really I find that it's this quote here: "The video games our children play are much, much more violent than anything in this movie". To me, it seems like he's trying to divert attention from how violent his movie might be, by making video games seem more violent in comparison in an attempt to justify the violence in movies. It's sort of like how people who defend guns also divert people to video games, saying it's not owning a gun that's the problem, it's video games telling kids to use the gun.

But yes, I'll take blame personally for myself jumping to the conclusion that he was saying the violence was bad. But really, can you blame me when almost every other day there is some person or organization somewhere trying to hold video games in a negative light, something I hold very dear to me and had since childhood?