Torture
By Sarah Timmings
While I was visiting my family recently, my younger brother asked my mother if he could see Saw VI. When she asked what it was about, 12-year-old James responded, “Torture and murder and stuff.” Let me think. Um, no. No, James, you can’t see a movie about torture and murder and stuff.
Watching people suffer and die has been a pastime of the human race since Lucy and the other Australopithecus afarensis laughed at Ricky for tripping over a rock. Public executions were practically entertainment well up until the 18th century. Crowds gathered to watch hangings, decapitations, and other unimaginable fates. And the great, classical civilizations like Rome sold out whole amphitheaters so people could watch lions maul, kill, and eat Christians—not that the Christians didn’t give as good as they got.
Bring up any of these topics in modern conversations, and I guarantee people will respond with discomfort and revulsion—as they should. But, if we really have moved past these public displays of violence and gore, why has Saw VI grossed (pun intended) roughly $30 million? Or an even better question would be: why are we on the sixth movie in this franchise?
Twisted Pictures and its parent company Evolution Pictures are responsible for bringing the Saw series into our lives. In fact, the Saw series is Twisted Pictures only real claim to fame, and Evolution Pictures isn’t much better off. At first I blamed Hollywood for being unoriginal. They find one idea that sells a lot of tickets, and then proceed to make sequel after sequel. And that is definitely part of the problem, but more disturbing is the fact that people keep paying to see these movies.
When I asked a friend why he would watch such a gory movie, he asked if I had seen Saving Private Ryan. Ugh! Yes, Saving Private Ryan is violent, but it starts during the D-Day invasion and is a historical representation of what really happened that day. Viewers were supposed to watch that and think, “Wow! War really is awful and inhuman,” and then maybe thank a veteran for a change. When most people exit the theater, most of the comments about Saw VI are how “awesome/gross/sick” it was when Jigsaw (the renowned killer) hacked/sliced/blew that guy’s arm/stomach/head off. Nice.
And it’s not just Americans. The Saw series is hugely popular in Europe and Asia. Spain was the only country to deem this gratuitous violence unacceptable. They gave the move an X rating so it can only be seen in the country’s eight X-Rated theaters. It’s official: torture porn is now a legitimate genre.
Photo Credit: thukral
I have seen all six of the Saw movies. Honestly I loved the first two and the fifth one, but the sixth one was just a disappointment. By the way there is a seventh one coming out.
I watch the movies because I like horrors. I like to be scared and grossed out. But if you take a deeper look, Saw is not only about scaring people. It teaches you to value life and spend it in a way that helps others. Is it gross? Yes. Is it too bloody? Yes. Is it pointless? No! Or at least the first two weren’t.
Couldn’t agree with you more, as the series never really won me over. And beyond the annual sequels you had ripoffs like Hostel & Turistas. To add to Andreana’s point, you can see validity to her claim when you go outside the horror genre and look at the popularity that Passion of the Christ took worldwide. I guess graphic torture and murder evokes the right emotions for some people. I’ll stick to valuing life without the anatomy lesson thank you, which means I’ll likely miss out on Saw 14: Saw 3D. Keep up the good work, I look forward to your future posts!