Ovde - Početak

193
Film violence is a complex matter which can be
addressed from diverse angles. There are studies that focus on
the filmmaking art itself and analyse ways of capturing violence
on screen, explain its aesthetisation and present the chronicles of
most significant violence films. Conversely, the social/historical
studies which place film violence in the context of social
events and neglect its cinematographic value are notably more
frequent. None of the studies that were consulted in the writing
of this paper strived towards combining these two approaches
in a comprehensive understanding of the construction of film
violence and its influence on its audience. This paper presents
an attempt to overcome this problem and explain film violence
considering its key defining factors. The emphasis will be placed
on three key factors that define and shape film violence: the social
context, the development of the grammar of film language and
the censorship. Furthermore, the paper looks at the importance
of the three factors in certain chapters of the history of film. The
paper, however, does not purport to give a detailed account of
the film violence chronology, nor does it list all the noteworthy
films for a research like this. The primary aim was to provide
explanation of the cinematographic representation of violence
using a limited number of most significant violence films as
examples and also contemplate its social impact. Based on the
three criteria which define film violence, the paper divides its
cinematographic representation into two key periods. According
to the shooting approach, the level of censorship imposed on
the director and the social circumstances, one can recognize
two chapters in film history regarding on-screen violence: the
classical approach – marked by the nonexplicit aesthetics of
violence – and the post-classical approach – where the explicit
aesthetics of violence prevails.
Moreover, apart from the attempt to explain film violence,
this paper deals with the social impact of its representation. The
results of empirical researches and the most striking examples
of violent actions of film characters are not merely listed and
outlined. They are incorporated into the framework of the moral