Ever seen an Indiana Jones movie? How about an Avengers movie? Pirates of the Caribbean? Nacho Libre? Any movie with some extent of action or fighting? Well, if the answer is no, you really need to get a Netflix account (especially for Nacho Libre). If it’s a yes, then you have likely been exposed to a concept known as “happy violence”. This term is used to describe scenes in the media that contain violence but in a glorified, somewhat justified or comedic way. There may be violence that ultimately leads to a happy ending in a show, which gives the impression of moderating said violence. It is often without any real consequence, and is sometimes glamorous (think; immense explosion in the background as an unfazed character played by Ryan Gosling wears sunglasses and walks in slow motion towards the camera). Happy violence has a habit of allowing those who view it to become desensitized and dazed by the amount of fighting and dismantling.
Let’s take a look at a few more specific examples:
(Links in the references at the bottom)
In these scenes, there are a series of heroes and villains, where one side is being rooted for and causes the viewer to hope the evil-do-er gets what's coming to him/her/it. It somehow allows the violence taking place to carry on with less gravity and provides more justification for their actions. I always wonder how the city pays for reconstruction after Hulk destroys everything. They must pay a ton in taxes.
References:
The Avengers: All Hulk Smash Scenes
https://youtu.be/tDt4HaHLp6k
Spider-Man : Peter Parker vs. Flash Thompson "School Fight" (2002)
Yoda Fight Scenes
https://youtu.be/IRd9PGmAQUE
Best Fight Scenes of Avegers 2 Part 1
https://youtu.be/QkF-Rhl449U
Hey, I find it interesting that after reading and watching your blog, you also decided to use scenes from the Avengers. In my blog I decided to use a clip from Iron Man 2 when he is fighting on the racetrack. I think its cool how we used similar clips in our definition of what happy violence is. I too had a similar written definition of happy violence in my blog. Its interesting that the media decides to use all these explosions and fighting scenes in the movies we watch, and yet we do not feel any sort of negative feelings when watching them.
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