A recent study published in JAMA Pediatrics revealed an increase in violent language in film dialogues over the past 50 years. Researchers from the University of Maryland and Ohio State University, including communication scientist Brad Bushman, analyzed the subtitles of more than 166,534 English-language films produced from 1970 to 2020. The study found a sustained increase in the usage of murder verbs such as "kill" and "murder" across all film genres, with a particularly notable rise in crime films.
The research team utilized an English subtitle database from OpenSubtitles.org to extract dialogues indicating character actions. They focused specifically on the active use of "kill" and "murder," excluding passive forms, negations, and questions. According to Scientias, around 7 percent of the movies contained such verbs in the dialogue during the studied period.
"The findings suggest that murder is mentioned in movies more often than in reality, and the quantity is increasing," said Professor Babak Fotouhi from the University of Maryland, a co-author of the study, according to La Opinión. "This is evidence that violence occupies a larger part of movies than ever before."
"Characters in non-crime films talk more about killing and murder today than 50 years ago," said Bushman, a professor of communication at Ohio State University and co-author of the study, according to The Guardian. "The increase in violence is evident across all genres."
Female characters also showed an increase in the use of violent language, particularly in non-crime movies. "An interesting aspect of the analysis is the increase in the use of violent language by female characters," reported La Opinión. However, male characters still used such dialogues more frequently.
The researchers emphasized that their focus on murderous verbs provides a conservative estimate of violence portrayals due to the narrow scope on specific utterances in dialogues. "It is a very conservative estimate of murderous verbs during the past half century," Bushman said, according to The Guardian. The study found that while the amount of murder verb usage varied greatly from year to year, there was a clear upward trend over the five decades analyzed.
"Although it is not clear how long the trend of increasing violence will continue, the evidence suggests that it is very unlikely that a turning point has been reached," said Bushman, according to Die Zeit. The increase in violent language is observed in both male and female characters, although male characters used such dialogues more frequently.
The researchers called for greater media literacy and more conscious consumption to protect vulnerable populations, especially children. "These findings show the need for careful consumption of movies and strengthening media literacy education to protect vulnerable groups, especially children," the research team emphasized, according to Wow TV.
Bushman expressed concern about the potential impact of this trend on audiences, particularly the youth. "We know there are many harmful effects of exposure to violent media. It increases aggressive behavior but also makes people desensitized, numb, to the pain and suffering of others," he said, according to The Guardian.
However, some experts urged caution regarding the study's implications. "It's a huge logical jump to go from counting the number of 'murderous' words in a movie, especially when that count is free of any context as to why the word is being used, to vague talk about health concerns," said Peter Etchells, a professor of psychology and science communication at Bath Spa University in the UK, according to The Guardian. "This isn't something I would really be worrying about," he added.
The researchers acknowledged that their analysis focused solely on dialogue and did not account for non-verbal portrayals of violence. "According to the authors, it is extremely labor-intensive to evaluate the behavior shown in the images for so many films," reported Die Zeit. Advances in machine learning allowed the team to automate the evaluation of a vast database of films. "Thanks to recent advances in machine learning, experts no longer have to watch and assess all films themselves; they can automate the evaluation of databases," noted Spektrum der Wissenschaft.
"Violence is one of the most effective elements to attract audiences in movies," Bushman said, according to Wow TV. Whether this trend will stabilize or continue is still unclear. "It is unlikely that this trend has reached its peak yet," Bushman added.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.