We asked our community of young people about the appeal of violence in the entertainment industry. Why are young people attracted to violence? Check out some of their comments:

"I think young people are attracted to violence for a couple of different reasons: 1) Some of today's youth just like the special effects they use in movies 2) Some kids only see the violent movies because they have their favourite actor or it looks to have a good storyline. 3) In other cases, some kids enjoy them … the viewers are looking for that [violence]. Lots of people like excitement when they go to the movies and the violence and suspense really add to that … Even look at different commercials, lots of them have something that we could justify as not being able to be aired 20 years ago, but now the world is changing."

"The appeal of violence today is the raw emotion that it represents and conjures up. It is instinctual, powerful and it hits all the senses. When you are angry or upset or frustrated, your emotions can be reflected in a number of ways. Most of us hold back the urge to a physical outlet. Watching these physical outlets from other people is watching something some of us dare not do. It speaks to our senses … Is it truly instinctual and part of human basic make up to act and feel and respond to violence in the way we do?"

"Hit me! Violence is fast - always changing - no idle chatter - you get results. This is true for video games and movies not life, when you're young you just don't have the attention span to listen to dialogue, of figure out some dinky puzzle that will only frustrate you …"

"It's the feeling of overcoming something or someone. When you play chess against someone it takes forever to beat them …Well imagin' feeling this satisfaction every 30 seconds, that's what gaming is … That is the appeal.... ...The sense of overcoming and achieving something hard … [In videogames] you put yourself in his/her shoes (take the place of the hero) … This feels good, you're amazing! …You control everything … You're a hero, you did it with your skills, definitely more rewarding than watching someone else do it."

"…I think the appeal of violence has something to do with the need for shock in our society. Attention spans are limited and people are in need for something that is "thrilling". With all that we see in reality, there seems to be a need to be entertained by the extreme. Violence sells because it has shock value. I don't think that this is at all a positive thing but nevertheless it has a big market. Young people are also very aggressive - maybe this is due to the presence of violence - but the "action" portrayed in the entertainment industry seems to satisfy some need."

"Author Isaac Basheviks Singer wrote this in his Nobel Prize-winning classic Shadows on the Hudson (at least, this is how I feel like paraphrasing it): "All of Russia's movies are about tractors and all of America's are about gangsters. That's because they make movies about what they have least of. If Russia made a gangster movie or America made a tractor movie, it would never end" …The vast majority of our movie-going teens are not poor. They do not live in housing projects or ghettos where violence is rampant …The closest they ever come to violence is watching American Gladiator reruns on television. So when a movie comes along that is full of violence and killing, it is interesting to them. Violent movies, to them, are what the tractor movie was to Russians fifty years ago … I doubt that deep down, teens really love to see another person get mauled or raped or killed. However, since it is new and different to them..."

Interestingly, our youth community supports the conception of a multifaceted appeal of violence. Violence is fun, attractive, a powerful raw emotion - a shock! While some teens are attracted to its presence in entertainment, others are appalled. Nevertheless, violence equals impact in our marketplace.