Film Influences on Society

Viewing a single movie or being exposed to a specific message may be enough for effects on people’s beliefs which forms a perception about a certain group of people. Film can influence opinions and ideas of people and form society so their views and attitudes change on some level. Younger children can see a film with loads of violence and the kids will think that this type of action is normal or accepted in society. People like to be like their role models. So people might want to go out and kill all the “bad guys” because they think that it will make them cool or just like whoever they are trying to be.

By viewing films at a younger age, children can take what they see in a movie and start believing what they see. Children are looking for role models at an early age, and film can look at a screen and see a “Hero” and they adopt the style of the film. Many people think that movies influence society, but many also say that society influences film. Films reflect society. Artists reflect society like painters can paint people and display their feelings. On the screen actors producers and directors can portray what they see in society and in life. Like in the film “Rocky” that film showed how one man’s life was a million to one shot, and how hard someone worked to earn what he desired. Years ago African Americans were usually represented as simple minded and faithful slaves or as being lazy, Like in the film “The Birth of a Nation.” This film was created in the early 1900’s. It is apparent that the film creators too what is going on in society and put it into a film.

Society also influences film, because the movie makers can take a serious incident that happened and turn it into a movie. Like the film that was created about the September 11th attack. Such a traumatic created a huge hype in America that a movie was created about the whole incident and how society reacted about it. After that movie was released many people started hating certain races and treating them like they were sub-human.

Film has many ways of interacting and influencing society. Some generations are more affected than others, but children are more prone to act in real life like the way they see a certain character. Like if a character is fighting someone, the kids will try to be just like that character in almost any way.