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'Violent movies are to blame for knife crime wave,' blasts Sir Richard Attenborough
Last updated at 16:57pm on 02.09.08
Blast: Sir Richard Attenborough says violent films are to blame for knife crime wave
His portrayal of the sadistic, razor-wielding Pinkie in Brighton Rock was a breakthrough role for the young Richard Attenborough.
But 61 years since audiences were shocked by Britain's answer to American gangster films, its star has seen enough of violence on the screen.
Lord Attenborough, 84, said such scenes were to blame for making guns and knives seem normal.
He added that viewers are now desensitised to real life crime because they are so used to seeing graphic images on screen.
The Oscar-winning director revealed that he 'abhorred the pornography of violence' that proliferates modern cinema and warned it has created a culture where people are no longer shocked when weapons are used.
'Thirty years ago if Gary Cooper pulled out a gun the audience would give a sharp intake of breath,' he said.
'Now the act of violence with a gun or a knife is the norm and we in the entertainment industry are partly responsible in making the presence of weapons such as knives almost an acceptable commonplace.
'So now knife crime is not thought of as something that is horrific and to be abhorred. It is part of normal existence.'
Lord Attenborough, whose acting career moved on from Pinkie to considerably softer roles in family hits such as Jurassic Park and Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story, made his remarks at Sussex University where he is stepping down as chancellor.
Sir Richard as the razor-wielding Pinkie in the 1947 film Brighton Rock
He is the latest figure to voice concerns about the impact of violence in films, following the wave of knife and gun crimes that is sweeping Britain.
Figures from the annual British Crime Survey show that a knife crime is committed every four minutes.
The survey's figure of 130,000 knife attacks a year is substantially higher than police statistics - largely because it is thought many victims do not report being threatened with a knife, while even some assaults needing hospital treatment go unrecorded.
Last year, Conservative leader David Cameron said that a Tory government would review the role of the British Board of Film Classification and video game watchdogs.
Graphic: Violence in films like Reservoir Dogs is desensitizing people to real-life crime according to Sir Attenborough
Earlier this year, Gordon Brown also suggested he supported a crackdown on films containing appalling scenes of violence.
The move came after Tory MP Julian Brazier attacked the censors' decision to pass for general release the film SS Experiment Camp, which was banned 20 years ago by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The BBFC insisted there was no evidence the film caused harm to viewers, but its decision prompted calls to make the body directly answerable to Parliament.
Critics fear that such violent scenes not only normalise violence in society, but also lead to copycat attacks by impressionable youths.
There have been a string of murders and attacks in recent years by youngsters with an unhealthy obsession with gruesome films.
Bad influence: A scene from the gruesome film Oldboy which student Cho Seung-Hui watched before he massacred 33 people at Virginia Tech university
The worst case was last year when U.S. student Cho Seung-Hui massacred 32 students and teachers at the Virginia Tech university before killing himself.
Cho was said to have been repeatedly watching the Korean slasher film Oldboy.
Last month, the Pope spoke out against violence on television, the internet and film warning it was causing 'great harm' to society.
Pope Benedict, 81, said: 'I ask myself, could anyone standing face-to-face with people who actually do suffer from violence and sexual exploitation explain that these tragedies, portrayed in virtual form, are considered to be merely entertainment?'
Reader views (8)
We've just had a copycat crime in NZ by 4 youths who inflicted grievous injuries on 4 people straight a few hours after watching American Gangster.
- Quentin, Napier NZ
These films are not resulting in a higher crime rate, they are just an easy scapegoat for the government, guilty murderers and criminals. The government caters for these youths in what way? They throw money at every problem instead of brains and ingenuity of which so many of the countries population are capable. Social, economic and environmental issues are the cause of crime for the majority.
However these films can be responsible for desensitizing the youth towards more gratuitous acts of violence, Guy Ritchie is the biggest culprit as his films glorify and show no consequences to the actions of his characters. Watch the majority of other British gangster movies and you will see horrific consequences from death to loss of loved ones in the other movies.
Films like his although entertaining are irresponsible in today's world where we have youth raised by youth all poorly educated and more and more reliable upon electronic and unreliable sources of information by which to live their lives. Films are one of the easiest ways to digest information for an increasingly electronic and visual age group.
But I find these films as deplorable as Disney's depictions of mythical characters. Why change the stories? I will let my child read hercules from a greek book of myth and legends so they know the story before they watch Disney's poor version.
The censor is afraid to say anything with these gangster films and has taken a step backwards since the days of old when they were law
- Kyle, Bath, United Kingdom
Everyday kids watch films and TV shows where people get shot, stabbed or are kicked then they get up and stumble away or are seen conscious chatting away in the back of an ambulance.
I truly believe that many young people have no concept of how fragile life is. One wrong punch can mean death but films never show that.
It would be totally naive to blame all violence by the young on TV but how often are they shown the true images and consequences of the actions of thugs.
- Worried Londoner, London
Of course he's right.
Why do advertisers and opinion shapers spend so much of their time and money on media exposure - to shape tastes, views, behaviour.
You can't have it both ways and say the media only has a positive effect. The naysayers never offer any alternative reasons why things have turned out this way.
And someone below mentions the Krays - well they seem almost as cuddly as a Teletubby compared to today's indiscriminate Uzi toting psychopaths.
- Lillywhite, London
It is so sad to see people who were once touched by greatness, with age, slide into senility and decrepitude.
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark
"He added that viewers are now desensitised to real life crime because they are so used to seeing graphic images on screen."
Spot on in my opinion. How many times on TV or film do we see someone receive a bullet, knife wound etc. and simply carry on regardless. TV and film make it look like knife wounds are a mere scratch from which you easily recover. That doesn't reflect real life. In truth you'd be stretchered into casualty and off for emergency surgery.
- Daizy, N England
Totally agree - and add to that those dreadful, angry soap operas!
- Suzanne, -
Oh dear, that old chestnut trotted out yet again, by someone who misguidedly thinks they have their finger on the pulse, of society's most over reported problem since the East End gang culture of the Kray's etc took off.
So by that rose tinted view, I take it television programmes and video games aren't to blame?
Stop with this pathetic knee jerk scapegoat hunt.
It's irresponsible parenting, fear and paranoia that are mainly to blame for the explosion in knife crime perpetrated by young people.
- Simon Caleb, London
