Torture In Movies/Games/Comics. Am I Soft For Getting Squicked Out?

[Starbird]

In between waiting for my new computer, I've been going back and rewatching some of my favorite movies, and reading some of my favorite comics. And after chatting with some friends, I've realized that either:
- I am a big softy.
- My friends are weird.

Basically whenever the story contains torture, abuse or similar, even if its only implied it unsettles me in a way that can often stop me from enjoying the story. I remember some scenes in the recent Arkham games and Bioshock Infinite that haunted me for a long time after, and I would try my best to skip them or avoid them if I ever replayed them. Similarly movies like Hostel, Saw or other 'torture porn' types are completely unwatchable for me and even films that I really enjoyed like Django Unchained or Immortals...I simply cannot go back and watch them due to some parts.

I have no problem with blood and guts. I'm actually something of a splatter fan. It's when things get...nasty that I battle to cope.

It's so bad that my friends have basically warned me off Game of Thrones entirely.

It's not all torture though. For it to upset me, it has to happen to an innocent or at least likable character. Watching Dirty Harry or most of 24 doesn't bother me.

Is this a normal response? Or am I just overly soft hearted?

 

[Muspelheim]

If you are uncommonly softhearted, then we're two. I've got a difficult time with depictions of torture as well. At least in works that comes across as wallowing in it for the jollies. The only quality the Saw series have for me is that the disks would make good coasters.

If it's just there, as an element in the story, it's not much of a problem. As long as the work doesn't seem to wink at me and say "Boy, we're really gettin' off to this, aren't we?! Look, look!"

 

[Thaluikhain]

Nah, I get that.

Very much depends on the circumstances, though. If the violence is somehow "unreal", then I don't tend to mind. Like, aliens or OtT serial killers generally don't affect me.

But if it's grounded in reality then I'm more likely to be affected.

Those are hard and fat rules, though, doesn't always work like that.

And, seconding that it should be there for a reason...if it's torture porn, I'm going to get pissed off at the creators.

 

[Starbird]

If you are uncommonly softhearted, then we're two. I've got a difficult time with depictions of torture as well. At least in works that comes across as wallowing in it for the jollies. The only quality the Saw series have for me is that the disks would make good coasters.

If it's just there, as an element in the story, it's not much of a problem. As long as the work doesn't seem to wink at me and say "Boy, we're really gettin' off to this, aren't we?! Look, look!"

The first Saw had a pretty cool concept and didn't bother me too much actually. It was pretty light on the actual torture and more about traps. The second one started to get really nasty in places (needles...brrr). I read a synopsis on the third one and was like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxRX6LXDpWs

Even if it's just an element of the story (the whipping scene with the guys wife in Django for example) it can put me off completely.

 

[Starbird]

Nah, I get that.

Very much depends on the circumstances, though. If the violence is somehow "unreal", then I don't tend to mind. Like, aliens or OtT serial killers generally don't affect me.

But if it's grounded in reality then I'm more likely to be affected.

Those are hard and fat rules, though, doesn't always work like that.

And, seconding that it should be there for a reason...if it's torture porn, I'm going to get pissed off at the creators.

Yeah, aliens and monsters and slashers generally fall under 'splatter' for me. Which is fine and fun, the gorier the better .

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

I'm pretty sure that's meant to be the point. Like rape, torture is something that can never be justified and is always disturbing. A torture scene that doesn't make you uncomfortable fails at being a torture scene. Even worse is when it's made out to be a joke, or light-hearted. So I'd say your reaction to such scenes is actually spot on.

 

[UmberHulk]

I hate torture too. It's a really awful thing to do to another human being. Honestly I think its worse if the protagonists torture people. What I really hate is that it seems like torture is the new way to make a character "edgy" because apparently being a murderer is just not enough.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Torture bothers me too, even when it's done to villains sometimes. There's a part in The Last of Us where you're reminded that Joel isn't exactly a shining paragon of goodness. I watched the whole thing the first time, but on my other playthroughs I have skipped it because it makes me uncomfortable.

Beating the snot out of someone, plunging a knife through someone's hand, or basic revenge stuff I'm fine with. Like when it's done in the heat of the moment. Going back to The Last of Us, when Joel slammed that guy's neck down on the shard of glass, I cheered.
When it's taken to the next level, when it's about the person getting pleasure out of watching the person suffer even after the information has been gained or there's no longer any point, that is when I get uncomfortable.

 

[Mezahmay]

Granted I don't personally have many other people to compare this behavior to, but it seems within standard deviation of normal response to torture/abuse/what have you. I personally don't feel that at all. I guess you're just more empathetic toward those characters. The never going back to see the rest of the movie part comes off as a little maladjusted to me since you willfully ignore content you like when there's a part or two you don't like the same way a person who has a fear of driving over bridges (any bridge, not just large ones) doesn't drive over bridges. You're denying yourself media the same way this other hypothetical person avoids shortcuts during travel.

 

[Callate]

Would it be dodging the question to say, "No, you're normal, it's everyone else who's weird?"

I don't get squicked out by torture very easily, but I wouldn't rush to say that's a good thing.

 

[Vault101]

snip

it really depends on us personally

for me sometimes torture as an....ummm....an affect that I don't think the creators were going for *cough*

sometimes if its realistic or gruesome enough it squicks me out (because *real* torture is terrifying and gruesome...not sexy)

sometimes its not the gruesomeness but that *something* underneath the surface that really makes me uncomfortable

like with Theon Greyjoy

[spoiler/]it wasn't so much the torture but the absolute rape and decimation of all that he was, they took his name...they took away his very personality, that disturbed me more than a bit of physical torture ever would...and I only wiki-binged that part![/spoiler]

to me the idea of forcibly changing someone permanently creeps me out on a fundamental level

that's why *that scene* from Bioshock:Burial at Sea will always be a million times more disturbing than something from Saw, its the kind of horror that gets under your skin

 

[Candidus]

Spoiler: Minor Walking Dead Season 2 Spoilerinos.

Personally, I feel very gratified by torture and abuse against people like, for example, Carver of the TWD Season 2. Watching it is exciting, even energizing-- that example in particular made me feel physically invigorated!

There's a real sense of vindication and satisfaction in cases like that...

I'm not sure I could truthfully say that depictions of torture or abuse against innocent or otherwise undeserving victims discomforts me. Might anger me though. At the very least I feel a compulsion to intervene if the game gives me agency to do so.

So basically, I don't think I can appreciate your feelings at all OP.

 

[MrMixelPixel]

Nah, I get that.

And, seconding that it should be there for a reason...if it's torture porn, I'm going to get pissed off at the creators.

I'm pretty much fine as long at isn't this. When a person suffers for no acceptable reason I'm gonna be very upset. Unfortunately, it often feels like torture exclusively exists in fiction for this reason. I'm especially bitter about this because...

Spoiler: Breaking Bad Spoilers

I just finished Breaking Bad and I'm not cool with how they handled the ending. Especially what happened to Jesse. The stuff he had to go through was unnecessary... and they had the audacity to tease us with an almost successful escape attempt.

 

[JimB]

I think I was twelve years old before I overcame my urge to leave the room every time the Emperor's lightning scene came on in Return of the Jedi.

 

[Erttheking]

Not really, we all get those scenes that really just freak us out. The torture scene in GTA V wasn't THAT bad...but when you rip his tooth out...Jesus Fuck.

 

[MirenBainesUSMC]

My tolerance is high, I don't think I've ever let a piece of media re-act that badly to it... unless I count as a kid before I made my tolerance.

I think the brutality of it is what can disturb. Why is the said scene in the piece of written/visual media in the first place, to simply be shocking, part of the plot, or just there for no apparent reason.

I'd say if you are that sensitive ( and there's nothing wrong with that by the way) then yes --- George R Martin should be left alone from your viewing habits because you def won't like The Red Wedding.

I did somewhat wince when I had to do the eye puncture in Dead Space 3. You want to talk about " EAAAAGHHHH....damn..."

I draw the line to depicted violence on women, children, or something to do with sexual deviancy thereof. If you must must show it, do it right and without being so damned outright with it. There are many ways to convey something terrible without being so graphic, something that creative writers and film artists have lost their way.

In " I Claudius" I didn't need to see what Caligua was doing to his sister because from the eyes of Clauidus, you already knew.

In The Last of Us, I didn't particularly care for the depictions of Ellie's death if you messed up throughout the levels for I find no entertainment in grown perverts breaking a kid's neck when finally captured, or killing her. To me its a further desensitization of abuse. Games are def pushing the line.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Beating the snot out of someone, plunging a knife through someone's hand, or basic revenge stuff I'm fine with. Like when it's done in the heat of the moment. Going back to The Last of Us, when Joel slammed that guy's neck down on the shard of glass, I cheered.
When it's taken to the next level, when it's about the person getting pleasure out of watching the person suffer even after the information has been gained or there's no longer any point, that is when I get uncomfortable.

Yeah, second that. Violence for a purpose, fair enough. For it's own sake, no.

Like how soldiers are supposed to shoot the enemy, but not prisoners.

 

[NeutralDrow]

I hope you're normal, because if you are, then I certainly am. It's gotten more pronounced as I've gotten older, and I don't know if that's depression or I've just started involuntarily internalizing that sort of thing.

Though depictions of torture and brutality tend to make me more angry than squicked out. Angry enough to contemplate turning torture on their perpetrators...and then realizing I wouldn't be able to without hitting some kind of self-loathing singularity.