Gonzalez, 1

Anthony Gonzalez

Media Criticism Final Paper

4/30/23

As we continue to see the ever growing expansion and evolution of modern day

television, we continue to see exactly what types of movies are being made and released more

and more, and in this day and age the most popular movies tend to be extremely violent. Violece

in movies is a trend that has grown very popular in recent memory, with movie franchises such

as “John Wick'' and “Rambo'' immediately coming to mind because of the gruesome extremities

that they both promote. With these types of movies not only becoming more popular, but

becoming more normal for viewers, this can pose a danger in the sense that we as comsumers of

this media do not even blink an eye anymore when we see these gruesome scenes in these

movies as they are seen as normal nowadays. Our children are also in danger because of the new

normality of these ideologies because they are being raised consuming violence in a sense

through these movies, so when they see violence on the big screen, they may be inclined to

believe that it is not wrong, and that they can do it too. This paper will attempt to address the

“Rambo'' franchise in specific by looking at the uptick of the use of violence in movies, as well

as discuss a few specific ways that consuming violent media such as those movies can affect the

behaviors of the viewers such as children and young adults.

Beginning by discussing the main example of too much violence in movies, look no

further than the “Rambo” franchise which immediately comes to mind (for me at least) when

thinking about violent media. For anyone who does not know or has not seen the “Rambo” films,

the films revolved around John J. Rambo, a United States Army Special Forces veteran who
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essentially lost himself in the Vietnam War, which turned him from a person into something else,

a killing machine whose only goal and instinct is survival. Over the time of the five films,

Rambo fights (and kills) a variety of different people and villains ranging from Enemy Troops in

Vietnam to drug cartels to Police Officers, but regardless of who the enemy was in the films, the

one thing that remained the same was his ruthless killing style which evolved over time. The

franchise itself has grossed about $819 Million Dollars in total across the five movies, the most

successful installment being "Rambo: First Blood Part ll" which grossed about $300 Million

Dollars. The Franchise has also produced other forms of media such as an animated television

series, as well as comic books and video games.

The fact that this franchise has branched out into other forms of media does not help

matters in the sense that it has created multiple ways that it can spread and show the

message/idea of violence to viewers on top of the five films within the series. This is not a

surprise though, considering the fact that the owners and creators of “Rambo'' are all men.

Whether it is the CEO of Lionsgate (who owns the distribution rights to the franchise) John

Feltheimer, the CEO of Miramax Films (who owns the franchise itself) Bill Block, or the several

people who produced the films (also all men) Andy Vajna, John Thompson, Kevin King

Templeton just to name a few; It is no secret that men tend to like violent media more than

others, they find it entertaining and constantly crave more, so that is exactly what the owners and

creators of the “Rambo'' franchise did. Not only did they make more movies, but they created

more scenarios and scenes to carry out and fulfill their craving and/or need for violence, while

creating false portrayals of men as well as hyper masculinity and militirized violence.

In all honesty, I personally believe that we as a society should have seen this coming, it is

something that has been hinted at for years but I believe that it is just something that nobody
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bothered to even acknowledge, but the signs were there nonetheless. For example, according to

the paper “The Imperial Warrior In Hollywood: Rambo and Beyond” authors Carl Boggs and

Tom Pollard actually discuss this further in their work, and at the time it was a subject that was

very relevant in the movie industry because the paper was published around the same time that

the “Rambo” franchise as well as other films really started to make the jump in terms of adding

extreme levels of violence in their films. According to Boggs and Pollard, “The most successful

and widely-viewed films of 2007–2008, including several Oscar candidates, embrace dark

images of savage, often relentless violence, graphic depictions of killing, and celebrations of

social chaos.” (Boggs, Pollard, 2008) and Rambo himself (Sylvester Stallone) is at the top of that

list considering his devotion to the role and his dedication to trying to continue the franchise for

as long as possible when personally I believe that it should not have made it to five movies.

Because of his devotion to the films as well as the character, Boggs and Pollard even point out in

a way the name that he has made for himself for playing these types of roles, saying that

“Looking at the four Rambo films as an ensemble, it would be difficult to find a warrior hero

better exemplifying the virtues of American military action than Sylvester Stallone, superseding

even the legendary John Wayne.” (Boggs, Pollard, 2008).

This, I think, says a lot considering the fact that John Wayne was a legendary actor for

the roles he played as an outlaw cowboy who kills Native Americans, similar to Stallone being

mainly known for playing the role of Rambo who kills Mexican cartel members and Vietnam

soldiers. This actually brings me to my next point, which is that In the paper, Boggs and Pollard

also spend some time discussing the idea that I mentioned briefly about Militirized Violence, and

how the “Rambo'' series plays into that theme. As they noted “Here we devote special attention

to two recent films that embellish strong patriotic and pro-military themes while reaching mass
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audiences with messages that champion US imperial power: Rambo IV, a particularly bloody

recycling of the familiar 1980s Rambo episodes'' (Boggs, Pollard, 2008), and this is a pretty

good tactic used by the movie creators and producers, targeting people’s love for their country as

well as support for their military in order to try and gain a larger crowd and more support for the

film (which is centered around a retired green beret who ultimately turns into a one-men

American army who trimphs over enemies from different countries such as Mexico and

Vietnam), which ultimately was designed to lead to more revenue and profits.

The difference between where the franchise began, and where it is now is a significant

one to say the least, it is not something that has gone (or potentially even can go) unnoticed by

viewers. Whether they are professional movie critics, parents of the children who are consuming

this media or just casual viewers, when talking and/or reflecting about the “Rambo” films that

they have seen, their messages/observations are all very consistent with what everyone else said,

here we will discuss some of them. Starting by looking at a paper written by Dr. Steve Jones, he

discusses and points out specific differences that stick out within the different installments of the

“Rambo'' films but since this paper was published in 2012, he unfortunately could not involve all

of the films. When talking about the films after the original (which was not as violent as the

films that came after it), Jones notes that “The latest sequel is markedly concerned with showing

the effects of gunfire. This focus has led some reviewers to label Rambo the most explicitly

violent film they have ever seen.” (Jones, 2012). This, I think, is where the focus shifted as the

films started out with a different focus rather than just showing more than an hour of people

dying. Futher in the paper, when talking specifically about this shift in focus, Jones points out

that “While Jeffords observes that 1980s action sequels offer ‘more explosions, more killings,

and more outright violence’ than their predecessors (the Rambo films offering ‘the most
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extravagant shift’ in quantity, tone and explicitness also need to be accounted for.” (Jones, 2012)

which is something that I believe was just forgotten about by the creators and writers of the

newer movies in the franchise. They stopped trying to make a good plot and/or tell a story and

started focusing on solely the action part of making films. To serve as a reference to just how

drastic this shift was, Jones pointed out specific numbers of the “body count” within the films

(how many people died throughout the movie), and the jump in the total between films was eye

opening to say the least. Jones notes that “Moreover, Rambo himself is the central agent of

homicide. In total, he slaughters 220 villains: 71 more than the number of heroes/innocents

killed across the series.” (Jones, 2012) as well as “Yet it is also worth noting that in Rambo,

John kills only five more villains than he does in Rambo III, while the total death tally rises by

over 100, and the number of hero/innocent casualties more than triples.” (Jones, 2012) As I

mentioned before, seeing the rise in deaths in specific quantities throughout the movies is eye

opening, as it just goes to show and prove how the films focus changed over time.

With that said, while these numbers may be shocking to some, I personally do not think

that it even compares to the last film in the series “Rambo: Last Blood” when it comes to the

“body count”, the fifth and potential final installment of the series “Last Blood” is said by many

to be by far the most gruesome as well as graphic film in the franchise, and compared to the

previous films before it, that is a significant statement. According to professional movie critic

Nick Schager in the article “Rambo: Last Blood’ Is a Trumpian, Anti-Mexican Nightmare” when

talking about the very noticeable change in focus and pattern in “Last Blood” compared to other

“Rambo” films, Schager points out that instead of shifting the focus back to what it was before as

Rambo gets older, toning down on the violence (and senseless killing) and learning a better way

to live, the film instead “transformed him into a one-man Stars-and-Stripes wrecking crew
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capable of, respectively, victoriously re-waging the Vietnam War and defeating the Soviets in

Afghanistan” (Schager, 2019) In simpler terms, the films are moving backwards to so speak.

There are no positive messages embedded being argued in the films for viewers to find and

interpret for themselves, they are not gaining any positive social commentary from these films.

In fact, according to Schager, the only thing being argued is that brutal violence is the answer to

every problem one may have, as he says “Having long since become a symbol of gung-ho

steroidal Reaganism, the film still argued that violence was the only answer, albeit in nastier-

than-usual form.” (Schager, 2019) This is just the wrong message to send to people in general,

but especially children who are watching these movies and thinking to themselves “if he can do

it, then why can’t I do it too?” It is a harmful message to send put simply, and this is what

Schager means when he notes later on in the article that “There’s something altogether noxious

about Stallone’s fondness for gratuitous violence here, epitomized by Rambo not only

dispatching enemies with extreme prejudice but then repeatedly shooting up their corpses for

psychotic measure.” (Schager, 2019)

Shifting away a bit from describing how the films have increased their use of graphic

violence as well as describing how they use violence in the films, here I will begin talking about

the effect that the films have on people, whether is is children, parents of the children watching

these films or just casual viewers who are watching for themselves. According to a source called

“Common Sense Media” which is a guide for parents to determine what certain media (such as

movies) contains and to determine if that media is appropriate for children or not by providing

descriptions of what the film is made up of, as well as reviews of the film and scales of what the

film shows a lot of whether it is violence, drugs, nudity, language and so on. Based on the

information that I have been discussing as well as providing regarding the shift in focus and the
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evolution (not a good one) of the “Rambo” series, I do not think that it will be a surprise to

anyone the differences of the reviews and ratings by real life parents and viewers regarding the

first “Rambo” film which was not as problematic compared to the last, which perhaps is the most

problematic. According “Parents' Guide to First Blood”, specifically a parent’s review on the

first film, a reviewer by the name of Manny states that the film is a “very good action movies for

older kids” (MannyReviews, 2022) as well as stating that “It is a great movie, with no sex or

anything. There is some language but if your child can handle language, I wouldn't worry. In

terms of violence, there is some blood mostly when he flashes back to Vietnam and it shows him

being tortured, but most of it is just action and war violence. Rambo shows kids to always stand

up for what is right, and to never give up.” (MannyReviews, 2022)

This is what the “Rambo'' series started off as, a movie that although has some violence

and action in it, it also contains a message that people and children can interpret for themselves

and take away from it. For the first film it was as Manny points out, to never give up and to stand

up for what is right. Unfortunately, over time that just disappeared within the films, and it is

blatantly evident by the time one reaches the fifth, “Last Blood”. In the description of “Last

Blood” on the “Parents’ Guide to Rambo: Last Blood” page, the reviewer who is responsible for

the description of this particular installment of the series states that “Like all the sequels since the

soulful first movie, it elevates intense gore over character.” (Anderson, 2019) While this is not

new information per se, it is still sad that everyone can see that the films just lack the care that

they once had for the franchise, just trying to keep it popular rather than good. You can clearly

see the difference when looking at the reviews for “Last Blood” compared to “First Blood'', in

particular in one of the reviews left by another real life parent Adam Sell, when he says “After

the first three we watched with my 13-year old, this is dramatically more gratuitous and blood
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thirsty with dark and sad overtones. I was shocked even as an adult. Thin storyline, really just a

set up to show you how many ways Stallone can kill a human being.” (Sell, 2021) Looking at the

comparisons to this comment versus the comment left for “First Blood'' one can really see in

depth the regression, the steps backwards that the films have taken over time, they are moving/

have moved in the wrong direction in terms of making the sequels better than the one before like

most movies do, and they are stuck repeatedly sending the wrong messages to audiences such as

“showing you how many ways Stallone can kill a human being”.

As Sell said in his comment, this even shocked him as an adult, someone who knows this

is all fake and that it is just a film, but how does this affect children such as his 13-year-old child,

or younger children who may not know the same as an adult would? The answer is that it has the

ability to affect them in multiple ways. For example, starting with an article by the American

Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) called “TV Violence and Children'' when

discussing the dangers that violent telvision present to our youth it is stated that “Unfortunately,

much of today's television programming is violent. Hundreds of studies of the effects of TV

violence on children and teenagers have found that children may: become "immune" or numb to

the horror of violence, begin to accept violence as a way to solve problems, imitate the violence

the observe on television; and, identify with certain characters, victims and/or victimizers”

(AACAP, 2017). The idea of becoming “immune” or numb to violence is not something that we

want for our society in general, let alone our children. We should want them to know that

violence is not okay and is not the way to solve things, so that it is not something that they

should want to soak up and take into their lives. Also according to the article, it was also pointed

out that “Children who view shows in which violence is very realistic, frequently repeated or

unpunished, are more likely to imitate what they see.” (AACAP, 2017), which is exactly what
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viewers see throughout the “Rambo” franchise. All of the movies (the newer ones especially)

contain constant and repeated violence which always goes unpunished (nobody goes to jail, the

only punishment is death) so this, according to the article, means that our children are more

likely to see this and also believe that they can do violent things and not be punished for it.

According to another article by Very Well Mind called “What Is the Impact of Violent

Media on Mental Health?” which continues discussing some of these points as well as studies

further, author Cynthia Vinney states that “Studies have consistently shown that media violence

has an impact on real-life aggression. These studies use a diverse set of methods and participants,

leading many experts on the impact of media violence to agree that aggression increases as a

result of media violence consumption.” (Vinney, 2022) as Vinney continues on throughout the

article, she also points out the fact that not many people (including myself) never thought of.

Most of the time, when people think of aggression, the first thing that comes to mind is physical

violence, but in reality aggression can show up in various shapes or forms. According to Vinney,

“Many experiments in labs have provided evidence that demonstrates that short-term exposure to

violent media increases aggression in children, teenagers, and young adults. However,

aggression doesn't always mean physical aggression. It can also mean verbal aggression, such as

yelling insults, as well as thinking aggressive thoughts or having aggressive emotions. “(Vinney,

2022) This personally was something that opened my eyes because as I mentioned before, when

I thought of aggression before, I usually thought of physical violence. Something else that

Vinney described in the article that is something that not many people think of is how long that

increase in aggression can take to show itself. Just because a child or person does not show it

right away, does not mean it is not there, and most of the time, after consuming violent media as

children it can take years to show itself, according to studies; As Vinney describes it, “Similarly,
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another study that surveyed 329 participants between the ages of 6 and 9 found that 15 years

later the exposure of both males and females to television violence in childhood predicted

increased aggression in adulthood. In particular, the 25% of study participants who viewed the

most media violence in childhood were the most likely to be much more aggressive in

adulthood.” (Vinney, 2022)

This is a significant statistic to think about because as I mentioned, some people tend to

think that just because characteristics (such as aggression) do not show up immediately, whether

it is in their children or themselves, that it is not there, when in reality it is and it is just waiting to

be released. This is a big reason in my opinion why too much violence in our media system is

problamatic, because when our children are exposed to it, that media can be all they need to start

building and/or releasing that aggression that is inside of them. In regards to the “Rambo”

franchise, I believe that it can serve as a great example for the rest of the film industry, and

specifically films like “John Wick” that are just like it in so many ways; it can serve as an

example to not follow in its footsteps, and not just turn away from the character of the movie just

to keep it relevant by adding more senseless violence and graphic scenes. If this can not be done,

and the franchise has come the furthest that it could, then just let the franchise rest, think of the

children and people who could be affected by just throwing more films out into the world with

either no message at all or worse, the wrong message (such as petty, senseless violence).
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Sources:

- Boggs, C., & Pollard, T. (2008). The imperial warrior in hollywood: Rambo and beyond.
New Political Science, 30(4), 565–578. https://doi.org/10.1080/07393140802486260

- Jones, Steve. (2012). Mindful Violence? Responses to the Rambo Series Shifting
Aesthetics of Aggression. New Review of Film and Television Studies. 10. 1-16.
10.1080/17400309.2012.717487.

- Schager, N. (2019, September 20). ‘Rambo: Last blood’ is a trumpian, anti-mexican

nightmare. The Daily Beast. https://www.thedailybeast.com/sylvester-stallones-rambo-
last-blood-is-a-trumpian-anti-mexican-nightmare

- First blood movie review | common sense media. (n.d.). Retrieved April 16, 2023, from
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/first-blood

- Tv violence and children. (n.d.). Retrieved April 16, 2023, from

https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/
Children-And-TV-Violence-013.aspx

- What is the impact of violent media on mental health? (n.d.). Verywell Mind. Retrieved
April 16, 2023, from https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-impact-of-violent-
media-on-mental-health-5270512