Firstly, the influence of media on younger audiences being used as a scape goat.
On 2 February 1993, James Bulger was murdered at the age of 2 by Robert Thompson and Jon Venables who were both aged 10. This murder was said to have been a re-enactment of a scene found in "child's play". therefore, were more events like this used to shape what we see on the big screen or even in shows? do the BBFC stop us from seeing these things because they're culturally unacceptable or too horrific to even think of, or are these just excuses of a poor upbringing where the influence of a horror film was just an intervening variable?
As the world moves forward in consuming films and shows people have become less effected by what they see on the screens, but this isn't just from what they see on the screen but big events that have happened, for instance events such as 9/11, people want to take caution but as it has happened it doesn't surprise people when an event like that is shown on screen.
A film was banned years ago called "freaks" which looked at real life amputees labelled as "freaks" which back then was unacceptable and so un-thought of that no where would view this film... until 50 years later because we adjusted as people to understand what is socially acceptable and know that what we see on screen isn't "real"... we adjusted.
although we know what is seen as "right" or "wrong" there are still some films out there that can be deemed too much for some viewers for instance: "the human centipede" this film had scenes that were so extreme that it didn't see the big screen for a long time and was banned in multiple locations because this was somewhat "unique" and the instances of this film wasn't something that had been seen before, ever, therefore people haven't been able to adjust to these kind of scenes which makes it harder to view than something that was made over 50 years ago.
The further we go forward the more creative ideas become which can become dangerous to the point where we haven't become desensitized to what may be created that don't relate to real-life events.
Films like slashers back in the 80's, or paranormal activity, the conjuring are all instances that may have happened in real life situations - Slashers being a moderate call on serial killers, Paranormal activity being haunted events that could possibly have happened but is a big event anyway, and the conjuring being the thought of a possession that has had many events take place for these instances recalled throughout history. But when it comes to the likes of "The human centipede", it isn't an event that has effected the public in a massive event, this is a unique idea that has been made to almost horrify the public by seeing events that ma not have even appeared in their minds.
So what makes these two historic films so different to the effect of desensitization of films compared to that of the slasher/thriller genre?
We've become fixed onto the reality that murder is all around us every day, so the idea of slashers, despite being a gruesome insight into what we wouldn't see, doesn't really phase the new generation because again. they have been raised in a world full of these kind of horrors already, they know that people get killed in ways that are unspeakable and watching horrors of this caliber at a young age, they will have become desensitized to any sort of scare that these films try to portray. This is similar to the effect of paranormal horrors. There are hundreds of shows on discovering haunted locations, YouTube videos even on searching for the paranormal and as a younger audience, consuming these forms of video will shape the reality of it all to the point where watching a horror based on more tragic events of this given topic wouldn't surprise someone because they're used to hearing the stories, watching the clips on YouTube from a young age.
As for "freaks" and "the human centipede" these were two films in opposite generations that hit home to being banned and almost banned because they touched down on a deeper horror that us as humans couldn't fathom. Horror to an extreme length that has never been mentioned in the news or even the idea slightly surfaced can have a major impact on our mental preparation for what we're about to view. Everything in the media that relates to tragic events whether its disappearances, murders or devastation that create high body counts lays the foundation the majority of horrors, therefore these cultural events are a blanket for our mind to prepare for the worst... but when a film comes along that hasn't has media attention we get scared to the point where we deem it unacceptable to ever watch something so horrific.
So has society influenced film desensitization, simply its a matter of opinion. for the likes of films being an influence on society, its easy for the media to use it as a scapegoat and say yes, but when its the other way around you have to delve deep into the history of society to understand that most horror films are just a darker metaphor for tragic events that have already taken place.
Overall we can clearly see a correlation of the desensitization over the timeline of the motion picture from our examples “freaks” released in 1932 to “the human centipede” released in 2010. This being compared to how our culture and society as a whole has progressed and became in a sense more tolerable and lenity to what is shown to the public in the last century can in fact gives us the final conclusion that the desensitization of the horror is heavily influence by the cultural apportion which has evidently grown in the last 50 years.
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