Die Hard Violence Analysis

In the movie Die Hard, released in 1988 and starring Bruce Willis, there are plenty of scenes filled with adrenalizing action and bloody violence that the protagonist (John McClane) must overcome in order to save a group of hostages in a skyscraper building. The picture shown is one that depicts a scene where John McClane is being perused and shot at by a group of terrorists that want him dead. Though those terrorists are off the camera in the image, John McClane is shown running away in the direction to the right of the camera. He is holding a gun pointed toward the camera where the terrorists would be offscreen. Though his expression is hidden by the lighting, which is due to a dimly lit room, the flash from the flashes from the gun shots show one of great distress, where he is screaming due to the possibility of his death. John Mclane himself is set as the main focus of the shot as he is set in the middle of the image. Behind him, the viewer is able to see a few desks in the background with things on it like computers. This allows the viewer to figure out that the setting takes place in an office of some sort and the time periods would be the 80’s due to how the technology is. The scene itself is cut very fast from this shot to shots of the terrorists pursuing and firing their weapons to another shot of John sprinting away returning fire. The purpose of the fast cuts is to heighten the urgency, speed, and consequences of the situation, getting the viewers on the edge of their seat as any good action scene should. The urgency is there because by this point in the movie, the audience knows John McClane as a normal person that can be hurt and killed. He is not an invincible action hero like Sylvester Stallone. Just before the little sequence takes place, John was taunting the main antagonist with wisecracks and humor, something he has been doing consistently throughout the movie. Studies have been shown that men who are exposed to a wisecracking hero are less likely to find high energy moments depicted in the image as distressing compared to women who have to opposite reaction. But when men are exposed to a more realistic violence, they find it more distressing over women. With the image of John Sprinting away from gunfire, especially after using humor, women will be more on the edge of their seat than men. Box office wise, this film did quite well, as it had a budget of $28,000,000 and made $141,603,197 back, making just over 5 times its budget back and is considered a classic today, even sparking debate if it is a Christmas film or not despite its violence. Though science is never able to link movies and violent actions, it can affect how people view firearms, something as a tool for hunting and defense as simple gun meant for none other than killing as depicted in the movies. The majority of these people are men.  

Arjet, Robert P. “Gunplay: Men, Guns, and Action Films in the United States.” Emory University, 2002, pp. 6, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, https://www.proquest.com/openview/93f7aa26af0a74b4d03d0e09d31d9a05/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y  

King, Cynthia M. “Effects of Humorous Heros and Villains in Violent Action Films.” Journal of Communication, vol. 5, no. 1, 10 Jan 2006, pp. 5-24, Oxford Academic, https://academic.oup.com/joc/article-abstract/50/1/5/4110092