Battle Royal

In the classic 2000s Japanese film Battle Royale, As part of the revolutionary “Battle Royale” law, the Japanese government captures and forces ninth-grade students to kill each other. It illustrates a government that has no tolerance for disobedience and will go to great lengths to eliminate it, starting with the youth. The film has not only become popular in Japan, it has become a great cinematic attraction and highly demanded film. 

Anne Allison writes about a film similar to this claiming “we too quickly condemn the popularity of cinematic violence among children, on the grounds that it leads (directly) to violent action on their part”. Though the film Battle Royale is extremely violent and graphic I don’t necessarily think that it is promoting violence, If anything it is showing you the negative outcome of the violence. I don’t think the film is popular because of the violence but rather the connections between the characters. The film allows you to get attached to each character before taking them away/ killing them. The suspense and high stakes is what makes the film so enjoyable.