Quite the Change...

I guess I don't quite remember The Fugitive intro shot for shot, but I certainly don't remember the first scene being so graphic. Not only does Kimble's wife basically get beat to death by a blow to the head, but there is a creepy shot of her head laying sideways by the phone, blood oozing from her mouth.

You would think the movie had gotten less graphic over time as I was exposed to harsher violence in movies and the media (first Fight Club, then American History X). To my surprise, I was amazed the murder scene didn't scar me for life.

More curiously, the one camera shot that I could distinctly remember was the shot when Dr. Kimble tackles the fleeing assailant, exposing his prosthetic arm in slow motion.

Thoughts

I have reached the conclusion that in my head I created this one-armed man character to be a monster of sorts. Although that shadow antagonist is somewhat belittled later in the movie as a petty murderer, the filming of the initial murder scene creeped my little imagination out. The images of the "One-Armed Man" brutally killing the doctor's wife and then fleeing into the shadows of the night manifested an ordinary human being into an extraordinary villain lurking the city streets. Living in a neighborhood and sleeping next to a window looking out on my street didn't help any, either.

Creating the One-Armed Man (capitalized purposefully) in my imagination definitely had its effects on me. I've always been much more scared of human beings than creatures or monsters. Michael Myers got to me, and so did insane people like Norman Bates and Hannibel Lecture. Also embedded in my young memory is the initial meeting with Hannibal, where you see him just standing in his glass cell following you with those deep Anthony Hopkins eyes.

Images of Evil

These movies affected me when I was much more impressionable, and left the collective mark on my fears. Whereas most people would be most scared of a clown, I'd be more so of a torturous/murderous psychopath.

I think with graphic nature of the media and in video games these days, we are progressively developing violent tendencies starting from a young age. The entertainment media, our main source of images and icons, is fueling our collective psyche to invest in the violence of TV and movies.

It's only a matter of time until the next hit reality TV show is which contestant has the fortitude to kill their beloved partner for the grand prize of $10 million. You just wait, Jim.