Art imitating life imitating art?

I know I've neglected this blog for a while, I think I bit off more than I can chew by adding this to my many projects at the moment. The practical has taken precedence over my more philosophical thoughts as of late and, thus, the neglect. However, I was watching what could be called 'ultra-violent' movies last night and I thought I'd throw a commonly posed question out there: Does watching violence make us violent?

I know this has been considered a lot because of the school shootings that have happened in the past ten years. But really, is it just disturbed or violent people acting out or are the video games, movies and music to blame? Perhaps it's a mixture of both, but I do think you have to be a bit more predisposed to violence and hate to act on what you see and imitate it.

I'll admit, I greatly enjoy movie violence at times, Deathproof and Planet Terror being perfect examples of this; however, I'm not a fan of real life violence. I've witnessed two fights--one in high school and one at a concert a year or two ago--and the experience was not something I enjoyed. It made me a bit sick to my stomach. It seems pointless, especially the one that I witnessed in high school which was started by one guy throwing Smarties at another and ended in one of them being punched in the head repeatedly. Where does one logically lead to the other???

Perhaps it's because I tend to make the disconnect between movies and reality that one bothers me and the other doesn't. Movies may be violent, but they aren't real. It is sanitized and safe because it remains on the screen and doesn't disrupt your own life. Real violence doesn't play by those rules, it is disruptive and destructive and utterly unpredictable at times.

Agree? Disagree? What are your thoughts?