Kochi | The view that cinema dealing with violence as its content motivates young people to indulge in horrific crimes is a simplistic argument, according to the directors' union of the Film Employees Federation of Kerala.

In a statement issued here on Tuesday, union president Renji Panicker and general secretary G S Vijayan said they have taken note of the opinions of the government, political leaders, psychologists, media, and the police that it was such movies that propelled young people into violence that shook our state in recent times.

“These opinions are based on a very weak and simplistic theory that the ‘violence' depicted in the movies causes social evils,” the statement said.

Violence is a subject analysed in detail by various disciplines. Studies have made it clear that the social, cultural, and economic insecurities faced by individuals, alienation, exclusion, and marginalisation can lead to violence, it said.

In a world of unprecedented media explosion, cultural invasion is possible from anywhere through web series, games, and movies from other foreign lands. It is no secret that the movies with most violence are coming from Korea and Japan. However, Japan is a country with the lowest crime rate as their legal system, social security standards and social auditing carry out their work effectively, the statement argued.

In a social environment where any data produced in the world is available at the tip of one's finger, it is baseless to denigrate films for ‘producing' violence, the statement said.

“Portraying films as the sole cause of violence is absurd and false,” it said, adding the government should address the insecurities of individuals in the contemporary social structure.

The statement raises questions as to whether films that portray patriarchy can cause male dominance in society. "Do films instigate sexual violence and rape culture? Is cinema the cause of the ideological decay that has gripped political parties and the corruption that has affected governments," it asked.

The statement said movies find their basis in the facts and ideas from the existing social body. At a time when the police, excise and media say that drug abuse is the reason for many of the crimes, a few films that visualised these cannot be blamed for the social evil, it said.

“We are saddened and disappointed that those who should be rising through sharp self-criticism are finding lazy satisfaction in blaming cinema for violence,” it said.

The statement, however, said expressions that simply glorify and commodify violence and treat it as the cause and means of pleasure must be criticised.

“We are willing to approach such representations of violence with caution. We have already started such democratic debates,” the statement said.