Wolverine races through the jungle towards a group of dark-skinned thugs.
With that distinctive SNIKT sound, his adamantium claws slice out of the skin between his knuckles.
Wolverine leaps onto the nearest figure, a man in a wife beater holding a chainsaw. He sinks his claws into the man’s back and a thick geyser of blood spurts into the air and sprays a nearby tree.
With another swipe, Wolverine opens the man’s belly and innards erupt.
Then with an upward swipe Wolverine removes the man’s jaw along with a portion of his face.
This is just one violent scene of dozens from an M-rated game. In fact, there are five more guys Wolverine will disembowel in this scene alone.
I often wonder how an 8-year-old I know processes scenes like this as he plays them alone in his bedroom.
Adults have no problem interpreting this material as so-called “cartoon violence”.
(Truth be told, I love it.)
But to a young boy who hasn’t yet even been introduced to basic biology, this immersion into the macabre world of bodily mutilation must be at least very confusing, if not perverting.
Why do so many parents let this happen? We know better, after all. Continue reading
