gratuitous (adjective)
2017.01.18
Meaning:
gratuitous means ‘for no good reason’. So gratuitous violence means ‘unnecessary violence’. We often partner the word gratuitous with the words violence, sex and bad language. We often use these phrases to discuss movies, video games and other forms of modern culture.
Example:
A: I hate Tarantino movies. They’re full of gratuitous violence.
B: Well, yes. But why is that a problem? They’re just movies.
A: I think we learn from movies. I don’t want us to learn violence.
B: Mmm, I think you should relax. People don’t just copy without thinking. I mean, you watch tv programs that use lots of gratuitious bad language…
A: Yes, and I use a lot of bad language! I don’t think my bad language is gratuitious, though…
Talking Point(s):
Do you think gratuitous violence in movies is a problem?