The archive / Film, TV and books
1980–1982 · Sweden
Video violence is poisoning our children!
Video violence
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The verdict
A TV programme about violent videos led to one of the world’s first video-violence bans. Its methods were later criticised as manipulative.
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What was said?
On 2 December 1980, SVT broadcast an edition of Studio S about violent films on the new video market. Clips from films such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre were shown, and children were interviewed about what they had seen. The following day, police raided rental shops, and schools threatened to boycott publishers that rented out violent films.
As early as 1981 the Riksdag passed a law against the distribution of films containing graphic violence, followed in 1982 by a tougher version that also applied to adults. Only one member of parliament voted against.
The verdict: what happened next?
None of the raids led to a prosecution, and the feared wave of violence among children never materialised. Film scholars have since described the debate as a moral panic, arguing that it was also about protecting the television monopoly from a new medium.
An investigative report in 2002 claimed that Studio S had hand-picked the children, shown them the worst scenes and edited their answers – something the programme's editorial team denied.
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