Violent games and movies 'have a strong, twisted effect,' says Pierce Brosnan

Actor Pierce Brosnan, who played super-spy James Bond in four films from 1995-2002, said in an interview with The Sun that he believes violent media such as movies and especially video games have negative influences on consumers.

"I do think the movies [have] influence, I hate to say it, on our societies. And the games, which deal with killing, which our kids play these days have a strong, twisted effect," said Brosnan. The actor has three sons, two of whom are teenagers. He doesn't let violent games in his home, but said that his children play them at friends' houses.

"We are a violent race without question and now what we can do with computer graphics is terrifying," Brosnan added.

As for his own roles in violent films — according to The Sun, Brosnan killed 135 people over four films as James Bond, a higher average than any other Bond actor — Brosnan downplayed the violence.

"The kill ratio in movies is overwhelming and I never really took the violence in the Bond movies too seriously," he said. "The plot was not so real."

Other people and organizations that have blamed real-life violence on media include Sen. Lamar Alexander and the National Rifle Association, which, shortly after the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Conn., last December, called out video games for "selling violence" to children. Many experts and politicians disagree, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi, but when President Obama introduced a package of proposals to combat gun violence in January, they included a call for research into the link between "media images" and real-life acts of violence.