Americans have a ruff time watching animal violence on screen

“Not the dog!” Americans believe that it’s harder to watch animals being killed on-screen than humans, according to new research.

A poll of 1,512 U.S. adults sought to uncover their “gore line,” or just how much blood and violence Americans can tolerate when it comes to TV and movies.

If “I Am Legend” keeps your attention until “the dog scene” or you shy away from the first few minutes of the original “John Wick” movie, you may be part of the 51% who are more likely to turn away when something bad happens to an animal. Just 32% do the same with people.

Animal abuse/killing even ranked as the No. 1 hardest scenes to watch (57%), followed closely by child abuse (56%) and domestic violence (43%).

Dr. Chad Walding, Chief Culture Officer and Co-Founder of NativePath, weighs in on how psychological and cultural elements factor into these tendencies.

“The emotional reaction of watching cruelty or abuse to an animal or living being in the media is interesting to explore from a psychological perspective and not so different from how we view the abuse of a human,” said Walding. “Every weekend, the news reels share a shocking story of animal abuse or animal cruelty; however, our strong emotional response occurs specifically from watching something that is innocent being victimized. Viewers naturally see animals as innocent and/or weak, leading to some serious emotional engagement with the source of the abuse.”

Though both have tear-jerking sentiment, funerals or memorial services ranked below death beds and final “goodbyes” ranked above funerals and memorial services (27% vs 15%).

And despite every early 2000s TV drama depicting at least one, only 14% believe that car accidents are the most gut-wrenching.

Conducted by Talker Research, the results found that Americans have strong stomachs and have a high tolerance for gore.

Slaps, punches and KOs are fair game for the majority of the panel, though 12% start to draw the line at someone being stabbed repeatedly, and 14% of baby boomers agree.

One in 10 Americans call it quits if someone’s head is being chopped off, whereas many (21%) will take it all the way to the end with someone being chopped into pieces.

A little more than two in five (22%) can’t even identify their gore line.

In fact, 53% of respondents haven’t encountered a movie or TV show in the last 12 months that they needed to turn off because it was too gory.

“Media violence is growing and desensitization to violence is becoming more and more obvious,” continued Walding. “Our cognitive tolerance for gore has begun to influence the media we use and the content of these media. A major factor is simply, the more violent media that is being consumed, and therefore normalized, it reduces the emotional impact of the consumer and becomes more normalized and it works for the media input.”

TOP 10 HARDEST TYPES OF TV AND MOVIE SCENES TO WATCH

• Animal abuse/killing - 57%
• Child abuse - 56%
• Domestic violence/abuse - 43%
• Violence/murder - 30%
• Deathbed/final goodbyes - 27%
• Shootings - 18%
• Drug use - 16%
• Sex/intimacy - 14%
• Car accidents - 14%
• War/battles - 13%

Survey methodology:

Talker Research surveyed 1,512 general population Americans; the survey was administered and conducted online by Talker Research between Jan. 31 and Feb. 3, 2025.

We are sourcing from a non-probability frame and the two main sources we use are:

• Traditional online access panels — where respondents opt-in to take part in online market research for an incentive
• Programmatic — where respondents are online and are given the option to take part in a survey to receive a virtual incentive usually related to the online activity they are engaging in

Those who did not fit the specified sample were terminated from the survey. As the survey is fielded, dynamic online sampling is used, adjusting targeting to achieve the quotas specified as part of the sampling plan.

Regardless of which sources a respondent came from, they were directed to an Online Survey, where the survey was conducted in English; a link to the questionnaire can be shared upon request. Respondents were awarded points for completing the survey. These points have a small cash-equivalent monetary value.

Cells are only reported on for analysis if they have a minimum of 80 respondents, and statistical significance is calculated at the 95% level. Data is not weighted, but quotas and other parameters are put in place to reach the desired sample.

Interviews are excluded from the final analysis if they failed quality-checking measures. This includes:

• Speeders: Respondents who complete the survey in a time that is quicker than one-third of the median length of interview are disqualified as speeders
• Open ends: All verbatim responses (full open-ended questions as well as other please specify options) are checked for inappropriate or irrelevant text
• Bots: Captcha is enabled on surveys, which allows the research team to identify and disqualify bots
• Duplicates: Survey software has “deduping” based on digital fingerprinting, which ensures nobody is allowed to take the survey more than once

It is worth noting that this survey was only available to individuals with internet access, and the results may not be generalizable to those without internet access.