This segment of National Public Radio’s On the Media program explores the trend of “sound inflation” in violent movie scenes—that is, the increasingly gruesome and exaggerated nature of sound effects that are used for fights and other acts of violence. These effects provide, as Slate editor Daniel Engber puts it, a “potent and precise soundtrack for brutality.” In this On the Media segment, cohost Brooke Gladstone interviews Engber about this trend.

Listen to the interview.

Courtesy of On the Media - WNYC Radio.

Source: Engberger, Daniel. “The Reel Sounds of Violence.” Interview by Brook Gladstone. On the Media. National Public Radio. WNYC, New York. 2 Mar. 2012. Web. 20 Sept. 2012. www.onthemedia.org/2012/mar/02/reel-sounds-violence/