What constitutes graphic violence? / is this graphic violence?

[CallMeMattheww]

So i just finished posting my the new episode to my comic and there is some violence in this episode, now 3 of my friends have given me different feedback as to whether or not the scenes would be considered to graphic by webtoons standards.

here are the scenes in question

So his arm gets ripped off then its followed by the over dramatic blood gush scene

now my friends argument is that since i'm actually showing his arm getting bit off this is graphic violence but my rebuttal is that i show no details such as veins, bones or muscle tissue so in turn the scene really cannot be seen as graphic violence and I even made sure not to show him directly bleeding to ensure that the scene wouldn't be considered as graphic violence

So please tell me if you think these scenes are too graphic and also please tell me what you consider graphic violence and what isn't seeing as a lot of websites tend to be too vague about this concept

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Please give my other social media's some love
My Webcomic - Exile
My Instagram - Matthewwdraws

[DiegoPalacios]

If you have doubts about what is officially considered mature content, you can always check the Tapas guidelines

Content and Community Guidelines

[CallMeMattheww]

But the problem is this is still too vague, because they say that "Violence primarily intended to be shocking, sensational or disrespectful is not ok" now here is my question, what violence isn't shocking, sensational or disrespectful, so are they saying that all work in the action genre and hell even in romance genre (because I've seen ish go down in some series LOL) will in turn fall into the mature content category?

due to the fact that it's shocking, sensational and disrespectful??

[Jenny-Toons]

For me, I can only assume it's "violence that's prolonged and zoomed in on"

Like, for your scene -- someone's arm got ripped off and blood is gushing. Even though it's explicitly shown, the whole blood gushing from the actual arm is omitted.

If someone were to try and make it "shocking", they would probably have two-three panels zooming in on the ripped flesh, the pumping blood, and any other gore that's there, making the readers look longer than they probably should.

I think that's what they're talking about.

Or if you have detectives find a dead body that's been mangled -- "shocking" would be to focus entirely on the gore, maybe having different, zoomed-in angles to display it. The detectives are talking, but we never see them. We just see their dialogue over the gore.

This can be omitted by showing a silhouetted slumped figure, some blood splattered here or there, and actually seeing the reactions of the characters viewing it.

It's always a question of "should this really take several panels to show?"

Though, this is only my assumption (a good one, but still an assumption), so you might do better at going directly to a staff member and having them elaborate. Even when using your best judgement, having another pair of eyes to see can definitely help!

[DiegoPalacios]

If someone were to try and make it "shocking", they would probably have two-three panels zooming in on the ripped flesh, the pumping blood, and any other gore that's there, making the readers look longer than they probably should.

One pannel showing the visceral stuff would be enough to be tagged as mature.

"Violence primarily intended to be shocking, sensational or disrespectful is not ok" now here is my question, what violence isn't shocking, sensational or disrespectful, so are they saying that all work in the action genre and hell even in romance genre (because I've seen ish go down in some series LOL) will in turn fall into the mature content category?

Fights are not a problem. Is when things get too visceral or gory that a tag may be needed. Think of avatar the last airbender (the show, not the movie) for fights that don`t need the mature tag. For your case, i agree with Jenny. Is better to ask a staff member.

You can have people kissing each other, but when you have non-graphic sex you already need a mature tag. Graphic sex intended to titilllate or arouse is not allowed. (more detail in the guidelines)

This can help in some cases.
"Providing context and clarifying intent in the content title and description are important. For example, depictions of violence, sex, or nudity for diegetic, artistic, or educational purposes are more likely to be allowed than gratuitously graphic ones."

[J.Z.Castillo]

To me graphic violence is something that is prolonged and REALLY emphasized on (see Grindhouse by Quentin Tarantino) and sometimes senseless that adds nothing to the plot (unlike Grindhouse by Quentin Tarantino because those movies are amazing). Anyway! A good example of explicit violence is the scene in Elfen Lied when they kill the puppy... like... was that necessary? Did we really have to kill a puppy? I mean, the anime starts pretty violently but, was that scene really necessary? And I think that's a good rule of thumb: Ask yourself "do I really have to show this to get my point across?" If the answer is no and you still show it, guess what? That's graphic violence/explicit content.

Now, If you are writing an ultra gory/sexual comic from the start then your audience would be expecting that to happen, but when you pepper in these scenes without any warning that's when the flags go up. I don't think your scene is violent, I mean, it IS, but it's not graphic because what else do you expect to happen when an arm gets chopped off? You are showing enough of what needs to be shown and you aren't making a spectacle of all the blood and flesh being ripped, I think you are okay as far as community guidelines go and I don't think staff will give you problems BUT put it under the mature tag because you are showing slight violence and blood, you know?

[djwaglmuffin]

I always assumed it was violence for the sake of it/ it has no reason to be there. I mean, I think if a comic like Devilman Crybaby or Battle Royale were on this site, there might be red flags but even then, the violence is woven into the story for a reason.

Like sex. There is a point where it's over the top and unfortunately many people have different ideas of what that means.

Porn shouldn't be here. Stories where characters earn their way into that situation or doing a lot of off camera shots, that's fine (imo)

Saw, if it were a comic, would be a comic/story I don't think should be here. Battle Royale/Elfen Leid/Castlevania walk a very fine line but some of the violence could be written off camera. Stories like Devilman or AoT actually kind of don't make sense without some of the violence or sex. So it's a judgment call on you.

I actually think novels are harder on this because instead of utilizing off camera panels, we have to dance around our words. I, for example, have implied sexual assault/r*** in my story. Some of my demonic/vampire characters use sex or violence to lure in unsuspecting prey but I also utilize the mature tag/warning notes (this chapter contains a trigger warning or some other graphic content).

That label sequence you posted. My first thought was "seriously? That's nothing" but then I had to step back and try to see it from a mod perspective. Even then, though, it's not gratuitous or there for no reason or is a meaningless hack and slash.

Sorry for any typos. I'm on my phone.

[Wumbl]

I'd say it's graphic/senseless if the entire point is to create a horror/fear response, or to emphasise the appearance of the damage.
I have a gorey comic myself - the whole thing is rated for older teens and up because of the language and story content. I tag any page with excessive violence as mature, because I think that those kinds of pages require the reader to be ready for them. Some readers would want to check out the description to make sure there isn't something on the page that's squicky for them. I know that some people might not want to go in to a scene about someone getting viciously beaten or murdered without a heads up first.
As a rule of thumb I say "graphic" is anything you wouldn't show in person without warning - say you were showing it to a member of your family, you might warn them that it's violent.

What you've shown is definitely violent but it's not excessive - you show blood, and a moment of impact. There isn't exactly an atmosphere of horror or intensity there. It's only fleeting. Depending on what your audience are used to and what they've been seeing/expecting you may still want to give it a mature filter. It's all down to personal discretion.

[SleepingPoppy]

I think your example is on the cusp. You could probably get away without amature tag since the wound/injury is actually drawn simply (in reference to gore). The blood is more comical in amount than disturbing. However, it is a lot of blood, so you might choose to mark it mature just out of awareness for your audience.

And a note: there's really nothing wrong with tagging something mature. ️

because they say that "Violence primarily intended to be shocking, sensational or disrespectful is not ok" now here is my question, what violence isn't shocking, sensational or disrespectful

Key word is primarily. The kind of work that is just an excuse to be excessively violent, and otherwise lacks meaning/substance. The guidelines need to be somewhat vague to take into account intent. This is actually a lot more liberal than if they gave us a black and white list of what's allowed, and gives us more creative freedom.

will in turn fall into the mature content category?

The above describes things that are not allowed on Tapas at all, not work that must be marked as mature. But to add clarity..

depictions of violence, sex, or nudity for diegetic, artistic, or educational purposes are more likely to be allowed than gratuitously graphic ones.

Or to put it simply, violence that is effectively woven into the story is fine. But if it's of a slightly edgier nature (more graphic) use a mature filter just in case.