15 Aggressive Photoshoots That Reflect Our Culture’s Violent Obsession Edit

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt highlighted our culture’s obsession with violence a few years back in their “Domestic Bliss” photoshoot with famed photographer Steven Klein for W Magazine.

Three years later, it seems that war, aggression and violence are still the focus point of many fashion editorials and even advertising campaigns.

In addition to the Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt editorial, Steven Klein recently did an extremely aggressive editorial for British magazine Arena Homme+. He also shot a gun-carrying aggressive Christian Bale for Details magazine, and a screaming editorial entitled “The New Warriors” in the September issue of Vogue Italia. His recent work is a blood-thirsty editorial in the February 2009 issue of Vogue Paris.

But Klein isn’t the only one obsessed with violence, Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf captured the Dutch football team in a 300-inspired warrior shoot.

Violence is everywhere around us: TV news, movies, music clips, video games, and fashion magazines. I would like to pose this question: is art just a reflection of our society or is it actually feeding the monster?