Romuel
What makes now different from any other time period? Public executions in the United states didn't end that long ago, as well as public beatings. Is the violence worse now that it's simulated?
Which biblical hero made a wedding gift of the foreskins of his enemies?
As for romantizing and sexualizing of violence...Obviously no one's read anything in the past 2,500 years. None of this is new, save for the how it's presented. Every media from carvings to paintings, to photography to film, has as popular expressions salacious and grisly imagery.
Nothing changes.
How it's presented is that change. What romantization there was of violent material in the past was not widely shown to children, and if it was, it was an accident, or just for teaching them a lesson. Public executions and beatings were to punish a criminal, however wrong or right it was. Today's media violence is just raw, pointless killing and shooting that is not done in the name of art, politics, or whatever, just for the enjoyment of people that get exhiliration from watching it.