Does Violence In Motion Pictures Affect Teen Violence?

The debate whether violence in the media increases aggression in children has been going on for decades. There have been hundreds of studies, experiments and articles supporting and opposing both sides of the argument. This essay is going to examine an article supporting and an article opposing the debate. The articles include “The Influence of Media Violence in Youth” which supports media violence causing aggression through the use of evidence that includes short and long term effects of media violence, theories as to why media violence causes aggression, factors that influence aggression and ways to counteract the negative effects (Anderson et

Prolonged scenes of massive violence, graphic sexual content, and animated blood are examples of statements that the Entertainment Software Rating Board uses to depict the content in over fifty- five percent of the video games rated yearly. The debate of whether the aggressive nature of these video games influences youth violence in our country has been heatedly battled for decades. Since the mid 1980’s, it has been suggested that high profile cases of violence are due to an aggressor’s excessive video game use. However, much like a cold case the type of connection between video game use and youth violence remains without a definite answer. Most believe that video game use negatively influences child aggression acts in our country. Others firmly declare that video games provide a realm of opportunity for child development. Ultimately, it is impossible to say that video game use affects every child the same way. New studies suggest that video games do not affect every child that plays a game. Although violent video games are innocuous for the majority of adolescents between the ages of twelve and eighteen, the effects of these games are aggravated in those with pre- existing antisocial or depressive traits.

Bushman, Jamieson, Weitz, and Romer explore whether or not the presence of guns in PG-13 rated movies has increased throughout the years. In their research, they learn that the rate of gun violence in PG13 movies has indeed grown to surpass the rate of gun violence in R-rated movies. The authors demonstrate that youth now have more access to movies showing gun violence, suggesting that this could potentially have an effect on youth aggression.

Research shows gun violence appears in movies can lead children to obtain aggressive behavior (Bushman 2013: 1017). In high-grossing movies, violence contents display more than twice in one hours (Cieply 2013). Furthermore, perpetrators have seen to dress up as some characters in movies ( Bushman 2013: 1015). James Holmes dressed

Arguments about the excess of violence in movies often happen between parents and adults. Some people believe it has a major affected on children but others believe it has no effect on them at all. The two arguments provided in the article state their points of view while providing evidence that backs themselves up. Overall there is one argument that is better-supported by facts and more persuasive which is the Point argument. The point article argues "Violence in Hollywood movies has become excessive and is putting our youth and our entire society at risk for violent behaviors"(Point 1).

violating, damaging, or abusing. Violence on TV has been steadily increasing for the past few years. It’s

Many parents can argue that brutal shows and video games motivate violent behavior. The children of these adults would argue against that. Children should not be allowed to watch brutal shows because they cause bad behavior and should not be allowed to play violent video games because any games create addiction.

How many TV shows a day depict gruesome deaths? How many video games are coming this year where the main goal is to kill? Chances are, a lot. Violence is everywhere in today’s society, and it is ever prevalent in the lives of most adolescents. The book What Are They Thinking by Aaron M. White and Scott Swartzwelder describes how this violence, whether virtual or in real-life, affects the changing adolescent brain. The book is about teenage psychology and brain science, and was released in 2013. In the Violence chapter of the book many studies about how violence affects and desensitizes children and adolescents were referenced. However, nearly all of them were were supporting the bias that any type of violence, including simulated, causes both grade school children and teens to become more violent. More importantly, not everyone is the same, and therefore are not affected the same by violence.

Utilizing only common sense, the majority of Americans link exposure to violence in the media to acts of real-life violence. A 2013 HuffPost/YouGov poll of 1,000 Americans asked, “In general, how much do you think the depiction of violence in popular culture, such as in movies and video games, contributes to gun violence in the U.S.?” Over half of the respondents believed the link was moderate-to-strong, with only 14% believing in no link whatsoever.

Children who are exposed to various types of violence from a young age are more likely to initiate and behave aggressively towards others. Kids may also take part in aggressive behavior if they feel they identify themselves with hostile characters in the media. A study conducted on youth investigated the relationship between prolonged displays towards media violence and identification with fictional characters (Mrug, Madan, Cook, & Wright, 2015). The results concluded that with increased exposure to high-action movie scenes, there was a greater identification with the fictional characters presented. A 1999 school shooting, at Columbine High School in Colorado, involved two teenage boys whose lives revolved around the obsession of violent imagery

Some people do argument that violent media in films, video games and more equate to violent behavior. An example of a case blaming violent text causing violent behavior would the be the “James Bulger” case where two kids led away a younger child and killed him off. They blamed the reason on certain movies, which we can apply the Copycat theory as the two children were allegedly recreate the scene of the movie they watched. However on the other hand people could argue that watching a movie doesn’t mean that a person will directly recreate action done in the movie.

In the article by Christian L, Lyon (2014) violence intensifies the debate weather pervasive violence in movies or televisions or music and video games influences young people’s behavior. Teenagers spend a certain amount of time watching television, or playing video games it makes them wonder if the actions they

There is overwhelmingly more research concerned with potential negative consequences of violent media than potential positive ones. Despite this, no definitive causal link has been established between simulated violence and actual violence. However, there is some evidence supporting the view that violent media is linked to negative psychological traits. One such example is a widely peer reviewed, 2003 study that evaluated college age adults for aggression and hostility prior to and after exposure to music with graphic lyrics (Anderson et

With violent lyrics in music, video games with violent themes, hyper-violent horror and action movies and more, entertainment media has been under the microscope as a primary factor in causing violent behavior in youths for years. Ever since the Columbine shootings in 1999 and the subsequent blame being placed on the video game DOOM and heavy metal artist Marilyn Manson, the news media delights in finding new violent entertainment to link to youth violence, especially if a massacre is involved.

In the book Critique of Violence ,author Walter describes Violence as "The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, male development, or deprivation .The violence that is portrayed in the media has been debated for decades ,and it has rose a question about how does it influence the youth?. From movies to video games society has been accustom to seeing violence in their everyday entertainment. Since children are easy to be influence by their environment, it is safe to say that violence in the media can and will contribute to violent behavior.