The Postmorbid Condition by Vivian Sobchack Essays

In the play, Macbeth, Macbeth has just been told his wife has died. “She should have died hereafter: There would have been a time for such a word. Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow creeps in this pretty pace from day to day” (Shakespeare). Macbeth reaction is surprising, given the fact that his wife has just died. His reaction shows the consequences of prolonged exposure to violence does to an individual. Violence in the media can leave negative impact on people’s moral compass. In fact, violence in the media can lead to a negative influence on behavior, desensitization, and aggression.

The main purpose of the article written by Gerald Jones is to change the public perception of violent media for kids. He argues for this by saying violent media can actually have positive effects on young people because a violent media help the young people to gain self-knowledge and sense of potency through heroic combative storytelling. In addition to this, when young people are growing, watching a media action full pool of blood, killing, stabbing, screams of agony and pleas for mercy help them pull out of the emotional trap by plunging themselves into violent story. Jones also believes that violent media are a positive influence on children because pretend to have a superhuman power helps children defeat the feeling of impotent that inescapably

Society has been subjected to many violent acts over the course of its history. Although violence is immoral and wrong, somehow people everyday condone and commit violence for countless reasons. Many Hollywood films glorify mindless violence to their advantage and captivate audiences through its entertaining shock value and rake large box office profits. Car chases, crashes and glorified gladiator sword fights are all familiar scenes in which violence is portrayed in an unrealistic glamorised manner.

In his book, More Than a Movie: Ethics in Entertainment, F. Miguel Valenti examines nine “hot buttons” of violence – “creative elements that filmmakers use to manipulate viewers’ reactions to onscreen violence.” (99) These elements, posited by researchers conducting The National Television Violence Study (Valenti, 99) are “choice of perpetrator, choice of victim, presence of consequences, rewards and punishments, the reason for the violence, weapons, realism, use of humor, and prolonged exposure” (Valenti, 100) .

Richard Rhodes the author of “Hollow Claims about Fantasy Violence” expresses that the media’s portrayal of violence has no influence on those that view it. One of the first tactics that Rhodes used was by attacking the flaws of Organizations who blamed entertainment for the issues of violent behaviors. He claims that due to increased social control over the years has caused a decline in violence. Rhodes’ used thought-provoking tactics attempting to disprove that violence is influenced from the media instead he believes that violence is stemmed from personal violent encounters. Although Rhodes brought about very good points to dispute that violence is not caused by entertainment, it is not convincing.

Quentin Tarantino is well known and often criticized for his depiction of violence in his films. Although at times graphic, Tarantino’s violence holds a purpose. This paper will look at two films, Jackie Brown and Pulp Fiction, and their depiction of violence and the aesthetics used. It will also look at classic film conventions and ultraviolence aesthetics used by Tarantino.

Being or doing something violent is often one’s way of getting out of a situation or turning to as a last resort. In action movies, there is usually a main character trying to achieve their goal and they revert to violence to advance to it . Violence can be used to achieve what they need or to fulfill their emotions. The characters in All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erica Remarque, The Odyssey, by Homer, and Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, exemplify using violence as a last resort. In All Quiet in the Western Front, Paul Baumer is put in the detrimental position of becoming a soldier. He uses violence to try to achieve a piece of mind. Additionally in The Odyssey, Odysseus faces a cannibal monster, who makes Odysseus fear for his life

Sissela Bok opens a controversial topic on violence as entertainment which explores the effect of the increasing of violence both in fiction and in real life. Not only do films, television shows, and video games evidence an escalating level of graphic violence, but daily news of war and other human brutality are as bad as well. As less time pass on doing physical activities and an increase in using electronic devices as increases, particularly by teens, there is growing concern about a possible link between violence viewing content and actual behavior. Bok draws a balanced image, naming some possible benefits from violence. One of the benefits could be the redirection of human physical and verbal aggression and the confrontation of fears in

Most young children despise horror movies and dread waking up in the middle of the night due to daunting nightmares controlling their sleep. But somewhere in transitioning from a child to a young adult, many begin to acquire a love for horror movies. In “Why We Crave Horror Movies”, Stephen King proposes the idea that watching such gruesome violence keeps our inner demons in check while providing a “psychic relief” (2). Kings’ claim that watching violence prevents violence is simply false; in reality, horror movies desensitize us to the effects of violence and normalize the many acts of violence we see in our world today.

In the article, “Violent Media Is Good for Kids”, the author, Gerard Jones, begins by providing background information about himself. As a child, Jones was taught that violence was wrong, and as he grew up, he learned that violent comics and stories aided him to become an action movies and comic book writer. In his article, the author addresses why violent media are good for children. He points out that it helps them transform better socially, explore and conquer their feelings, and improves self-knowledge. Jones purpose is to inform readers about the positive use of violent media on children. The author uses rhetorical appeals of pathos and ethos, and stylistic techniques such as allusions and repetitions to create his argument.

The author introduces the topic by addressing people’s tendency to be addicted to violence in movies, as well as Hollywood movie makers, yet mass shootings are basically nonexistent on screen, which seems strange “considering how much money Hollywood contributes toward depicting violence.” A reason for that would be that film makers wouldn’t make money out of subjects people feel uncomfortable with. Hollywood glorifies

The increased violence in media has lead to the desensitization of the American public. Something that wouldn’t have made it to air 30 years ago would be considered normal today. We keep changing the boundaries of what is acceptable and what isn’t. Previously, violence was generally shown off screen, with the viewer filling in the blanks. A famous example of this is the shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” You see Norman Bate’s shadow in the shower curtain, and the next thing you see is blood going down the drain. You knew what happened, but you didn’t need to be shown the stabbing. It did it’s job of scaring the audience without ever actually showing the death. Something like that now is

In the present world, violence is considered to be Cinematographic Enchantment which has no relation to the real world without making any effect on the common life. In his article “The Postmorbid Condition”, Vivian C. Sobchack considers this aspect as a global carelessness and insensible desire for violence on the human flesh and environment. Furthermore, the absence of criticism against the violence on television or any other kinds of violence develops wrong stereotypes and social impressions on the common life. Form this ideology, Sobchack coins the term “senseless violence”, which is used as a fulfillment of the scene. In the most relevant cases, violence is used as block of behavioral establishment or emotionally manipulative reasons.

In “Violence Media is Good for Kids”, Gerald Jones described how violence is not always bad for kids, but can have a positive impact for them. Children learn from violent media how to solve problems in a different way. Violent media shows children that every obstacle they face is not the end of the world. By exploring the pages of violent media and exposing the children to violence it prepared the child for experiences in the future.

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.