Using Violence for Entertainment Purposes

Humans are drawn to acts of a primal nature. Raw, passionate, and vastly entertaining; primal instincts have always been at the root of human behavior. Archeologists say that the first humans were found with spearheads embedded in their ribcage. Mankind’s curiosity will always be sparked by the thought of bloodshed. Just look at the entertainment we as a species hold most dear; violent action films, movies about war, videogames based solely on the concept of killing the opponent, the list in never-ending. The fascination around violent acts is understandable. Since the invention of society, the act of killing another human has been frowned upon by the rest of society. The contrast of the acts of violence to the norms of everyday life are hard

Once Gerard got to his thirty years of age he found himself writing action movies and comic books then even seeing his own creations being turned into action figures, cartoons, and computer games. Now Gerard Jones has a son and uses the same technique that helped him express his emotions. An example Gerard shows why violent media is good is with his son he was scared of climbing trees with his friends because he was scared of falling and afraid of centipedes crawling on the trunk of sharp branches.When Gerard Jones saw this he took it as his cue to help his son by reading him some Tarzan comics then “For two weeks he lived in them, Then put them aside, and climbed the tree”(Gerard Jones). Gerard’s son with the influence of some violent comic book was able to overcome fear of climbing a tree. Gerard then starts a research to make violent media look almost necessary to help some kids “to explore their inescapable feelings that they’ve been taught to deny, and to reintegrate those feelings into a more whole, more complex, more resilient selfhood”(Gerard Jones). A great meaning for Gerard is to help parents get to understand the importance of not limiting their children from violence because when you “try to protect our children from their own feelings and fantasies, we shelter them not against violence but against power and selfhood”(Gerard

From the time we are born, we are immediately introduced to influences that will shape and develop our character for the rest of our lives. Our character can be affected in a positive or a negative way by various influences that we encounter on a daily basis. We need to be aware of how much we absorb and let those influences change our behavior. External influences, such as video games, movies, and television shows impact our everyday lives, even when we are not conscious of them.

4. Irony and Satire do contribute to the desensitizing of audiences due to the fact that the meaning of violence is completely abandoned and viewers see only the comedic side of the scene. For example, in Pulp Fiction Jules recites from the Bible before killing his victim, completely turning the attention of viewers from the meaning of the young man’s impending death, and in the scene entitled “The Bonnie Situation,” the cleanup of the killing is focused on more than the senseless, meaningless act itself. Modern violence in movies, in Sobchack’s words, have become “excessive” in violence and that when they elicit screams, they also elicit laughter. Too much violence becomes so outrageous and “over the top” that gore and the quantity of death are expected, and that is considered funny by audiences (432). As a result, violence does not seem real anymore.

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.

The main argument of this article is that video games have a direct link to short term and long term aggression. The author presents this argument by providing studies from peer reviewed articles that all conclude that video games do cause an increase of aggression. The main point of this article is to answer the question, “Do violent video games lead to aggression.” The article is about the effects of violent video games leading to aggression. The author uses recent examples, like the Sandy Hook and Washington Navy Yard shooting. In both of these examples, the author cites that both shooters had a history with playing violent video games. The author uses a study which selected individuals to play violent video games for a certain period of time. The study would then compare the results to a group who played non-violent video games. The study concluded that violent video games cause a direct link in aggression due to humans reenacting the actions the characters within the video games perform.

Children play. The manner in which children have played has frequently changed throughout the years. There was a time where sticks or index fingers were used to symbolize guns or bows in order for children to play “cowboys and Indians.” Later, the same mechanisms were used as children would play “cops and robbers.” Children mimic what they see in reality when it is time to play. However, children are not known to mimic what they play when functioning in real life. For example, children who played “cowboys and Indians” were not known to actually go out and try to harm others in the belief that they actually were cowboys or Indians. These examples are relevant in today’s society as critics of violent video games often attribute violence in reality to the violence in video games. However, videos games are a form of play and, as the previous examples have shown, what a child plays is not reflected in what that child actually does in their real life.

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) .

He elaborates by claiming Grisham is placing the issue of public violence on Stone’s and other director’s movies. Stone, more importantly, explains that as an artist he is simply placing a mirror to reality and showing an untainted perspective on life (Stone 1-2). Stone goes on to reinforce the notion that films are not the major influences of violence when he states, “Accordingly, only 16 percent of all [Televsions] programs show

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.

In society, video games have been criticized as an inducer for violent in children. The ongoing debate instigates research on the correlation between video games and violence. In Craig Anderson’s article, “Violent Video Games and Other Media Violence, Part II”, the author criticizes the opposing side and states that violence in media reflects violent behaviors in children. John Glynn’s article, “Guns and Games”, reasons on the benefits of video games and points out the true perpetrator for violent behaviors of youth in the United States to be the gun culture.; While Glynn’s article contains some form of pathos, there is a lack of pathos in Anderson’s. Both articles utilize logos and ethos. However, Glynn offers a more well-rounded argument to support that video games are beneficial and are not the true cause of aggression in children.

To some people, games with simulated violence are hazardous to their life. Some of these games are computerized, while others are physical. Guy Martin, writer of the 2009 article “High-Jinks: Shoot-Out,” stated that high schoolers in Brooklyn run around town “killing”their peers with water guns. This game is known as “Killer.” These manhunts teach kids that it is okay to break laws, promote criminal activity, and to have bad and aggressive attitudes.

For Davis, violence is a huge part of his life and career. As a movie producer, Davis makes his money off of intense and violent scenes because many viewers pay to see and take pleasure in brutal, violent movies. While reviewing a movie, Davis emphasized the importance of violence when he states, “The money shot. The bus driver’s head. The brains-on-the-window shot. The viscera-on-the-visor shot.” Referring to a scene that was removed from one of his films, Davis was blatantly angry and uses phrases such as “money shot” to emphasize that a violent scene is what viewers are going to pay to watch granted that several Americans enjoy movies in which revolve around violence. Furthermore, violence is brought into Davis’ own life after he is shot

The interdisciplinary problem I am investigating is Overexposure violence in our entertainment is creating a psychological desensitization in people. The research that will be completed in this study will reflect how violence negatively impact human behavior. The research will also show the impact of long term exposure and how that will impact behavioral patterns Over exposure to violence and the psychological impacts will fall across many disciplines due to the nature of how it impacts our society on an individual and corporate level. It is important to solve this issue because the very nature of this overexposure can desensitize humans. The desensitization can cause people to have a stunted ability to place value on human life and have a greater capacity to act violently in society.

In this era of internet connectivity, access to an array of violent media stimuli is readily available. Scientific exploration of the effects of such exposure on real world violent behaviour carries potential ramifications for the safety of global communities. Media violence is understood here as stimuli that includes depictions of violence or calls to violent action and includes image, video, television and gaming. Violent behavior is defined as behavior causing emotional or physical harm expressed verbally or physically. Whilst there remains no causal proof for the