Does entertainment influence society's attitude towards violent behavior? In order to fully answer this question we must first understand what violence is. Violence is the use of one's powers to inflict mental or physical injury upon another, examples of this would be rape or murder. Violence in entertainment reaches the public by way of television, movies, plays, and novels. Through the course of this essay it will be proven that violence in entertainment is a major factor in the escalation of violence in society, once this is proven we will take all of the evidence that has been shown throughout this paper and come to a conclusion as to whether or not violence in entertainment is justified and whether or not it should be censored. …show more content…
As recently as November of 1995, New York City officials believed that the burning of a toll-booth clerk was a result of copycat violence, resulting from a similar scene in the movie Money Train. In 1994, Nathan Martinez shot and killed his stepmother and half sister after watching the movie Natural Born Killers at least six times. "Later, Martinez, who had shaved his head and wore granny sun glasses like Natural Born Killer's main character Mickey Knox, reportedly told a friend, "It's nothing like the movies"(Purtell 57). In a 1993 film, The Program, there was a scene showing college football players lying in the center of a highway in an attempt to show their courage and dedication to their sport. This movie was later blamed for inspiring real-life imitators; (one of whom died). In numorous experiments based at pre-schools, researchers have observed children playing before and after seeing violent movies and television shows. "Following the violent program the children's play is invaribly more aggressive. They are much more likely to hit, punch, kick, and grab to get their way. In other words, violent entertainment teaches children how to use aggression for personal gain" (Medved 75). It is also hard to believe that movies like Rambo III with one hundred and six killings and Terminator 2 which showed countless killings plus a nuclear holocaust have at one time had their own line of children's action figures even though both movies are rated R. One must
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.
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
THESIS STATEMENT: The world’s media today seem to have more violence than ever. Video games have vivid depictions of accident catastrophes, fighting and murder. Television news programs generally lead with a violent story in order to gain an audience. This is free society people can stay what they want. ‘’ Media violence has many negative effect on youth today to commit crimes in society.’’
The article “Violence As Fun” by Randall Sullivan brings up this issue, arguing that parents need to be educated on the dangers of allowing their children to watch violent TV programs. The author supports this with evidence from a report conducted by The American Psychological Association, where they concluded that early substance abuse, access to weapons, isolation, and widespread display of violence in media; the latter being greater, contributes to the violent behaviors in adolescents. He also points out that since the 1950s, aggravated assaults have increased seven times. The passage further emphasizes that many TV outlets know the damaging effects that violence in media has on juveniles, yet only a few acknowledge this fact. Sullivan’s
The concept that the media and violent video games have an effect on aggression and violent behaviour in youth is one that I have heard speculations about in other classes and ultimately agree with. In the article by David Grossman, titled Trained To Kill, he presents the idea that while it is against human nature to kill one’s own kind violence in the media has led to an increase in criminal acts committed by youths (Grossman, 2000). Overall, I agree with his argument because the common theme of violence in media leads to desensitization, and creates a conditioned response to violent situations. However, since the 1980’s we have seen a decrease in homicides in Canada, which contradicts Grossman’s theory.
In this column piece, the authors discuss recent medical studies about exposure to media violence and current violent events that have been covered by media outlets. After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, actor Jim Carrey publicly boycotted his role in the film Kick-Ass 2, stating he could not support the graphic violence depicted in the film. The creator of the Kick-Ass comics and executive producer of the film, Mark Millar responded to Carrey’s comments, saying he doesn’t believe that fictional violence leads to societal violence. The author goes on to refute Carrey’s claims, and argues that millions of Americans view media violence every day, but few become rampant killers. They then discuss current medical studies that claim media violence can lead to societal violence. Studies on the topic
Most experts contend that violent television shows, video games, and toys promote aggression and destructive behavior. Rhodes (2000) states, “The American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the National Institutes of Mental Health say that there is a link between entertainment and violence. In fact, no direct, causal link between exposure to mock violence in the media and subsequent violent behavior has ever been demonstrated…” (p. 555). While violence in entertainment is pervasive and a real concern; it needs to be understood and addressed rather than blamed as the cause. After all, it is possible seek solutions to minimize violence when you understand the nature of
Television is the source of the most broadly shared images and messages in history; it is the mainstream of the common symbolic environment into which children are born and which has a major part to play in our lives. One can argue that media violence contribute towards social violence where the effects place a huge impact in ones being. Television violence is not only a form of media violence; there are other significant forms of media that contribute to media violence which are computer games, comic books and music. In this essay I will compare the theoretical perspectives and methodologies of at least three different approaches to the study of the effects of media violence and how effective they are in establishing a link between
As censorship of the American media has broken down over the years, the amount of violence allowed to be shown in movies, on television, and in video games has skyrocketed. From coast to coast in our nation, this saturation of hostility in our media has caused many contentious debates between scholars, parents, students and government officials alike. In this controversy, the central argument revolves around the effects violent media has on our society. The question that most researchers strive to answer is this: does watching or participating in violent media cause violent or other harmful behaviors? There are those who would say yes, it does promote destructive behavior in
Whether it’s a story on the news or a drama at the theatre, violence has become a social norm in the media. Today, companies have significantly relied on the use of violence to ensure that their audiences are still motivated to watch. According to the Media Education Foundation, the level of violence on prime time television has increased 167% since 1998. Although there is a widespread belief that watching fictional violence causes people to become violent, the rise of violence on TV compared to real-world crime statistics over the past 20 years tells a different story.
The inquiry whether violent entertainment affects a child's brutal behavior is an argument that has been disputed upon for several years. Most researches performed have concluded that violence in the media does not relate to the acts of a child, unless the child has been exposed to various types of environments. Other research is clearly lacking a direct causal relationship between violent video games and youth violence (MassGeneral,2012). Children's acts of violence are determined by what or with whom they are associated with.
Violent video games, movies and television shows have become the subject of large debates that may have lasted since the beginning of media. Everyone knows that people have the ability and desire to imitate what they experience in the media, and given the perceived increase in violence among children in the U.S., the media is seen as a major possible explanation. In the following, we will examine the evidence pertaining to whether the media is becoming more violent over time, how much violence is in the media, and what kind of psychological connection or causal influence there may be between children’s violent behavior and their favorite types of media. It will be argued that the type of media as well as other cultural and environmental factors, are the key variables in determining whether violent behavior was caused by media, focusing specifically on the influence of video games considering they permit children the most realistic and interactive experiences of violence compared to all media.
Today the media is more influential than ever. Movies, books, podcasts, tv shows, and other various media outlets have influenced the nation tremendously. Violence has also been a hot topic these past few years. Gun shootings, homicides, and overall crimes are consistently being committed and shared on the news. The topic of violence and the discussion of media influencing that violence is extremely intriguing. In 2008, John Murray, a psychologist, wrote in his published book, “Fifty years of research on the effect of TV violence on children leads to the inescapable conclusion that viewing media violence is related to increases in aggressive attitudes, values, and behaviors” (Murray, 2008, p. 1212). This research shows that there is a correlation
Over the many years media has had a tremendous impact on society. Media has been responsible for shaping the culture for generations through music, movies and television. It seems logical that since the media has an influence on society’s norms when the media promotes violence and crime the audiences become more likely to imitate those behaviors. The media has been known to contribute to the violent culture through music, art, television and movies (action, suspense and horror); Movies and music where the dominant violent roles were occupied by men and when they involved women they were often accomplices or accessories to the crime. Although they may be amusing they are also exposing the
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.