With every passing day people await the next big box office hit, the next episode of their favorite sitcom, or the latest news, but do they realize how what they are viewing could be effecting them. With violence growing in our media and entertainment could it be effecting the way people behave toward each other. Could there be more to the blood on the screen or the shove witnessed by the television viewer ?When the evidence says that it does why are there so few people doing something about it.
&nb sp; In 1972 a report was released by the surgeon general called “Television and Growing Up: The Impact of Televised Violence,” it stated that there was strong evidence that televised violence can be harmful to young viewer. Yet since then the standards for banning violence in the media has lessened. The standards for rating movies have been lowered and made easier to comply with. Movies that wouldn’t have even made it to the public in the 1970 are on the shelves at public libraries for teens to check out and view as they please.
At younger and younger ages kids see what only adults used to view. “ Children are now bombarded with explicit messages on a scale unlike anything our culture has ever seen.” A quote given by Tipper Gore in her book “Raising PG kids in an X-rated society. With all of these graphic and gruesome things kids see today the effect becomes quite apparent in stories such as these. “ In New York City a grammar school child sprayed a Bronx office building with gun fire and explained to an astonished police sergeant that he learned how to load his Uzi-like gun because “ I watch a lot of television.”
In fact according to Viewing Violence by Madeline LeVine, Ph. D. “No study has ever found any benefit to
In our society today, movies and television shows are being broadcast all over the world to many genders, races, and ages. Some of these shows involve many violent topics and situations. For example, the news qualifies as a violent shows because three fourths of every broadcast involves a violent situation. The next generation of adults is exposed to this violence everyday, thinking it’s cool or acceptable. I think that if teenagers witness the violent actions in person they would react differently than seeing them on TV.
The video hosted by Bill Moyer that we watched in class on March 4th involved violence in the mass media and the effects that it may have on children in modern day society. Video games sometimes display graphic violence as well as violent verbal messages that often convey a message of appeal to children. Movies often combine humor, violence, and/or sex in order to be more appealing to the audience. Usually two or more of these factors are used. Whether it is through these sources or as something as simple as the evening news, violence is everywhere in the media today and displays messages of approval that American society may not realize.
Before a person reaches the age of 18 they will have witnessed over 40,000 murders, and over 400,000 other acts of violence. One research study concluded that just one hour of television everyday will increase the chances of a person committing an act of violence by four times. Violence depicted in movies will leave an impression on the viewer and the feelings they had about violence will slowly and subtly begin to change as the person becomes desensitized to violence. Witnessing repeated acts of violence raises a person’s level of hostility and lowers empathy. The violence that is portrayed in movies and television has long been known to influence crime and violent behavior in our society.
Children have an easy access to violence on television from violent programs through movie channels. The public’s concern has been reflected in congressional hearings and massive studies on the effect of TV violence, especially on children. Dr. James C. Dobson from the Focus on the Family Newsletter says:
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 real life. On the other hand, there are those who argue no, violent media is simply a reflection of what is already occurring in our society.
“Myriad studies show that television violence affect children by desensitizing children to the horror of violence, teaching them to accept violence as a solution to problems, teaching them to imitate the violence they see on the television and leading them to identify with characters seen on television (and thus imitate the characters they identify with) (Parenthood Web).” The amount of violence in television programming is obviously directly related to the amount of violence witnessed by children. The more of a role that television plays in the daily activities the more of a role violence will influence that child. In 1985 alone, 85% of all television programming contained violence, with 92.1% of cartoons aired containing violence. These cartoons generally contain one violent act every three minutes ...
The media and entertainment play a very crucial role in our perception of violence in society. Exposure to violence in the media, including television, movies, music, and video games helps us construct our own perspective on violence. According to Joel Best, his theory on random violence states that random violence and violence, in general, is patternless, pointless, and leads to the deterioration of society. Many examples can be given from national and international media coverage on various random violence acts. There are many sides to the debate about whether or not violence in the media affects us and how prevalent it is in our society. The focal discussion is the influence of violence on people through the mass media: movies, television,
Young children are exposed to violence every day. In TV shows, books, games, cartoons, movies, and the internet, violence is a part of everyone’s lives, but especially those of young kids. For example, recently Paramount Pictures released Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, a weapon slinging twist on a classic fairy tale (McKay). In the movie they have people blow their own heads off with a shotgun. In retrospect this movie isn’t meant for children 13 and below, although kids would want to see a “fairy tale” like this. Young 10 year olds, today even ...
American Psychological Association. Violence on Television: What do Children Learn? What can Parents Do? Washington: Brochure, 1997.
Gerard Jones makes a very effective argument to readers as well as myself. Violent media is healthy because it helps pull children as well as some adults out of emotional states by placing themselves in violent stories that make them find courage and power through fantasies of superhuman powers and destruction. Parents should allow their children to experience some type of juvenile violence because it shows them how to learn to control their natural aggression through fantasies and to not act them out in real life and harm others or themselves. Based off of Jones numerous arguments it is hard to believe that violent media actually does effect children in a negative way.
The entertainment that television is now portraying is not exactly what the younger society of America needs to be exposed to, but unfortunately in today's economy that is the only kind of entertainment that sells. There is so much unnecessary exposure to violence, aggressive behavior, and sexual acts now being broadcasted daily on television, movies, music, and even the news. The broadcasting systems are now targeting younger children and teens. The crime rates have skyrocketed due to delinquent juvenile behavior over the past ten years. The whole viewing society is now becoming very tolerant and at ease with sex and violence. Youth and children are picking up on these behaviors daily. Studies have shown that by the age of 18, the average American teen will have viewed around 200,000 acts of violence on television. The violence and sexual content that television and music are now portraying has negatively influenced younger children and teens to commit murder, exhibit aggressive behavior, and become tolerant of violence and sex.
Everyone’s seen the classic cartoons. Wile E. Coyote chasing the Roadrunner around a bend, only the Roadrunner turns, but our comedic--and usually stupid--villain doesn’t. So, he falls from a height of what looks like about 500,000 feet, only to become a small puff of smoke at the bottom of the canyon. After all, if what happens to you when you fall from that height were to have happened to Mr. Coyote, that would have been a very short lived cartoon series. Maybe this example is an exaggeration, but the idea is the same: violence comes streaming into our homes every single day through our TVs not to be viewed, but to be devoured. It’s been proven that sex and violence sell. For those of us who can tell the difference between reality and fantasy, the effect of TV violence is miniscule. But for our children--who think when the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers come to the local shopping mall, that it’s the biggest event since Bert told Ernie he snores too loud--the violence seen on TV seems like a logical reaction to life’s problems. And that’s a problem within itself. The impact of televised violence on children is only a slice of the pie that is the problem with the endless stream of violent acts on TV.
The media, including television programming, cartoons, film, the news, as well as literature and magazines, is a very powerful and pervasive medium for expression. It can reach a large number of people and convey ideas, cultural norms, stereotypic roles, power relationships, ethics, and values. Through these messages, the mass media may have a strong influence on individual behavior, views, and values, as well as in shaping national character and culture. Although there is a great potential for the media to have a positive and affirming effect on the public and society at large, there may be important negative consequences when the messages conveyed are harmful, destructive, or violent.
On July 26, year 2000, six medical and public-health professional organizations had disseminated a Joint Statement on the Impact of Entertainment Violence on Children. This statement acclaimed that “entertainment violence can lead to the upsurges in aggressive attitudes, values, and behavior, notably in children.” The body of research on TV violence continues to grow. In addition, important changes are arising in the landscape of entertainment-media use, and some of it has aroused new areas of research. Therefore, it is important to identify the factors, which include media violence, which, individually and together, may play a part in these outcomes in childhood.
Television violence causes children and teenagers to be less caring, to lose their inhibitions, and to be less sensitive. In a study on the connection between violence and television done with 1,565 teenage boys over a six-year period in London, William Belson, a British psychologist, found that every time a child saw someone being shot or killed on television they became less caring towards other people (Kinnear 26). William Belson also discovered that every time a child viewed this violence on television, they lost a fragment of their inhibitions towards others (Kinnear 26). In addition to William Belson’s study, studies done by many scientists and doctors show that seeing violence on television causes viewers to become less sensitive to the pain of others (Mudore 1).