As I sat in Alexander Hall at Invitation to Excellence, I looked around at the faces as the segment from The Dark Night played. I was struck by the faces of the students in the room—some were amused to an extent and the others were nearly expressionless—as they watched Batman pound The Joker’s head onto a table. The thought “how has the gore of movies desensitized our culture to the violence around them?” ran through my mind as I watched the students, products of our culture’s repugnant media.
Statistics show, according to the American Psychiatric Association, that by eighteen years of age, an adolescent in the United States will have seen 16,000 simulated murders and 200,000 acts of violence. These figures are staggering. It would help explain why people slow down their cars when they see a car accident: to them it is only entertainment. Through the media, we, as a nation, are extinguishing the correct emotional responses to the tragedies around us. I heard a story of a man who was sitting in an airport. It was right after the tsunami had struck the coasts of Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and many other lands near the Indian Ocean back in 2004. As he sat there, he saw a news station play footage from the devastation in Sri Lanka. After watching the recording for a little while, he looked around he realized that no one seemed to be paying attention to this tragic event. However, right after this a celebrity break up came onto the news station and the man noticed how everyone’s attention was quickly attentive to the story. As a nation, Americans have become desensitized to the violence all around them; it is only entertainment to them.
By making violence a form of entertainment we have become nihilistic in a sense. The violence found ...
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... movies with violent acts of murder repeatedly; they think that seeing this carnage before them does not affect them. However, they are wrong. They become calloused and unable to sympathize with the hurt and pain around them. They may find that it is hard to understand how to cope with a death when you have used death for entertainment for so long.
There are certainly other ways that the media has desensitized people to violence, I have only scratched the surface of this question. Yet, I believe that is necessary that someone looks into it deeper, because if not we are still in the predicament of making light of death and life itself. Something has to change where next time a see a violent scene with other teenagers, they would look away or something in them would click that what they are viewing is right, that they would stop just staring right back at the screen.
2. According to Sobchack, contemporary screen violence greatly differs than portrayals of violence in years past. Today, violent scenes are careless and lack significance because we as audiences have become calloused and desensitized to any acts of violence. She states that there is “no grace or benediction attached to violence. Indeed, its very intensity seems diminished” (Sobchack 432). Senseless violence, gruesome acts, and profound amounts of gore are prevalent in movies today, and because even this is not enough, it must be accompanied by loud blasts and noise, constantly moving scenes to keep audiences stimulated and large quantities of violence for viewers to enjoy what they are watching. Decades ago, it was the story that was engaging to audiences and filmmaking was an art.
Ear piercing screams, blood splatters, loneliness, violence and isolated surroundings are only a handful of the themes mentioned in the analysis by Di Muzio in the movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre. These themes haunt the viewers significantly and especially children. The movie starts on a glorious note of friends united for a trip, only to see one their friend “struck on the head with a sledgehammer.” (Di Muzio, 2006, p. 279) This sets a tone of the unexpected and the directors emphasize greatly on scenes with numerous screams with utilizing blood to frighten their viewers. Fear is the product of our thoughts, it is temporary, but numerous individuals fail to realize the reality. The movie has the ability to attract audiences of different backgrounds to come together and partake in a visual entertainment of killing spree, keeping one in terror and on the edge of their seats at all times. Moreover, the antago...
As a hardworking college student living (without a TV) in this impenetrable Gothic galaxy, I am usually quite oblivious to popular culture. I was not even aware of the barrage of hype surrounding the release of Natural Born Killers. My attention was directed belatedly to the movie by a letter from a friend in which she lamented the present state of humanity - or lack thereof. And yet, I still stayed away from the movie for over a month despite my knowledge that it would be at the very least thought-provoking. I've learned that I have not been desensitized to images of violence, perhaps because of my earlier-mentioned insulation from pop culture. However, I was intent on listening to what Oliver Stone had to say. So last night I spent the entire 100+ minutes of the film curled in my seat, my head in my hands.
Recently, the effect that violent media has on society has been the focus of many psychological studies. According to an article published in the New York Times, research has found that: “Exposure to violent imagery does not preordain violence, but it is a risk factor” (Pozios, Kambam, Bender, 2013). There has yet to be a direct link between violence actually causing people to go on these massive shooting sprees that have been so common lately. It is natural and understandable for the
Gina Marchetti, in her essay "Action-Adventure as Ideology," argues that action- adventure films implicitly convey complex cultural messages regarding American values and the "white American status quo." She continues to say that all action-adventure movies have the same basic structure, including plot, theme, characterization, and iconography. As ideology, this film genre tacitly expresses social norms, values, and morals of its time. Marchetti's essay, written in 1989, applies to films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark and Rambo: First Blood II. However, action-adventure films today seem to be straying farther away from her generalizations about structure, reflecting new and different cultural norms in America. This changing ideology is depicted best in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994), which defies nearly every concept Marchetti proposes about action-adventure films; and it sets the stage for a whole new viewpoint of action in the '90's.
Today’s society thrives on violence. Young children made pretend guns and shot at siblings, teenagers enjoyed video games which praised the player for kills, and adults flocked to see the latest horror movie, few people asked what effect this has on people and society. Some psychologists have started researching this effect. A study by Dr. Ferguson;...
Representations of violence in the media (defined as through news, film, and television) throughout history have contributed to desensitization to violent actions. Through character development, even the worst serial killers are portrayed in a manner that elicits a sympathetic response in the audience, effectively minimizing their crimes and leading to a positive relationship between the viewer and the killer’s crimes.
According to John Davidson's essay Menace to Society, "three-quarters of Americans surveyed [are] convinced that movies, television and music spur young people to violence." While public opinion is strong, the results of research are divided on the effects of media violence on the youth in this country. Davidson wrote that most experts agree that some correlation between media violence and actual violent acts exists, yet the results are contradictory and researchers quibble about how the effects are to be measured (271). Moreover, Davidson is not convinced that the media is the sole problem of violence, or even a primary problem. He points out that other factors, such as "poverty, the easy accessibility of guns, domestic abuse, [and] social instability" may have a greater impact on a child becoming violent than the influence of the media (277). Even though other forces may be stronger, media violence does have some adverse effects on the members of society. If senseless violence on television and in movies had no effect, it would not be such a hotly debated topic. What type of effects and whom they affect are the most argued aspects of the discussion.
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.
But incidents like the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting are predictable; they are not a random act of brutality because such violence is a learned behavior. Americans glorify violence and this attitude is illustrated through the tolerance of violence portrayed through the media. And although distinguishing between violence as pure entertainment and violence as social criticism is important, good intentions can still lead to terrible outcomes. The effect of viewing violent films has been insufficiently considered, yet plays a significant role in encouraging aggressive behavior.
One could easily dismiss movies as superficial, unnecessarily violent spectacles, although such a viewpoint is distressingly pessimistic and myopic. In a given year, several films are released which have long-lasting effects on large numbers of individuals. These pictures speak
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.
Therefore those who become desensitised to violence may perceive it as “normal” and be more likely to engage in violence them selves. The desensitisation hypothesis claims that excessive media violence diminishes the disgust with which we normally view violence and makes us more relaxed about its consequences. However research lacks in support of this claim and some research even shows a complete opposite. Goldstein, for example, found that immediately after seeing a violent film, men were more concerned about murder, and more punitive towards those who commit murder. This finding was confirmed across four different countries and therefore showed no support for the desensitisation hypothesis.
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).
With the explosion of technology today, access to the media is at your fingertips, anytime, anywhere, and almost 24/7. Video games, movies, cartoons, daily news, websites, music videos, and even in commercials, violence is everywhere, and it becomes harder and harder to avoid. Violence in the media has been increasing and reaching dangerous proportions. According to Report of the Media Violence Commission, the effects are remarkably consistent regardless of type of medium, age, gender, or where the person lives in the world (336). Many studies and researches reveal the empirical evidence that links violence in movies and television shows to aggressive behavior in children, teenagers, and adults. Increasing aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence, and fear are three types of negative effects contributed to by violence in movies and television shows. The article, “The Influence of Media Violence on Youth” emphasizes that violent television shows, films, and music reveal unequivocal evidence that media violence increases the likelihood aggressive and violent behavior in both immediately, and in the long term (Anderson, Craig A., 81). Violence now has gone into the mainstream. The Hunger Games, one of the top grossing films in 2013 replete with blood, gore and violence. The Walking Dead was once voted highest-rated entertainment program on TV with horrific violent scenes, killing from stabbing into the heads, bloody corpses, and disturbing, haunting images shown in most of the scenes. CBS’ Criminal Minds is television show with series of scary scenarios showing the violent murders of psychopath people. Worst of all, Silence of the Lambs deals with a psychopath who ...