Mortal Kombat
“According to Time magazine, September 27, 1993, violence in video games is on the rise especially with the release of Mortal Kombat. Over 50 million children all over the United States brought this violence into their homes. The parents and other adults of these children finally decided that the video games in the U.S. had gone too far.” Mortal Kombat was the first game that brought blood and gore into the video game world. Mortal Kombat started in the arcades it was such a hit, they made it into a game you could buy for personal use. Critics raved over it when it was first introduced, saying it was too violent for kids and it needed to be taken off the shelves. This game appealed to many people because of its real-life graphics, blood and gore. The game was also responsible for the video game rating system used today. The game was an instant hit, they made an endless amount of Mortal Kombat games, for every gaming system imaginable, there was even a movie made based on the game. This essay will illustrate how Mortal Kombat is violent, and take a critical point of view of this popular game.
Mortal Kombat is a video game based around hand-to-hand combat between two characters in the game. The person playing would control one-character and use combinations of punches, kicks and special moves to cause as much damage to the opponent as possible. This game is fun and very addicting; children would end up playing the game constantly trying to master the moves and techniques of the game. People found it fun because the characters and the
worlds that you fight in seem like some fantasy, most people would fight their friends to see who would rein supreme; it was a constant challenge to be the best fighter. With the new game that came out not too, long ago you are able to plug an internet cord in the back of your gaming system and play anyone in the world.
This game caught so much criticism that the makers had to take the blood out of the game, and they turned it in to white sweat, but little did the critics know that there were codes you could enter to bring the blood back to the game. There also were codes called “Fatalities” which were finishing moves where you could decapitate someone’s head, rip their arms off and burn them alive.
Sling Blade Film directed by and screenplay by Billy Bob Thornton. Theme Sling Blade’s main theme is the redemption of Karl’s lost childhood. Karl Childer’s overly religious parents believed he was a punishment from God. They severely abused him, treated him like an animal, and forced him to live in a shed in solitude.
Mark Bowden is a teacher, columnist for Atlantic Monthly, playwright, and a writer. His book Black Hawk Down A Story of Modern War a world wide bestseller that spent more than a year in the New York Times bestseller list and was a finalist for the National Book Award. Bowden also worked on the script for Black Hawk Down, a film version of the book, directed by Ridley Scott. Bowden is also the writer of the bestseller Killing Pablo The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw in 2001, which tells the story of the hunt for Colombian drug lord billionaire Pablo Escobar. He is the author of Doctor Dealer published in 1987, Bringing the Heat made in1994, Our Finest Day made in 2002, and also Finders Keepers 2002. Bowden writes for to major American magazines often. He is also an add-on professor at Loyola College, where he teaches creative writing and journalism. He was born In St. Louis, Missouri, in 1951 and Bowden grew up in Maryland where he attended Loyola College and graduated with a B.A in English.
In a recent observation of the video game Mortal Kombat, it became obvious that the game, players and setting all contribute to how media messages can affect the game experience and affect individuals. Three undergraduate and one graduate student with limited Mortal Kombat experience were observed playing four-player, tag team Mortal Kombat on PlayStation 3 for ninety minutes. The players displayed media effects outlined by the two step flow and cultural studies perspectives, and some of the magic bullet perspective. It has become increasingly important to gain more understanding of the effects of media messages on players, particularly as more and more acts of crime and violence are blamed on video games (DePasquale,
Kurosawa creates a masterpiece with the Seven Samurai. This film was created in 1954, it is a Japanese film and it has English subtitles. The Seven Samurai is a story about a small farming village in 16th century Japan that is under constant threat from traveling groups of outlaw bandits. The elders that live in the village decide to hire a defense force to protect them from these outlaws. They enlist a variety of samurai for hire and samurai are willing to work for their food. The mission of the seven samurai is to protect the village against almost impossible odds.
In today’s society, video games have played a huge part in the children and teen demographic. Revolutionizing the future, popular titles have implemented realistic values and experiences to players all around the world. As the quality of graphics improve and the plot thickens, so does the violence, gore, and bloodshed. Individuals who devote countless hours staring at the television screen trying to triumph the top high score and levels do not realize the amount damage and violent acts they are causing whether it is secluded in a virtual world or to their brains. Simulating unarmed fist fights, gun shootings, and war could lead to aggression and actual real-life violent conduct. Violent actions and behaviors in these titles could also desensitize
The Fight Club, directed by David Fincher, constructs an underground world of men fighting with one and other to find the meaning to their lives. Ed Norton and Brad Pitt are the main characters who start the fight club. They make a set of rules in which everyone must follow.
As we evolve into a more advanced species, so does our technology, and along with our overly advanced technology, comes video games. They’ve have certainly come a long way since they were first introduced to the main stream audience and have been slowly creeping its way into many daily lives, making them a lot more entertaining and less dull. Video games’ one and only purpose is to entertain. However, it is indeed true that everything is fun and games until somebody gets hurt, and that is exactly what has happened over the years in video games. With the help of our technology, being more developed than ever, video games have also become increasingly sophisticated and overall more close to reality than
Children today are exposed to more graphic violence in video games compared to any past generations. This is because the media finds that making a profit, surpasses the lives of the adolescents that play these games. However, over time two set of views formed from the violence in video games. James D. Sauer, is a graduate of the School of Phycology. In his article, “Violent Video Games: The Effects of Narrative Context and Reward Structure On In-Game and Postgame Aggression,” Sauer, describes that adolescents gain forms of aggression and violence after playing certain games. Not every video game causes post game aggression, but documented in his article, “Players who enacted in-game violence through a heroic character exhibited less postgame
This film by virtue of its independence has shied away from the usual hype associated with American movies. The result is an original screenplay by Billy Bob Thornton that is transformed into a mesmerising tale of the south. Thornton cast actors with ability rather than their image or ‘Hollywood status’. Sling Blade challenges us to re-evaluate our principles and our definitions of right, wrong and of justice.
In the book “Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents: Theory, Research, and Public Policy,” the authors relay the general information concerning the history of violence in video games as well as the beginning of the issue of violence in video games (Anderson, Gentile, and Buckley 2007). They state that it was “during the 1990s that violent games truly
Bruce Almighty is a fiction story about a man who, after enduring a bad day, blasphemes God. He blames him for all the wrong doing in his life, and orders God to answer him. God does answer Bruce, appearing to Bruce as a janitor. After convincing Bruce he is God, he then bestows all of his Godly powers upon Bruce and tells him, “If you can do it better, than be my guest.”
The debate about media violence has been going on for hundreds of years. The newest form of media being scrutinized is videogames. I will be taking you through this debate and sharing with you some things that you may find surprising. This is not a new topic and has ...
There is a guilty pleasure one gets from watching characters we identify with struggle on screen, and we begin to think to ourselves that maybe our lives aren’t so bad after all. Such is the case in Bruce Almighty, a new release from Universal Pictures directed by Tom Shadyac. The movie is by no means sensational or groundbreaking, but it has an irresistible charm that draws in viewers in desperate need of a break from reality. The unfortunate protagonist (Jim Carrey) becomes convinced that God has abandoned him after he loses a coveted news anchor position to a slimy coworker. God (Morgan Freeman) grants Bruce his heavenly powers and challenges him to do a better job, pointing out that “…Gandhi only lasted a week!”
“As video games have become more violent and more sophisticated and the sales of video games has skyrocketed in the last few decades, youth violence has plummeted,” Ferguson says, citing evidence compiled by various federal agencies (Adams 3). Violence in video games is not a new issue. It has been debated and argued since the release of the first violent video game. As time has progressed, so has the evolution of violence and strong language within video games. Ratings have become more relaxed, and the lines between T (Teen) and M (Mature) rated games has gotten closer together. Violent games are becoming the normal and accepted of all games, and are being demanded by the gaming industry more heavily. Parents have always shied away from these games for their children, regardless of age. However, kids are getting these games whether they are the correct age (17+) or not. Young kids, less than ten years of age are playing horribly violent games and parents are fearing the repercussions. But video games are not to be blamed for child violence. Violence in video games does not cause children to become violent people later on in life.
“90% of pediatricians and 67% of parents agreed or strongly agreed that violent video games can increase aggressive behavior among children” ("Do Violent Video Games Contribute to Youth Violence?”). Pediatrics and parents are aware that kids that play violent video games see a change in their behavior. Many cases they see the kids with anger problems and causing them to do violent acts. Violent video games have been around for many years where some older titles, such as ‘Mortal Kombat’ and 'Grand Theft Auto’ both are some of the most controversial ones. The video game industry has been growing and with the large amounts of violent video games being produced. “Total US sales of video game hardware and software increased 204% from 1994 to