From: eireann@triton.unm.edu (The Fisher King)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.usa
Subject: Re: Media Violence (was Re: Oscar Revulsion)
Date: 6 Apr 92 21:03:19 GMT
Article-I.D.: lynx.2bpjwap
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

In article <204494@unix.cis.pitt.edu> jsast@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Jonathan S. Anderson) writes:
>OK.  Most of the people here agree that there is way too much violence in
>the movies and on TV.

First of all, this goes back to the whole argument, "Is art a mirror of
society?" I say it is; there is way too much violence in society and so
there is way too much violence in the movies.

> I don't think it takes a great leap of logic to say
>that all this violence must have some type of negative psychological effect on
>the American psyche.

No? How can the entire American psyche be affected if the entire populace
does not watch TV or go to the movies. I think that's an incredible leap
of logic, especially in light of the fact that murder existed ***BEFORE***
there were televisions or movies.

> I think there are really two issues that have to
>be addressed:
>
>	1) Is the effect a serious enough threat to our society that
>	some action should be taken?

Like what, for instance? Ban violent movies? Set up a congressional panel
to view every movie before it is released to make sure it isn't"too
violent?" And who the hell gets to decide what's "too violent?"
>
>
>My opinions:
>
>I don't believe that societies' violence and the media's portrayal of violence
>have a very strict cause and effect relationship.  Saying that the media
>has no effect on us psychologically would be naive, but at the same time,
>I don't believe I'm going to become a serial killer or mass rapist from 
>watching movies.

No, what happens is that a psychologically imbalanced person will view
violent movies and thus become more violent. I know personally of one
case where a teenager (who was already a little nutty anyway) embarked
on a weekend murder spree because he wanted to be more like Rambo.

> I think the two have a mutual relationship.  The media
>makes an attempt to portray what is happenning in our society, and thus
>influences some of the same people they are trying to portray.  In other
>words, we have created a spiral which might be rather difficult to break out
>of.

The spiral is that the more people we have, the more violence there is. For
example, put three people on an island for forty years and there will be
maybe one act of violence per year. Put forty people on an island for forty
years and only thirty will be alive when they leave. 

>As far as the solution, I can't say I can think of one.  We could put a limit
>on what type of violence may be shown, but there is already enough 
>censorship in our society as it is.  In my opinion, I think some violence is
>necessary to show the reality of life as we know it.  However, I think many
>artists have stepped over the line in order to glorify that violence, and
>not to portray reality.

Like who, for instance?

This discussion is old and tired, it seems to me. I used to review movies
for the college newspaper here and once I got some letters for praising
MISERY because of its "psychological violence." I responded to these
letters by writing a review of NEW JACK CITY and TRUTH OR DARE, a review
that stated that America is a violent and sexual society, therefore our
movies are violent and sexual. In that review, I pointed out how the
conservative-types of America repeatedly say that sex in movies makes
teenagers want to have sex. Liberals scoff at this, saying that sex is
a natural thing and people would have sex even without movies. Then the
liberals turn around a decry violence in film, saying that it causes
violence in society. Same argument, right?

Let's face it: we are horny, violent monkeys with bad haircuts. Our
creative expression is likely to take on a violent form, since we are
ourselves innately violent. NOTHING WILL STOP VIOLENCE, NOT EVEN MORE
VIOLENCE!!!

The only solution is to live with it, and be careful, 'cause it's a
dangerous world we live in.



-- 
eireann@triton.unm.edu               /\        FORNIT
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