If the commercial influences just one out of a thousand people, then it's considered a success. In the same way, if TV and movies provoke just one in a thousand to behave in the irresponsible, destructive way that is too often glorified in the media, then those images have made a profound impact on society. Of course, popular entertainment is not the only determinant of violent or promiscuous behaviour. But evidence from more than 60 major university studies shows that prolonged exposure to violent images on television does lead to more hostile, violent and aggressive attitudes and behaviour in real life. Paul Verhoeven, the director of Robocop, Total Recall and Basic Instinct , once defended his work by saying that as an artist, it is his job to hold a mirror up to nature.
Art is a reflection of the world.
If the world is horrible, the reflection in the mirror is horrible. In other words, it isn't Hollywood's fault if there is ugliness in entertainment, because Hollywood is simply showing the truth about an ugly society. About 350 characters appear each night on prime-time TV, but studies show an average of seven of these people are murdered every night. When it comes to depicting sexual behaviour, there is a similar discontinuity. A Planned Parenthood survey found that every year on prime time TV, there are 65,000 sexual references.