Media Violence Effects on Society
Media Violence: Effects on society
“Millions of teens have seen the 1996 movie Scream…Scream opens with a scene in which a teenage girl is forced to watch her jock boyfriend tortured and then disemboweled by two fellow students who, it will eventually be learned, want revenge on anyone from high school who crossed them. After jock boy's stomach is shown cut open and he dies screaming, the killers stab and torture the girl, then cut her throat and hang her body from a tree so that Mom can discover it when she drives up. A dozen students and teachers are graphically butchered in the film, while the characters make running jokes about murder. At one point, a boy tells a big-breasted friend she'd better be careful because the stacked girls always get it in horror films; in the next scene, she's grabbed, stabbed through the breasts, and murdered… The movie builds to a finale in which one of the killers announces that he and his accomplice started off by murdering strangers but then realized it was a lot more fun to kill their friends.” (Easterbrook) This is what teens, adults and society in general find interesting. The Los Angeles Times described it as bravura, provocative send-up." This is not the TV of the baby boomers any more, I Love Lucy, And Gilligan’s Island lack something that seems to entertain people today’s society. What is the difference between Scream and I Love Lucy? The answer is simple, violent content. All media, TV, movies, video games, even some books and radio programs have been getting bloodier and bloodier. Video games are very new and not a lot of information is yet available. Print and radio are difficult to compare to the giant TV and Movie studios. Therefore, effects of media violence are best studied using only TV and movies as the main influence on behavior. TV and movies are getting more and more gruesome. What is the problem? It’s just a show. That is the real question can “just a show” influence someone’s behavior. Movies and TV have
“Millions of teens have seen the 1996 movie Scream…Scream opens with a scene in which a teenage girl is forced to watch her jock boyfriend tortured and then disemboweled by two fellow students who, it will eventually be learned, want revenge on anyone from high school who crossed them. After jock boy's stomach is shown cut open and he dies screaming, the killers stab and torture the girl, then cut her throat and hang her body from a tree so that Mom can discover it when she drives up. A dozen students and teachers are graphically butchered in the film, while the characters make running jokes about murder. At one point, a boy tells a big-breasted friend she'd better be careful because the stacked girls always get it in horror films; in the next scene, she's grabbed, stabbed through the breasts, and murdered… The movie builds to a finale in which one of the killers announces that he and his accomplice started off by murdering strangers but then realized it was a lot more fun to kill their friends.” (Easterbrook) This is what teens, adults and society in general find interesting. The Los Angeles Times described it as bravura, provocative send-up." This is not the TV of the baby boomers any more, I Love Lucy, And Gilligan’s Island lack something that seems to entertain people today’s society. What is the difference between Scream and I Love Lucy? The answer is simple, violent content. All media, TV, movies, video games, even some books and radio programs have been getting bloodier and bloodier. Video games are very new and not a lot of information is yet available. Print and radio are difficult to compare to the giant TV and Movie studios. Therefore, effects of media violence are best studied using only TV and movies as the main influence on behavior. TV and movies are getting more and more gruesome. What is the problem? It’s just a show. That is the real question can “just a show” influence someone’s behavior. Movies and TV have
Bibliography: "Violence in Media Entertainment." MEdia Awarness Network. 2007. 11 Feb. 2007<http://www.mediaawareness.ca>. "Some Things You Should Know About." AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS. AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS. 11 Feb. 2007 <http://www.aap.org/advocacy/childhealthmonth/media.htm>. Smith, Craig R. "Violence and Media." First Amendment Center. 11 Feb. 2007 <www.firstamendmentcenter.org>.