Does Violence in our entertainment have any effect at all?

[Vault101]

just on the news I saw that the film industry is taking some heat over the shooting incident, I also read that Tarantinos latest flick D'jango unchained has had its premier cancelled

now at first this whole thing seems so fucking ridiculous, I mean EVERY TIME a shooting happens lets blame violent media! never mind guns or dealing with people who are mentally unstable, it seems like everyones favourite scapegoat without having to deal with Americas perpetual hard-on for guns (not all obviously) as no one wants to take their guns away

I don't know if violence affects us, or if it does (because lets be honest how can it not?) to what extent? would there be less violence in our world/culture if our entertainment was white washed and neutered? this whole thing bothers me because I'm very much against censorship (being one of those regular consumers of media) but I do think our media affects us in ways we don;t even know

one interesting point my dad made was that if somthing is common/glorified in our society then it becomes normal, accepted,[small/](he then went and made a point about multicultrualism but lets ignore that..)[/small] we see this all the time with gender sterotypes and such, is it unbeleviable to think there are many people out there who on some sub-concious level see violence as an acceptible solution to our problems...

so what does that mena? ban Batman so the movie theatre shooting doesnt happen again? I don;t belive banning art is a solution to anything

 

[tippy2k2]

The only thing it does to a normal adult is that it desensitizes them to fake violence (I've been gaming since I could hold a controller...I've done things in games that would make a tough-as-nails Army bad-ass cry like a little girl but I STILL can't stand the sight of blood in real life).

The problem arises with kids (who don't always have the fully developed brain to realize that a normal response to a situation is NOT killing everyone within a four block radius) and mentally sick adults. Parents need to be the barometer to determine what their kids can and can't handle and mentally sick adults need the proper care.

You could ban all forms of violence in media tomorrow and wait generations so that they don't even remember a time when violence was present and shit would STILL hit the fan in the same way it is now (hell, just go to the past and you'll see plenty of examples of this).

 

[Lucem712]

I'd say desensitization, like everyone else. Though, as many (virtual) people as I've massacred, I don't have the stomach to even punch someone much less butcher them. One scene in particular[footnote] I can handle MOST media gore[/footnote] that made me sort of sick was in one of the most recent SAWs; some guy and girl were chopping bits off to put them on a scale and a guy started gutting his midsection.. D:

 

[Berithil]

I think the only effect violent entertainment has on us is a desensitizing effect.
In other words, the more violence we see on TVs / computers, etc, the less 'shocking' we find it.

However, this doesn't necessarily mean that more people are going to BE violent after viewing it.

Pretty much this. If you're constantly exposed to violence at a young age, you'll be less bothered by it later on. However, just because you're desensitized does not mean you're going to go on a killing spree. A moral compass and a sound mind are far more relevant in this discussion than how bothered you are by violence.

 

[Ryotknife]

I think it might make a pre-existing condition worse or act as a trigger, but i dont think it single handedly causes problems.

 

[Zhukov]

Desensitisation... with a twist.

I'm pretty sure violent media doesn't desensitise people to real, first-hand violence. I know that whenever I've been involved in something violent, the impact didn't seem to be softened by all those video games and movies. I was never thinking, "Oh, a little stabbing doesn't bother me. After all, I've killed thousands of people in games!"

Violence in media just desensitise people to violence in media.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Sure it influences us. Differently, according to each person. We remain responsible for our actions, though.

 

[J Tyran]

I have always been of the opinion that when someone that does something terrible has an obsession with a particular form of violent media its a symptom and not a cause. If someone for example turns their house into a "Black Ops bunker" and plans a mass murder the game didnt set them off, they acted that way because they where already inclined to act like that and the obsession was just one of the symptoms of a mental illness.

Humans have enjoyed violent entertainment since entertainment existed in all likelihood, if anything our ability to make the violence make believe makes us less violent than we have ever been. Blood sports are generally banned and aggressive and often violent contact sports take great care to make it as safe as possible, boxing is safer, even "hardcore" combat sports like MMA are much less violent than prize fighting was a century or so ago.

 

[Luftwaffles]

normalises the behavior to kids and desensitise us to other violent media.

For an example of how media affects the general population

http://didattica.unibocconi.it/mypage/upload/49273_20120316_124441_SOAPMAR2012.PDF

TLDR: Soap operas depicting successful women with small families (along with an improving economy and acceptance of contraceptives/sterilisation) are linked to the decrease in brazils birth rate.

 

[DesiPrinceX09]

We get desensitized to FAKE violence, because we see so much of it. Ask a teenager living in the worst part of any third world country how he feels about violence, and odds are he probably thinks it's normal because he has been desensitized to REAL violence. The longer and more often we are exposed to something, the less shocking (or whatever adjective describes it) it becomes. My parents fought a lot and yelled a lot when I was growing up, I heard it so much that I'm desensitized to verbal fighting because I got used to it. Violence seen in games in movies is far from being the same as violence in real life, but if you can't distinguish the TV or game from reality than you have a problem. Killing lots of people in call of duty is not gonna turn you into a violent person any more than its gonna make you a marksman. It won't make you want to pick up a gun, and you won't unless you had prior interest in doing so. I remember on this TV show, they did an experiment with a 12 year old kid who loved playing GTA and COD. They brought the kid to a shooting range and had him fire an M16. The kid fired 2 bullets. You know what happened at the very end? The kid was crying in his moms arms after firing TWO bullets at a wooden post with a target painted on it.

 

[M K Ultra]

Spoiler: Violence as entertainment has been around a long time.

 

[Luca72]

Spoiler: Violence as entertainment has been around a long time.

...dude. I seriously just entered this thread because I saw there was someone named MK Ultra posting and had to know what's up.

Oh. Um... violence in the media. I've become desensitized as fuck, to the point where I notice a very real disconnect when I see violence occur from far away, in real time, on a television screen. I'm a little disturbed by my own detachment to be honest. But when I see the results of violence, like what happens to victims or their families, I still feel immediate revulsion. So In my opinion it DOES desensitize us, but only in the way we're constantly exposed to it. Most violence in the media is relatively bloodless, or just silly. You don't see many scenes where people actually have to ponder the fact that they're about to die. You know why? BECAUSE IT WOULD BE DISTURBING.

So there's a difference between a James Bond kind of movie where lot's of people die, but there's no sense of consequence. As long as we can still be disgusted by the consequences of violence, I think we're safe.

 

[Antari]

snip ...

An outright ban doesn't make sense. The same goes for saying that something we do, doesn't affect us in any way. Does violence affect people who see it? Yes. Does it affect each person the same way? No.

Different people will react differently to the given circumstances of the life they are living. That life experience will also affect how they react to situations. Most "crazies" usually start out as pretty normal people until some trigger sets them in the wrong direction.

As much control as we can provide on outside influences, we can't completely eliminate the fact that some people will always choose the violent path. The better idea to prepare against it would be to provide a system by which these people can hopefully be identified before they finally go over the edge. That is why I think it would be much more productive for the US to invest more money into mental health. Rather than going with the knee jerk reaction of banning fire arms and violent media.

 

[Uszi]

Does it have an affect? Yes. They have shown some links between extended exposure to violent media and aggression. You know what else boosts your aggression? Traffic jams, people flipping you the bird, hot weather, etc.

There is no link between play violence and real violence. There is no desensitization. I've played hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hours of violent video games. Me and a friend just tried to figure out how many hours of DotA/League of Legends/Dota 2 we've played since the first DotA versions came out for WC3 in 2002, and we figured we'd spent about 5,000 hours on it. That's 5,000 of often brutal murders. My hours spent playing shooters this decade is probably less but pretty high, lets just say a 1,000 to be safe.

So, given that this week I've spent about 50 hours murdering human beings with a machete in Far Cry 3, it's interesting to me that the sight of my own blood still makes me really queasy, I'm uncomfortable around knives (I have a bit of a phobia), and I have a personality that is perpetually seeking to avoid conflict. The last fight I was in was in the 2nd grade, and that was when I was 6 and the only games I could play had an E rating.

The NRA trotted this violent media thing out, but they're whole argument is bullshit. It's essentially:

Guns aren't the problem.
The majority of gun owners are responsible individuals.
Violent media causes violence, and that's the problem.

i.e.

X isn't the problem.
The majority of X owners/users are responsible individuals.
Y causes violence, and that's the problem.

This argument can just as easily be used with games.

Games aren't the problem.
The majority of game players are responsible individuals.
Y cases violence, and that's the problem.

Where Y could be anything. It could be guns if you want. Or My Little Pony. Or whatever scape goat is most convenient for your political purposes.

 

[Uszi]

And also this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

So no.

No.

Just because some people here are like, "I'm less sensitive to violence I think!" and just because Grandpa(the NRA) is being cantankerous about the new forms of media the young-uns are enjoying, does not meant their is any sort of causal link between the two at all.

At best, there is a negative correlation between consumption of violent media and the propensity towards actually violence, but more likely there is no direct correlation.

 

[Souleks]

And also this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

So no.

No.

Just because some people here are like, "I'm less sensitive to violence I think!" and just because Grandpa(the NRA) is being cantankerous about the new forms of media the young-uns are enjoying, does not meant their is any sort of causal link between the two at all.

At best, there is a negative correlation between consumption of violent media and the propensity towards actually violence, but more likely there is no direct correlation.

I played WWE videogames as a child then me and my friend would play wrestling in the living room I think there is a bit of a correlation there.

 

[Uszi]

I played WWE videogames as a child then me and my friend would play wrestling in the living room I think there is a bit of a correlation there.

You would play WWE games, and then you would play wrestling. Your words, my emphasis added.

Let me be clear: I certainly pretended to shoot my friends with imaginary guns. And I've certainly shot them with nerf darts.

Tell me, how many times did your playing WWE video games cause you to bash your friend earnestly with a folding chair, hospitalizing the friend?

And how much childhood squabbling, if your play was even that, was even a direct result of WWE, and how much of it is the fact that there is a certain amount of base violence in the hearts of all human beings?

The NRA is essentially trying to argue that the unavoidable result of the consumption of violent media is violence, which is incorrect. Assuming your parents taught you something about social empathy, you probably didn't pile drive your friend for realsies when you played wrestling.