Violence in the Media

The Center for Media and Public Affairs conducted a survey which concluded that every four minutes violence can be seen on T.V. In recent light of the Columbine incident it seems everything more then ever is under watch.

So far it sounds like a T.V. report but this all also relates to film. Recent news on CHUD told of an in the works adaption of the popular video game Redneck Rampage, which by nature is filled with ultra-violence and gore. The producer however said that because of the "sensitive climate" the movie will be toned down. Why? Could it be possible that if young children saw alien invaded, imbred, rednecks killed they would want to do the same thing. To be it sounds very unlikely.

I saw Die Hard 2 in the theatre when I was nine and since then I was all about action movies. Terminator and Hard Boiled and Face/Off are three of my favorite movies but I have never killed anyone. I constantly watch Kung Fu and Splatter films and I have never decapitated anyone or crushed there head with my fists. Am I an exception? Maybe. I was a product of good parenting but in the same way my Dad was not and he is one of the best human beings I know.

Then could it be that some people are just unstable and easily influenced by what they see on screen. Apparently the perpatrators of the Columbine massacre, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, modled there acts over the Leo Dicaprio vehicle The Basketball Diaries. It is however hard for me to believe that Leo was there influence - these guys were in the so-called Trenchcoat Maffia, I am sure Leo was not a favorite if they hated all "popular people." Of course there was also all those Natural Born Killer copycats but I really do not believe the people behind these crimes were at home crocheting and then watched the Oliver Stone movie and then decided to go on a kill crazy rampage but it is an unmistakable similarties in the murders and plots of the films. The bottom line is these people would have killed anyway it does not matter what they watched.

It can also be argued that violence in these times has risen and it can be traced to an influx in media violence. I have recently become an avid reader and researcher by that I mean I try to learn whatever I can about subjects that I am interested in. I read a lot of Elmore Leonard, the author of L.A. Confidential and the Black Deliah and his portrayal of 1950's is brutal and unrelenting. Interested I checked some things out and discovered that the old times were pretty visious and morally depraved. Not exactly Leave It To Beaver. So if violence existed in these times why are movies blamed these days. Back in the times of colonial america families would go watch public hangings and in Europe throughout the centuries hangings and public decapatation were common forms of entertainment. The fact is violence is part of human nature - it always has and it always will be.

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