Having already seen this film, or at least clips of this film, multiple times for a few other comm courses, I knew before watching it that I was interested in the subject matter the film touches upon. What always interests me is the connection people and the media try to make between violence in the media and entertainment industry and violence in both the youth and older viewers. As someone who has read a lot of books on serial killers, I am very interested in the idea of nature vs. nurture in shaping a person's personality and who they grow into. Although it is very easy to just say there is a clear connection between those who watch violent movies and play violent video games becoming killers and mass murderers, to me, it isn't as simple as that. There are so many examples of killers who came from a standard, "normal" childhood, yet have done unthinkable crimes. True, some killers do come from troubled pasts, but that is not just a set fact about all killers and criminals.
I think the real problems we have to focus on when talking about the media and violence are at what age are children exposed to violence and how glorified that media is. A lot of the time, young children will emulate what they see in movies or television, and that I feel is a more reasonable connection to make because up until a certain point, children are not aware of the difference between right and wrong and don't understand what they're doing is not acceptable yet. However, someone in their teens, unless actually psychologically unstable, will know the difference between right and wrong and can't use the excuse that they were just copying what they saw on television. And if these teenagers actually are psychologically unstable, it usually comes from something else, a chemical imbalance that was already there, and not from listening to too much death metal.
However, I completely disagree with how glorified violence is in the media. It is ridiculous that it is used so often for entertainment purposes. I studied abroad in London last year and it's such a shock how less violent the television is over there, because they realize that there is less reason to be exposed to that than issues that we find offensive here, such as sexual matters. Also, as a heavy tv watcher, I thought it was interesting to see the statistics about how much tv a person watches and how much more fearful they are of the outside world. I know all of these statistics, about how crime rates have fallen, but yet I still find myself uncomfortable walking alone at night. The media is just too focused on making people be afraid of everything possible.
Something else I found very interesting in the film were the statistics about how different races are displayed on television, and how often. What really stood out to me was the discussion about African Americans on tv, how they are displayed as middle class and it's almost as a way for white America to let everyone know that we're equal now. I think it is so twisted that after how much oppression African Americans were put through for as long as it happened, white America still thinks that we have the right to say when another race is "equal" to us and making it to where we are. That just seems so wrong to me, and the blatant acts of racism seen on television and in film to this day about ALL races is extremely ridiculous.
I would definitely recommend this film to people who are less informed about how controlling the media is about our fear and representation of races. I think this would be a great learning tool for sure.
