Violence In Entertainment And Its Effect On Society 2 Term paper

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Does entertainment influence society's attitude towards violent behavior? In order to

fully answer this question we must first understand what violence is. Violence is the

use of one's powers to inflict mental or physical injury upon another, examples of this

would be rape or murder. Violence in entertainment reaches the public by way of

television, movies, plays, and novels. Through the course of this essay it will be proven

that violence in entertainment is a major factor in the escalation of violence in society,

once this is proven we will take all of the evidence that has been shown throughout

this paper and come to a conclusion as to whether or not violence in entertainment is

justified and whether or not it should be censored.

Television with its far reaching influence spreads across the globe. Its most important

role is that of reporting the news and maintaining communication between people

around the world. Television's most influential, yet most serious aspect is its shows for

entertainment. Violent children's shows like Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and adult

shows like NYPD Blue and Homicide almost always fail to show human beings being able

to resolve their differences in a non-violent manner, instead they show a reckless

attitude that promotes violent action first with reflection on the consequences later. In

one episode of NYPD Blue three people were murdered in the span of an hour.

"Contemporary television creates a seemingly insatiable appetite for amusement of all

kinds without regard for social or moral benefits" (Schultze 41). Findings over the past

twenty years by three Surgeon Generals, the Attorney General's Task Force on Family

Violence, the American Medical Association, the National Institute of Mental Health, the

American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the American

Academy of Pediatrics, and other medical authorities indicate that televised violence is

harmful to all of us, but particularly to the mental health of children (Medved 70-71). In

1989 the results of a five year study by the American Psychological Association

indicated that the average child has witnessed 8,000 murders and 100,000 other acts

of violence on television by the time he or she has completed sixth grade. In further

studies it was determined that by the time that same child graduates from high school

he or she will have spent 22,000 hours watching television, twice as many hours as he

or she has spent in school (Bruno 124).

In a study by the Centers for Disease Control, published by the JAMA (Journal of the

American Medical Association), it was shown that homicide rates had doubled between

the introduction of television in the 1950's and the end of the study in 1994. In that

same study other possible causes for the vast increases in violence were studied, "the

'baby boom' effect, trends in urbanization, economic trends, trends in alcohol abuse,

the role of capital punishment, civil unrest, the availability of guns, and exposure to

television"(Lamson 32). Each of these purported causes was tested in a variety of

ways to see whether it could be eliminated as a credible contributor to doubling the

crime rate in the United States, and one by each of them was invalidated, except for

television. Children average four hours of television per day, and in the inner city that

increases to as much as eleven hours a day, with an average of eight to twelve violent

incidents per hour. It is also interesting to note that violence occurs some fifty-five

times more often on television than it does in the real world (Medved 156). FBI and

census data show the homicide arrest rate for seventeen-year-olds more than doubled

between 1985 and 1991, and the rates for fifteen-and sixteen-year-olds increased

even faster. Movies also add their fair share to the problem of violence in society.

"Researchers have established that copycat events are not an anomaly.

Statistically-speaking, they are rare, but predictable, occurences. Television shows,

novels, but especially movies-all can trigger copycat violence" (Medved 72). As

recently as November of 1995, New York City officials believed that the burning of a

toll-booth clerk was a result of copycat violence, resulting from a similar scene in the

movie Money Train. In 1994, Nathan Martinez shot and killed his stepmother and half

sister after watching the movie Natural Born Killers at least six times. "Later, Martinez,

who had shaved his head and wore granny sun glasses like Natural Born Killer's main

character Mickey Knox, reportedly told a friend, "It's nothing like the movies"(Purtell

57). In a 1993 film, The Program, there was a scene showing college football players

lying in the center of a highway in an attempt to show their courage and dedication to

their sport. This movie was later blamed for inspiring real-life imitators; (one of whom

died). In numorous experiments based at pre-schools, researchers have observed

children playing before and after seeing violent movies and television shows. "Following

the violent program the children's play is invaribly more aggressive. They are much more

likely to hit, punch, kick, and grab to get their way. In other words, violent

entertainment teaches children how to use aggression for personal gain" (Medved 75).

It is also hard to believe that movies like Rambo III with one hundred and six killings and

Terminator 2 which showed countless killings plus a nuclear holocaust have at one time

had their own line of children's action figures even though both movies are rated R. One

must seriously consider the idea that the movie studios are targeting a younger and

easily influenced main audience. The ancient Greeks believed that violence should never

be shown on stage, because people imitated what they saw. Because of this they

would only show the results of...

Lamson, Susan R. "TV Violence: Does it cause real-life mayhem?", American Rifleman
July 1993: 32.
Leone, Bruno. Youth Violence. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1992. You should cite this paper as follows:

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