OK, Im sure some of you, if not all, have heard the claim that a large contribution to our societys....vengence, hate, crime...ect is due in large part to the violence we see in everyday movies, t.v., ect....
Do you buy into it? I remember when the Columbine shootins occured and people were blaiming everything, ANYTHING they could get their hands on. Everything from Marylin Manson, to The Basketball Diaries(a movie with leo)

Personally, I think its a load of bullshit. There is a fine line between make believe(movies, t.v.) and reality(taking a gun and shooting someone, or going out an raping someone)

What are you feelings on this issue?

have to get abck to work, but I definitely have an opinion on this subject.

I believe if advertisers are willing to spend $2M for 30 seconds of time during the Superbowl, then the experts in the media (the ones who are actually running the show) believe their actions actually influence behavior.

If what we consume visually and auditorially from the media doesn't modify our behavior, then what is the point of advertising and marketing?

Check out the following article:

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/pf/pack ... okeorpepsi

Influence I suppose. But is all the crime...ect really the result of gory.violent movies?

violence has always existed.

So are you saying, no, it is not a result of media/movies?

shut up before I kick your ass

<--punches a wall, tosses the dog out a window, smacks his neighbor


Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I'm sure the Romans didnt base their action off something they saw in a play or whatever. People need something to blame other than themselves, movies have nothing to do with it.

99% of violence today is not a result of media/movies IMO.
People have to accept the fact that there are evil people out there,Evil because they want to be evil.

I tend to agree. Where do people get their ammunition then to condem all these movies ect?

someones turning green

violence in movies rules...the more, the merrier. (see avatar and sig )

I already knew that silly...what do you think of the original post!

i think if people commit crimes after playing a violent video game or watching a violent movie then they were fucked up to begin with. if they can't determine the difference between reality and movies then they are warped to begin with.

It's all a matter of degree.

There are, without a doubt, persons who are inevitably going to commit acts of violence.
However, there are those who are not as apt to commit violence and would not do so otherwise, except they believe violence is accepted by society as a rightful means of expressing one's intent. This belief is based in part, if not materially, in that person's persistence exposure to violence through various media.
The argument against gratuitous violence in the media isn't about the small percentage of persons who are going to be violence regardless of influences, but about the measurable, larger percentage of persons who are violent only because they see others expressing themselves through this form - even if it fictional.
Of note regarding the Romans, the Coliseum came into use only as the Empire was declining (a distraction from real problems) - so what does that say about violence in America?

Utter rubbish.

If I wasn't so impatient, I'd go into detail about why I think you failed to make a single valid point in your post. Instead I suggest you just blame the slacker mentality of the 90's for my lazy response and continue to spout rampant poo.

^^^ It dosent but people are always looking for someone to blame.

The media definitely affects us in many ways -- just look at how our slang expressions, fashion trends, music trends, and so on are usually promoted and formed by the media we watch/read/listen to. It's foolish to say it doesn't affect us all in some way, from changing our political views to making us think about new ideas and issues.

However, most people can stand back and distinguish between what they observe through the media and their own lives. While it may affect their life, usually it doesn't turn them into criminals and violent people. People who are like that were like that to begin with. Violent movies may have taught them new ways to do things, but if it hadn't been for those things they would have done their violent acts in other ways.

For instance, I spoke to some police officers recently and they told me they were (ironically) glad that many drug dealers tried to emulate their "heroes" in the violent films by holding their guns sideways when they shoot, thus making their shots wildly inaccurate. These guys were, without a doubt, influenced by what they saw. But would they have been criminals anyway even without the media exposure to violence? Almost certainly.

I have seen plenty of violent films and I'm still a non-gun-owning, peaceful vegetarian. I never threw anvils at my friends after watching Tex Avery cartoons either, because I, like most people, know the difference between fiction and reality.

And that's the distinction. It is always the ones who are slightly crazy who watch some violent movie and try to emulate it. Heck, Charlie Manson listened to a Beatles album about peace and love and thought it was telling him to murder people. Some idiots comitted suicide after playing Dungeons and Dragons even though millions of others have played it without the slightest problem. For that matter, many crazy people have read the Bible and then went out and committed murders because of something they read there, but people aren't trying to ban the Bible. Crazy people will do crazy things, and the stimulus could be anything.

So can we criticize films for being too violent? Sure, it's a free country. Criticize them all you want. And since it's a free country, they can keep making them too.

I still comeback to the $2M Superbowl ad.

If the media doesn't influence our behavior, why does a company pay $2M for a Superbowl ad? Are they all THAT stupid?

Its comparing apples and oranges. By them advertising beer or cell phones, it makes their product more well known, it also lets the viewer become aware of their product as opposed to buying brand x over the counter. Thats how it influences their decision. By you comparing that to violence,its completely different because the viewer knows that their are consequences to acting out a violent act on tv. I also never heard by advertising a product it makes the couch pototo rush out of their house and immediately buy their brand. It slowly sets it in their mind. For violence, you wont see most people act it out or delivering a powerbomb to their wife or girlfriend