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There have been so many arguments over whether or not violent media has affected our society. Have they become more aggressive? Is there more crime? How does popular media affect real-life assault and violence? These questions have been asked over the years and it is still puzzling as to what the potential impact is. Not only do children- but adults as well spend hours upon hours playing games and listening to music that includes aggressive words and actions. These words and actions may just be something we hear or see on a screen, but they affect us in a way that makes us act differently because we cannot comprehend the real world.
The shooting at Columbine in 1999 was considered the deadliest in all of American history. Thirteen innocent people died and twenty were injured. Ever since then, public schools all around the country have been preparing themselves for these tragedies and finding ways to prevent them, and yet the school shootings seem to be getting worse and worse. Craig Scott was a survivor of the shooting. His sister was the first victim. Craig was interviewed a lot, and he started to take an interest in filming. He realized that the film industry had a great impact on people. “I thought I could make a positive influence on society through film,” says Craig.
It was said that the shooters, Dylan and Eric, enjoyed violent movies, music, and video games. Craig however, does not believe that the media directly caused these boys to shoot up their schools, but he does believe that “there should be some kind of responsibility for products.” Later in his life, Craig studied film at the Colorado Film School and co-produced a film about Rachel’s life.
As Craig said, the media is never directly responsible for the sick minds of these shooters, and yet it gradually causes individuals to dehumanize others or to feel that they are superior to others. In movies, bad guys and cops fire their guns and kill without much thought. In music, violent words and aggressive thoughts are mixed with catchy beats to engage listeners and make them more memorable. Video games are boring for some individuals to play by themselves, so they play with a group of their friends where aggressive behavior is encouraged throughout the game. Still the question remains, how can what’s portrayed on a screen cause real-life behavior to change?
Throughout the years, concerns over whether or not media affects people has not decreased. With the amount of shootings and crimes happening, experts want answers as to what can cause individuals to act out in such a way. One theory, assumes that the audience feeds their needs with the selective media that they choose instead of being forced to intake the information. The media provides for consumers what they need at that moment, whether it is enjoyment, reducing their boredom, giving them information, or making communication easier. Another theory- first developed by scholar George Gerbner, claimed that it is important to understand the process between the viewer and the message that the media is portraying. Television and other media over time sends some kind of clarity of how the world works, and helps the viewers understand that. Though there is evidence of both theories, the relationship between behaviors and media is still unknown.
Sociologist Karen Sternheimer stated that “Media culture is not the root cause of American social problems, not the Big Bad Wolf, as our ongoing public discussion would suggest.” Sternheimer argued that we got the idea all wrong, and that media should not be blamed on all the violence that goes on, but rather we should look at all the family violence, poverty, economic inequalities and domestic abuse that goes on and start fixing those problems first.
Music is very important to youth, and many at a young age already have a set genre that they really like and keep up with. Popular music emphasizes a lot of negative ideas, such as substance abuse, suicide, violence and racism. For violent lyrics to promote youth to do dangerous things, the listeners must look for the message. Then, once the message about violence or substance abuse is found, they must connect it to their own lives- meaning trying something on their own. This means that it doesn’t just take a violent message to force the idea onto youth, but it also takes the youth to interpret the message into what they think it’s saying.
The Catharsis Theory suggests that violence included in media is actually a positive thing. Instead of it projecting a bad message, it instead helps artists release the frustrations they have against this world. Without this release, we’d in fact be more aggressive. For example: if you had a bad day and you come home either to write a song or to watch a violent movie, it will release some of that tension and help you be less aggressive and violent since you understand that others feel frustrated as well.
On the other hand, the Aggressive Cues Theory states that violent media does have an impact. Watching a violent movie or playing a violent video game gives us a bit of an adrenaline rush and make us more tense, increasing our chances of committing a violent act. Another way the audience can be led to some type of aggressive behavior is when they can relate to the protagonist in some way, whether it be lifestyle or their mishaps. When the crime that is done is justifiable, that gets the viewers thinking about whether or not it’s an act worth committing.
Researches define media violence as “portrayal of acts of physical aggression by one human or human-like character against another”. Many theories have evolved from this definition, and specified more into what type of violence makes the audience act out more. Does violent media promote violence in our society? Although it still is not perfectly clear as to what the answer is, we can conclude that in some ways the media causes us to be more aggressive and in others it just depends on how we depict the messages.
Bibliography
- Phillips, Nickie. Violence, Media Effects, and Criminology. Oxford Research Encyclopedias, 2017. http://oxfordre.com/criminology/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264079-e-189.
- Maureen, Ryan. “A Story of Survival”. Scholastic Action, 29, no. 8 (2006). 14-17.
- Roberts, Donald F, Christenson, Peter G and Gentile, Douglas A. “The Effects of Violent Music on Children and Adolescents.” In Media Violence and Children, edited by Douglas A. Gentile, 153-170. Connecticut: Praeger, 2003.
- Mehraj, Hakim K, Bhat, Akhtar N, Mehraj, Hakeem R. “Impacts of Media on Society: A Sociological Perspective.” International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention, 3, no. 6 (2014). 2319-7722.
- Huesmann, Rowell L. The Impact of Electronic Media Violence: Scientific Theory and Research. National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2007. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2704015/.
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