1. Snoopingaround

    Snoopingaround Banned

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2011
    Messages:
    199
    Likes Received:
    16

    Violence and the Media

    Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by Snoopingaround, Dec 7, 2011.

    This is kind of an age old question which has been asked before on various programs and debates, but the funny thing about it is that people tend to be split into two camps on this issue and it hasn't been resolved one way or the other. Perhaps we here at the writing forum can put this question to rest, perchance.

    Does the media truly have an impact on people who commit extreme or criminal actions, in that if the particular media was not available (a violent video game or some rape-fantasy novel for examples), the crime or extreme behavior they engaged in would not have occured? Can the media influence have such an impact that the people who view or interact with certain explicit material be led to violent or damaging behaviors that they would not otherwise have engaged in? Wouldn't this justify censorship then? Or no?
     
  2. Allan Paas

    Allan Paas New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2011
    Messages:
    198
    Likes Received:
    5
    Location:
    Estonia
    It does not depend on media violence. If a person is not smart enough to see what he is doing and what the consequences are, it is his own fault.
    Censorship keeps him stupider than he would otherwise be. It's better to throw everything at him and make him learn from others' mistakes, make him see the consequences of some actions. If he still does what he does, it only shows he is very stupid and more trouble than worth, therefore a worthless person.
    Crimes and extreme behaviors come from stupidity, greed, wanting to show themselves as dominant. Wait, all of it goes under stupidity... So, if he's smart enough he doesn't do anything like that and if not, he does.
     
    1 person likes this.
  3. Jhunter

    Jhunter Mmm, bacon. Contributor

    Joined:
    Sep 23, 2011
    Messages:
    1,218
    Likes Received:
    45
    Location:
    Southern California
    I have always based my views on this from my own personal experience. I grew up watching violent movies and playing violent video games. I have never once been tempted to mimic any of the things I have seen/played. Why? Because I know it is wrong; even as a child I understood that. So no, I personally do not think it effects people in that manner.

    With that said, I personally think bad people will be bad no matter what they watch/play. I also think violent media is a convenient scapegoat.
     
  4. WriterDude

    WriterDude Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2011
    Messages:
    733
    Likes Received:
    36
    Location:
    Icy cold wastes of Hell. Aka Norway.
    I'd like to quote the movie Scream here: "Movies don't create psychos. Movies gives psychos ideas." In other words, there will always be psychopats, sosiopaths, serial killers, sadists, murders, rapists and so on. People have always tried to blame something, be it comic books, video games, movies, music or whatever. And yes, the media can inspire someone to do bad things. I don't doube that for a second. Although wrestling (as in WWE, The Rock, Hulk Hogan etc) seems innocent enough for us adults, there are countless kids who have been hurt when they tried to copy what they saw on the screen. Why should they not copy other things too?

    But that, I don't think blaming the media is the right thing to do. We need to look at the source of the problem, not the trigger. Psychos will always be around, and if they can't get inspired by movies, they will be inspired by video games. If we take away video games, they will be inspired by comic books. If we remove everything from them, they will inspire each other. Just because one guy was inspired by a movie and did some terrible stuff, it doesn't mean everyone else should suffer. Instead, we should find that guy before he has the chance to do anything and help him.
     
    1 person likes this.
  5. cruciFICTION

    cruciFICTION Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    May 18, 2011
    Messages:
    1,232
    Likes Received:
    50
    Location:
    Brisbane, Australia
    Nothing justifies censorship. That is all I have to say to that.

    As to the question at hand, I feel the need to mention that some of the greatest villains in films are inspired by real life. Ed Gein, for example, was not fictional. 'Nuff said.
     
  6. Cacian

    Cacian Banned

    Joined:
    Oct 25, 2011
    Messages:
    1,877
    Likes Received:
    5
    I would say YES it has.
    In the same way that adds have on effect on people going out and spending money on products that the ads told them to go and buy it.
    Media and films have the exact effect on people behaving badly when it comes to violence and crime.
    I would add that the HughGrant story with the prostitute was as result of Pretty Woman the movie.
    The idea of picking up someone off the street was more or less what Hugh Grant did.
     
  7. cruciFICTION

    cruciFICTION Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    May 18, 2011
    Messages:
    1,232
    Likes Received:
    50
    Location:
    Brisbane, Australia
    You do realise that prostitution did exist before Pretty Woman, right?
     
  8. Dante Dases

    Dante Dases Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2008
    Messages:
    3,455
    Likes Received:
    176
    Location:
    West Yorkshire, England
    Censorship such as age rating is perfectly legitimate in my view, though I would agree that no free-thinking adult should be constrained in what they can and can't watch or read just because a government agency says it's bad for the moral health of the nation. Just because I've read, watched and played things with high levels of violence and weird, kinky sex (hello, Iain M. Banks, how are you today? You're good and hanging out with George R.R. Martin? Sounds a fun day) doesn't mean I'm going to start indulging in extreme violence and taking weird things into the bedroom. 99% of people are well-balanced individuals who can tell right from wrong. That 1% will always have questions asked of them, but they'd end up in trouble without the 'aid' of violent games and films.

    The fact is that both films and video games are relatively new forms of media. Films have been around for a century, granted, but the level of censorship present there for many years means that violence of a high level has only been present for a fraction of that time. Video games (especially ones in 3D with violence beyond the cartoony) have only become particularly popular over the last 20 years. People of a reactionary nature need their scapegoats. New forms of media are convenient scapegoats, so we see certain games strung up on the gallows of public opinion.

    Cacian, people have visited prostitutes for millennia. I doubt Hugh Grant was influenced by one film. He's still a grade A tosser, but that's not the point.
     
    1 person likes this.
  9. Cacian

    Cacian Banned

    Joined:
    Oct 25, 2011
    Messages:
    1,877
    Likes Received:
    5
    Let me see.
    Is Hugh Grant an actor ?YES
    Hugh Grant star along Julia Robert after Pretty Woman ?Yes.
    was Pretty Woman was made before Hugh Grant story? Yes.
    Could Hugh Grant have fantasised about Pretty Woman? Yes most men tend fantasise about sexual things they see or watch.
    Ok.
    This is my take on what I think Hugh Grant did.
    Again you don't have to accept what I wrote.
    I still think what I think.
     
  10. Cacian

    Cacian Banned

    Joined:
    Oct 25, 2011
    Messages:
    1,877
    Likes Received:
    5
    Do I realise prostitution existed before has nothing with what I said.
     
  11. Jhunter

    Jhunter Mmm, bacon. Contributor

    Joined:
    Sep 23, 2011
    Messages:
    1,218
    Likes Received:
    45
    Location:
    Southern California
    Commercials for products is a whole different ball game than violent media, and not comparable.

    Prostitution has been around for thousands of years. Movies have nothing to do with a someones urge to either use a prostitute or be one.
     
  12. Jhunter

    Jhunter Mmm, bacon. Contributor

    Joined:
    Sep 23, 2011
    Messages:
    1,218
    Likes Received:
    45
    Location:
    Southern California
    I am pretty sure I read somewhere that Hugh Grant was using prostitutes way before Pretty Woman. Also, he got caught with a black prostitute, not a white one. The only driving factor in anyone using a prostitute is their d***. It has nothing to do with movies. Besides, prostitution is still legal in a lot of places.
     
  13. Question

    Question Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 29, 2011
    Messages:
    202
    Likes Received:
    4
    I don't believe that the media makes people violent or killers, the world itself is just mest up. But this said lots of people commit crimes just to end up on t.v or make a name for themselves. Terrorism itself relies on people knowing the attrocities commited. I am not advocating censorship because people have a right to know whats going on and even without the media people would still commit crimes. Though does the media fuel these acts of violence, I would have to say yes.
     
  14. Cacian

    Cacian Banned

    Joined:
    Oct 25, 2011
    Messages:
    1,877
    Likes Received:
    5
    How do you explain adverts and their effect on spending?
     
  15. Cacian

    Cacian Banned

    Joined:
    Oct 25, 2011
    Messages:
    1,877
    Likes Received:
    5
    I believe the media is ultimately responsible for violence withing the youth today in the same way it is responsible in the way they dress behave and talk.
     
  16. Jhunter

    Jhunter Mmm, bacon. Contributor

    Joined:
    Sep 23, 2011
    Messages:
    1,218
    Likes Received:
    45
    Location:
    Southern California

    That is completely different. Buying something isn't wrong. Killing someone is. People know the difference.

    Ads are made to entice you to buy something. Violent media is not made to entice you kill someone.
     
  17. Jhunter

    Jhunter Mmm, bacon. Contributor

    Joined:
    Sep 23, 2011
    Messages:
    1,218
    Likes Received:
    45
    Location:
    Southern California
    If that was true than most of the world would be murderers. Since most of us watch and play the same violent media.
     
  18. Lemex

    Lemex That's Lord Lemex to you. Contributor

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2007
    Messages:
    10,704
    Likes Received:
    3,425
    Location:
    Northeast England
    You know logic? This isn't it.
     
    1 person likes this.
  19. mugen shiyo

    mugen shiyo New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2011
    Messages:
    509
    Likes Received:
    12
    Location:
    New York, NY
    No. The News would qualify under that influence as well. Rumors and gossip would as well. You'd have to shove a person in a box to prevent him from being influenced by any bad things and then he's just going to want to kill you for shoving him in a box. Besides...all that bad stuff has been around way before TV, movies, and probably even words.
     
  20. Cacian

    Cacian Banned

    Joined:
    Oct 25, 2011
    Messages:
    1,877
    Likes Received:
    5
    to me it is.
    It goes like this.
    A man cannot get a fantasy unless he has seen it watched it or read about it.
    As far as Hugh Grant is concerned he was only living out a fantasy he has seen/watched or heard off.
     
  21. Cacian

    Cacian Banned

    Joined:
    Oct 25, 2011
    Messages:
    1,877
    Likes Received:
    5
    How is that different?
    Ads is TV /Media.
    Wacthing a violent film is also advertising violence.
    Both advertise a product.
    One is something you buy and the other something you will eventaully do because in both cases the viewer is weak or simply reliant /influenced by what he/she views.
     
  22. Eunoia

    Eunoia Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2010
    Messages:
    4,391
    Likes Received:
    81
    Location:
    England
    You've basically just insulted all of us. Writing involves imagination and it doesn't always come from something we've watched or read about it.

    Oh, so I've watched Pretty Woman numerous times so obviously I'm going to become a prostitute. I've watched films with murderers so clearly I'm going to become one.

    To the original question, I don't think media makes people be violent. It's usually because of something that someone has personally experienced, some wrongdoing or something (but I'm no expert).
     
    1 person likes this.
  23. Cacian

    Cacian Banned

    Joined:
    Oct 25, 2011
    Messages:
    1,877
    Likes Received:
    5
    I am talking sexual fantasy here with regard to Hugh Grant.
     
  24. Jhunter

    Jhunter Mmm, bacon. Contributor

    Joined:
    Sep 23, 2011
    Messages:
    1,218
    Likes Received:
    45
    Location:
    Southern California

    That fact that you presume to know what is going on inside Hugh Grants mind is hilarious.

    You are also completely wrong when you say a man cannot get fantasy ideas without watching it or reading it first.

    And just because you think something is true, doesn't make it true.

    The only reason Hugh Grant went to that hooker was because he was horny. Pretty Woman had nothing to do with it, and the fact that you think it does, makes me fear for humanity.

    It is people like you who are going to eventually make it so nobody can express themselves freely in any medium because of your fear mongering and baseless slander.

    Stop being weak minded and wake up and realize bad people are inherently bad. If you want proof, look at our entire history as a human race. People have always been shitheads with or without violent media.

    The only reason people blame violent media, is because it is a convenient scapegoat. It also makes for a better headline when someone uses pop culture to try and explain why some asshole shot up a school.
     
  25. Lemex

    Lemex That's Lord Lemex to you. Contributor

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2007
    Messages:
    10,704
    Likes Received:
    3,425
    Location:
    Northeast England
    With this assertion, a very personal assertion - and I'd like to remind you that Hugh Grant himself could easily read your comment if he wanted to, you'd have to prove:

    1) That Hugh Grant has seen Pretty Woman.
    2) That people, especially males, are driven and influenced by impulses, so much random it would be amazing society hasn't collapsed, from other art-forms, not just films.
    3) That psychology, and psychoanalysis is completely void and useless in favor of your random impulses theory.
    4) That Hugh Grant has never seen a film since Pretty Woman.
    5) That this is hypothesis is provable, and demonstrable.

    I recently watched the film Apocalypse Now, does this mean that I now want to put on a helmet, grab an M-16, and jump on the first helicopter to Saigon.
     
    1 person likes this.

Share This Page

  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
    Dismiss Notice