[lit-ideas] Re: media violence
- From: JulieReneB@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 11:14:14 EDT
Yes, I'm behind on e-mail. Chaotic doesn't begin to do justice to the last
couple weeks. Re. the below, I'm as interested in the psychology of how the
viewing affects a person as I am the educational angle. A couple days ago a
news item suggested that examination of Berg's body indicated that he was most
likely dead before the beheading and that the video was "staged". A weird area
between fiction and reality. Why or how does it make a difference in how a
visual event impacts us if we understand it to be fiction or reality? If Berg
was indeed dead before the video, would we then with that knowledge view the
video differently? Feel differently about it (as though, perhaps, it were a
"movie", like the Catch 22 beheading) as we watched it? I am unsure of how
viewing, e.g., Ghost Ship vs. viewing that video of Berg would affect my
children;
the difference in how traumatic each would be for them, or in what manner
their psyche would be informed by each. (An aside -- apparently *some* of the
pictures circulating re. prisoner abuse in Iraq are actually porn downloaded
from the net, videos or pictures in which some of the "players" were wearing
military garb. The technology seems to be greying out significantly the line
between reality and fiction.)
<<Well, one question would be whether we want to "protect" minors from
exposure to disturbing material. The culture seems to be moving towards
LESS protection. The educational question here is, GIVEN this movement,
is it educationally sound to expose students to NON-Hollywood violence?
I would be willing to guess that in the average high school class of
seniors, 98% of the students have seen a "beheading" in a film
somewhere. Catch 22, years ago, had an airplane beheading. Braveheart
had several. The average slasher movie has severed heads by the dozens.
Night of the Living Dead back in the '60's had a child eating an arm.
But it was understood that these were MOVIES, not REAL. >>
Julie Krueger
========Original Message========
Subj:[lit-ideas] Re: media violence
Date:5/17/2004 5:33:24 PM Central Daylight Time
From:johnwager@xxxxxxxxxxx
To:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent on:
JulieReneB@xxxxxxx wrote:
>http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/West/05/17/teachers.suspended.reut/index.html
>I wonder if any of the (justifiably, in my opinion) outraged parents of
these
>students took their children to see The Passion?
>
Or even worse: Kill Bill. Or Kill Bill 2, even. (I must admit I saw
both; and in both, in the row in front of me, a "family" was sitting
with a child big enough to watch a movie but small enough to sit in a
parent's lap.)
>I've been thinking alot lately about the role of technology and visual
>representations of violence. This is going to be fuzzled because I'm
actually
>posting this hoping someone will articulate what I'm having trouble
articulating to
>myself. I don't even necessarily want an answer articulated -- if someone
>can figure out what question I'm trying to ask it would be a start. . . . .
>
Well, one question would be whether we want to "protect" minors from
exposure to disturbing material. The culture seems to be moving towards
LESS protection. The educational question here is, GIVEN this movement,
is it educationally sound to expose students to NON-Hollywood violence?
I would be willing to guess that in the average high school class of
seniors, 98% of the students have seen a "beheading" in a film
somewhere. Catch 22, years ago, had an airplane beheading. Braveheart
had several. The average slasher movie has severed heads by the dozens.
Night of the Living Dead back in the '60's had a child eating an arm.
But it was understood that these were MOVIES, not REAL. The educational
question is why THIS kind of violence is allowed or encouraged in
society when exposure to REAL violence is discouraged or prohibited.
Would the high school teachers in California be in an equal amount of
"trouble" if they had shown the film of Catch 22? Or Braveheart? Or The
Patriot? (I think I recall a cannonball beheading there; I try NOT to
keep track of movie beheadings.) At what age are students ready to look
at violence when it's REAL and so sickening that it creates nightmares
for months? Is this part of education? Why or why not?
Do we want students to NOT have nightmares from violence?
Do we want students TO have nightmares from violence?
These seem "open" educational questions that I don't have an answer for
on the high school level.
(I do know that despite my recounting of several movie beheadings, and
despite several people sending me the URL for the Iraqi beheading, I
have decided NOT to view it. This is my choice. It is my choice because
no teacher is asking me to look at it or making it a class topic.)
But along those lines, I wonder about the role of education in
"respecting" squeamishness. Some students can't deal very well with
this kind of violence. But the world we live in has that kind of
violence in it. Some students can't deal with numbers very well either,
but we don't give them a pass on Long Division just because they detest
math. Why should violence be different than other parts of the real world?
The "utilitarian" approach would be to look at the consequences of
exposing students to real violence: If it creates a more thoughtful,
more realistic, more sensible culture, then showing the violence might
be justified. If it creates more violence and more unhappiness, then
it's not educationally sound to show such violence.
>How is the execution of Berg different from the incredible violence in
movies?
> (Ghost Ship, e.g., which I haven't seen but which College kids tell me they
>walked out of, vomiting.) More than once I heard the word "pornographic"
>applied to the movie, The Passion.
>
As a footnote, I heard college students referring to THE PASSION OF THE
CHRIST as the "JESUS CHAINSAW MASSACRE." The obvious "line" to draw
here is that some ADULTS may choose to view such materials. They should
not be prevented from doing so. But the problem you articulate is what
do we do about those who are NOT YET ADULTS? How much do we protect them
from horrifying real violence in a world of massive virtual violence?
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
