In chapter nineteen of James Potter’s Media Literacy, he talks about violence in the media as well as the audience’s view on what violence is. On page 321, he says that the public conception of violence is tied into three factors. Of those three, there is one in which he says “the seriousness of the action itself and the way the act is portrayed are more influential in the decision of violence than the portrayal of harm to the victim.” Basically, if an act of violence is portrayed by a “good guy” onto a “bad guy” then the act of violence may not be seen as violent as if a “bad guy” used the same violent act on an innocent person.
It is as if the audience is saying that a violent act is not really violence if it is good punishing evil. This is exactly what the people at ChallengingMedia are saying in their segment Beyond Good and Evil: Children, Media & Violent Times. Throughout the segment, they show media images of soldiers, secret agents, and superheroes using violent acts to punish the “bad guys.” They say that this kind of media is teaching children at a very young age that violent acts are okay as long as they are being used to punish bad people. They also say that the media is teaching children that a “bad guy” is anyone who is different from the stereotypical hero character who is generally a white male.
So the media is not only telling children that certain violent acts are okay, but also that racism is alright as well. I feel that this is a horrible system that we have come to accept and that something needs to be done. We as a people cannot teach our children that violence is acceptable on any level, especially if that level carries with it a high level of racial undertones.
Dude I can totally hear your voice when I'm reading your stuff.
ReplyDeletePotter is the devil.
Anyway, Media works to provide amusement and if it brings in the viewers then they will post it. Of course if you want popularity and viewer count you need to do something extremely drastic, and then it'd be appropriate to try and cover up with some lame bull shit later.
Of course they aren't doing what they support. No one ever does. Hypocrisy at it's finest.
I am with Joe, the DEVIL has spoken. I agree with you Adam, how can media tell us what is right or wrong when acts are portrayed on television showing stereotype with good or bad guys, younger kids are going to pick up on that. Media teaches a lot of negative things to children, and who is to judge the moral fiber of someone, especially the Mass Media? Good, bad, ugly, only the viewer can decide, however the media attempts to portray these stigmas to an extreme. Children will pick up on these and eventually begin to judge and even act on these good and bad roles they are seeing.
ReplyDelete