This is Part III of The Media My Daughter Witnessed series illustrating the effect of the media on my daughter, as well as on humans in general. This piece focuses on violence in entertainment media.
One of my biggest complaints when it comes to entertainment media is the violence that immerses the viewer so deeply that it is ingrained in us as “normal” and inherent to us as human beings.
As a theologian that concentrates on religious fundamentalism and extremism, I am very aware of how violence is depicted in the media as opposed to real life situations. Groups such as Al Qaeda are in a category unto themselves—flying airplanes into buildings and bombing trains, killing thousands. What I find interesting is the human disconnect between real violence and violence as entertainment. We witness such violence in movies and on television and we rarely flinch; yet when the violence is real, it strikes us differently. I sometimes wonder about this disconnect and wonder why we disassociate ourselves from the violence in the media so easily, when in reality, it seems we should react to it just as virulently as we do when it is real.
When I am teaching and talk about violence in the media, I always compare two movies and people’s reaction to them. The first is, Saving Private Ryan.
The movie is very real illustration of war; after I watched Saving Private Ryan, I clearly remember leaving the theatre crying and actually heaving in the parking lot because my stomach was in knots from the violence I just witnessed.
For comparison, now take the film, Passion of The Christ.
Soon after this film’s release, news stations all around the country reported how many people fainted during the movie, and there were even reports of a person dying during the movie’s violent ending.
Between the two movies, what I found interesting is the conversations I had regarding the violence in both films. Several people told me the violence was so terrible in Passion of the Christ and more uncalled for. I wondered about this and thought, the violence in Saving Private Ryan was just as bad if not worse than Passion, why was there not such an outcry for that movie?
I came to the conclusion that because Passion of the Christ depicted violence against a single man that people follow as their Savior and the Son of God, it’s harder to watch violence against him than watching a group of men being killed for doing what their government has sent them to do, especially when it depicts Americans as strong and brave. War is expected and more–it is ingrained in our culture. As Elise Boulding writes in her book, Cultures of Peace, we tell our histories through wars and victories—it is a natural part of United States culture and how we came to be a nation. As for Passion of the Christ, watching a depiction of Jesus being tortured and killed is just something many only want to read about, without the visual, auditory example.
Regardless of the reason for the different reactions to these two very violent films, simply put, we are disconnected from the violence we witness on a daily basis, to the violence we witness in the media. This also crosses over to video games. Last year I did a study on war, rape and theology. Susan Brownmiller writes in her book, Against Our Will – Men, Women and Rape, “When men discovered that they could rape, they proceeded to do it … men’s discovery that his genitalia could serve as a weapon to generate fear must rank as one of the most important discoveries of prehistoric times, along with the use of fire and the first crude stone axe” (p. 14).
Every forty-five seconds someone in the United States is sexually assaulted.
When you really think about this, it is staggering. It got me wondering if the entertainment media contributes to violence not only against women, but to humans in general. While doing some current research, I came across this video game out of Japan.
Called Rapelay, this game gives players the opportunity to pick which girl they would like to terrorize. The player can move the mouse, lifting the skirt of the woman, fondle her breasts, grope her, undress her, and eventually, rape her. I was somewhat astounded when I came across this, but the reality is that this is acceptable, because if it wasn’t, it wouldn’t exist. I wonder if there would be some sort of outcry from men if there were a video game where women hunted men down and eventually castrated them—would that be acceptable? I highly doubt it.
When referring to the second piece in this series, the question begs: Are commercials such as the Victoria’s Secret commercial contributing or exacerbating to the creation and/or maintaining of these types of video games such as Rapelay, or, are these video games exacerbating an already misogynistic view of women? Did people such as Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill at Columbine High School partly because of what they learned from violent video games and movies? Are we as humans so disconnected from the violence we watch, with popcorn and soda in hand at the movie theatre, that when we watch the news of yet another killing in our troubled neighborhoods, we barely blink? Or, when we watch films such as Saving Private Ryan, and then watch bombs dropped in real time in Iraq, can we relate that at that very moment when we see the bomb hit, several people are dying very painful deaths, including women and children?
All I can do with these questions is give is my perspective on the media as whole. As I said in Part I, I believe the media was originally created to inform us, to help us, to lead us, to entertain us, and even guide us. Somewhere along the way however, it lost its original goal. Somewhere along the way, humans gave in. Gave in to what, you ask? Humans gave in to greed, sex, commercialism, materialism, and violence. At one time, I believe the media was much more wholesome. When you watch old shows such as I Love Lucy, the rule was no couple could be portrayed in the same bed, and when they were, one person had to have at least one foot on the ground. As we “evolved,” so did the rules. Now, it seems, anything goes.
However, humans are also full of double standards. Remember when Janet Jackson accidentally flashed her breast during the half time show for the Super Bowl? So many parents were in uproar that their child had seen her breast. Yet, it was OK for those kids to watch all those commercials; the Budweiser commercial that implies that you will get the girl if you are cool and you drink beer, (but with the friendly reminder to Always drink responsibly). Or, the Viagra commercial that clearly depicts sexual relations are about to occur and a couple that just can’t wait to have sex. Yes, the double standards are there. I guess that is just human nature and only deserves a quick recognition in this piece.
In conclusion to this series, I could write a book on this, but the reality is that the media my daughter, Katy, witnessed, has affected her and always will. I truly believe all forms of media affect us more than we realize or more than we are willing to admit. From our disassociation to the news every evening, to our craving for violent entertainment, to our eyes not being offended by women and men objectified consistently, and now, to realistic images of women being raped in a video game, we are numb, damaged, and many times oppressed by all forms of media.
I am not saying that the media is all bad; I know it isn’t. However, I struggle with an institution, or, maybe I should say, an empire, that chases people to get the “best” story, that reports a story regardless of whom it hurts, that makes billions off of death and destruction, or that contributes to the harm of any human being, be it men, women or children.
When will we, as fellow human beings, say, “Enough!?” When will we stop giving in and accept the violence, the objectification, and the degradation? Until we stop supporting this, and even craving this type of hype, the media will continue to feed us with material that facilitates the destruction of our real lives and our real selves. This is just simply unacceptable. It must be noted and it must change. That change, however, is a choice. What’s your choice?
Photo courtesy of www.wikimediacommons.org
