Violence in Movies

Why do we spend vast amounts of money each year to watch violence? Within the past several years, people have spent money to see some of the greatest violent portrayals ever created. Consider the following several movies: Hostel, Saw, 300, The Matrix, The Passion of the Christ, Nightmare on Elm Street, and the list goes on.

It seems strange that we would want to see such barbarity. I believe that we enjoy seeing violence in movies, in stories, on television, etc. because it is an outlet. People like seeing it because it exists on the fringe of reality.

I think we also enjoy the good vs. evil dichotomy. Anyone who has ever watched an action movie has certainly rooted for the “good guy” (or the bad guy if that is the intent). In “Indiana Jones”, we are constantly rooting for the hero. We admire his abilities and see justice in the use of his violence. He is violent and remains within our perception of positive social conduct. When he uses violence it is perceived as good, exciting, an escape, and it is why we are willing to pay $7 for a chance to see it.

Whether this is a positive outlet is debatable. It creates a mindset of apathy and desensitizes individuals towards violent behavior. Certainly, violent movies are not the sole influence of violence, but it makes it seem more tolerable in contemporary society.

Censorship

I have trouble with the concept of speech being violent. I understand that certain language is unnecessary and inappropriate, but to actually consider a word or set of words violent seems strange.

An example of this is music. Censorship is a perpetual annoyance. I always felt like monitoring of music should be an individual/parent’s job and not the music distributor’s. I understand that people do not want children exposed to certain lyrics, but on the same note I feel that the music I enjoy should be readily available as it was made; rather than how a minority of people prefers to listen to it. Wal-Mart is an example of a store that distributes censored music. I want you to consider two different stances; Of course, there are individuals who feel that music should be censored if available in stores like Wal-Mart where it is available to the youth. However, is it not just as violent to keep someone from hearing music? Especially if that is the way the music was intended to be heard.

My personal vendetta against music censorship began when I purchased a Puddle of Mudd CD several years ago from Wal-Mart. That was clearly a mistake. The song “She Hates Me” really loses something when half of the lyrics are missing. Regardless of the particular message being sent by the lyrics, it is an artistic expression. The message that is being communicated is merely artistic expression with the goal aesthetic auditory perception.

Gender Bias

I appreciated Bruce Kokopeli and George Lakeys’ vision of androgyny. I feel that, too often in society, we assign gender roles. This is evident even in the way we raise children. For instance, the color pink is typically associated with femininity and blues normally signify masculinity. Even by monitoring the colors of children’s clothing, we are creating a gender bias.

Another example of gender bias that is seen is toy selection. Girls normally play with dolls and boys play with cars. There is no reason for this other than societal influence on their selection. A male child is not born innately drawn to toy trucks. In fact, I believe that a boy raised without any gender bias would be just as likely to play with a Barbie doll.

One gender bias that is deeply ingrained in our society is that men and women cannot just be friends. That of course is false, but it is evident that the majority of society has been socialized to think in such terms. To this day, I have about an equal number of male and female friends and I attribute that to my parents’ lassez-faire style of parenting.

The vision of androgyny appeals to me because it seeks equality. Its goal is to eliminate any socialized gender bias and create a level playing field for men and women. I was raised with very little gender bias. By growing up with very few gender biases and seeing equality, rather than patriarchy, I feel that my relationships with others have been immensely, positively impacted.

Crude

I attended the documentary “Crude” for my Spanish class, and was appalled by the violence that is occurring in Ecuador. The violence was not direct, physical abuse. Instead, the land of the Ecuadorian people was left in shambles in corporations’ (mainly Texaco) pursuit of crude oil. They left many areas with pools of oil, seeping into the ground and into the water. This subsequently affected the Ecuadorians because now, in certain areas the cancer rate is extremely high, safe drinking water is not always available, and there is oil even in the ground.

It is astounding to me that such an act of violence could perpetuate. How are the individuals heading the Texaco oil company able to sleep at night knowing that there are people dying because of their ignorance and incompetence? One of the most heartbreaking stories in the movie was of a man talking about losing two sons to the effects of the oil. He said that one died soon after birth and the other drank from a stream that was polluted with oil and then died within 24 hours.

What did I learn from this documentary? That corporations can be cruel. I will never buy gas or support Texaco again. I feel that it is the responsibility of the people to take action when injustice is occurring. We were asked in class several weeks ago if there was a cause that we would be willing to fight for. This is certainly something I could see fighting for. People should be more than a means of attaining material wealth.