Media Violence: Monkey See Monkey Do???

“Aggression: The Impact of Media Violence” is piece by Sissela Bok, from her book Mayhem: Violence as Public Entertainment. Bok writes about the continuing issue of media violence and it’s relation to real violence. She says that it “glamorizes aggressive conduct, removes inhibitions towards such conduct, arouses viewers, and invites imitation.” This is something she tries to prove by numerous examples of researched numbers and studies, which turn out to not be as accurate as one thought.

Bok is trying to send a message through her writing to adults, teens and especially parents, of the dangers of media violence and the copycat crimes that follow. She goes on to explain how one man took legal action against Oliver Stone and his production company for their film Natural Born Killers, after his friend was murdered by a nineteen-year-old girl and her eighteen-year-old boyfriend who had viewed the movie repeatedly, prior to the event. Long story short: we never learn who won that battle. Was that story even necessary? She moves straight into the topic of sexual aggression towards woman, from male subjects who watch violent pornography. This transition caught me off guard as a reader.

I believe the purpose Bok is trying to achieve in her writing, is to raise awareness of the causes of aggression through media, but also inform us that there is not enough research to prove the precise effects of exposure to media violence, considering all the other factors contributing to societal violence. “We may never be able to trace, retrospectively, the specific set of television programs that contributed to a particular person’s aggressive conduct,” she states. “The same is true when it comes to the links between tobacco smoking and cancer, between drunk driving and automobile accidents, and many other risk factors presenting public health hazards.” This statement just confirms the uncertainty of her argument.

Bok’s writing did not affect me the way I thought it would. If her purpose was to confirm uncertainty, she achieved it. Her writing seemed very jumbled, with many examples of narrow research that didn’t really pull her point through. The writing didn’t seem to focus on a topic, but rather, give a slim amount of information on various aspects of a broad topic. Unfortunately, this was not enough to sway me on her argument, although I do believe that media does have some influence on violence, but I do not believe it’s a large factor. It was Bok’s closing statements about children that resonated with me the most. “The basic nurturing and protection to prevent the impairment of this ability [to cope with the knowledge] ought to be the birthright of every child,” she writes as her final statement. This I can say, I agree with. I love children and have learned about the importance of their development in their early years. Children are easily influenced and I’m sure most parents, out of instinct, would want to protect their child from some of the things on TV these days, which is completely understandable. I would too. Mind you, I watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles every day as a child, and look at me: I’m anything but a ninja. ☺

If you are a parent, (or plan on it) did you (or would you) put a TV in your child’s bedroom? If you have, were there any negative or violent repercussions?