Violent Media & Censorship

Introduction
Does art influence life, or does life influence art. They flow seamlessly in modern life; simultaneously complimenting each other’s virtues. Art was a means of conveying messages or critiquing the human condition. Life creating a basis for and being inspired by art, whether this manifestation is positive or negative remains to be seen. Art is no longer an attribute found only in literature or galleries, but accessible instantly as popular media. Violence: a particular feature of much art, being at the forefront of the discussion. Censorship has always naturally been an antagonist to art, placing restrictions on the free-thinking that it represents.

The differentiating opinions on the topic tend to share a common principle, the thought that the others is an extreme, and not worth speculating over. Those who seek to censor, believing that the sanctity and preservation of life and values are far more important than particular forms of expression. Or those that argue that fantasy is so far drawn from reality, that to imply it could affect life a ridiculous notion, children in particular being the catalysts for much of the discussion.

I will be discussing three arguments, with my fourth being in my conclusion, against censorship.


The Effects of Violent Media

The thinking here is that, observing violence leads to violent behavior. Numerous studies of all variations, seeking to find the correlation between them, more often than not, brought on by wildly documented tragedies throughout the world.

A recent example would be the “Aurora shootings” which occurred in Colorado. A crazed assailant named James Holmes, appeared at the premiere for the last installment of the popular “Dark Knight” film franchise. He was armed with heavy weaponry including an AR-15 assault rifle and proceeded to arbitrarily fire into crowds of patrons, injuring dozens and killing 12 people in the rampage. When finally arrested and questioned about the event, he stated “I am The Joker” to justify his actions, functioning under the guise that he was the popular antagonist in the series.

Or the horrific tragedy that was the massacre in the Norwegian city Oslo that took 92 lives, initiated by an attacker named Anders Behring Breivik. He allegedly gunned down civilians at an island return whilst he was disguised as a law enforcement officer. Claiming the popular video game franchise “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” was his simulator for the attack, perfectly personifying his detachment from reality stating:

“I just bought Modern Warfare 2, the game. It is probably the best military simulator out there and it’s one of the hottest games this year. … I see MW2 more as a part of my training-simulation than anything else. I’ve still learned to love it though and especially the multiplayer part is amazing. You can more or less completely simulate actual operations.”

A historical precedent would be the famous “Manson Family murders”, wherein a sociopathic musician named Charles Manson claimed to have visions of an impending apocalyptic race war, forming a cult which executed three innocent lives. His dogma was titled “Helter Skelter,” a title taken from a song by the famous pop group “The Beatles,” interpreting the lyrics as an omen of chaos.

Uproar and a need to censor quickly follows suit in these tragedies with a blanketing approach. Not just the (debatable) but logical progression of the assessment and removal of content that may be harmful, but a reductive approach of eradicating everything for safety. These three criminals sought to attach an avatar for their insanity as an influence, from a pervasive super villain, a pseudo-soldier or to something as innocuous as a pop song. The sentiment of individuals with questionable ethics and sanity govern our freedom to enjoy art. The idea to destroy these remnants of pop culture is a non-starter because they already exist and cannot be unmade and even when removed would be sought out employing the “forbidden fruit theory.” The next step would be to predict what the next piece of offending material would be, also flawed because the variety of “inspiration” is scattershot. The core principle is the need for a semblance of control in a chaotic and unchecked reality. They are called “mad men” because of our inability to calculate their actions or associations, the need to remove any perceived inciting material essentially punishes all who enjoy art for the atrocities of the few, on the basis of what is “possible” but possible, is not the same thing as likely, in a civilized society, on the grounds of correlation, you don’t punish one person for the faults of another.
This collective of belligerent behavior is an extremely small margin, with masses observing violent media for enjoyment with no adverse effects. Artistic depictions of violence have not been found to correlate with the general article, and the causality of media pertaining to real violence is insubstantial at best. 

Exercising Personal Responsibility
Organisations such as the MPAA exist to place restrictions on different forms of media, analyzing content and creating age appropriate ratings. The argument against media is largely attested to youth and the influence it can have in developing minds, with a lack of inhibitions. The sanctity of “the children” is often the inciting argument in art-takedowns; a deconstruction of the business that is media ensues, as opposed to the far more important principle of the monitoring of children. It indeed is partially the responsibility of the outlets selling and creating the media to assess the nature of the content that is their output, but more importantly the duty of the parent or caregiver to ultimately decide what is appropriate for their child, an aspect constantly overlooked. Most likely because it causes introspection and an (uncomfortable) need to change behaviour. Similar to the lawsuits against McDonald’s in principle, avoiding critical analysis of personal norms which are the real issue and merely attacking corporations for the product that is their income, In turn inhibiting art. Media of all kinds especially the violent variety in the modern age are largely unavoidable because of the prolific role they play in society, whether it be lyrics in music, television, films, videogames, or even historical or religious texts. Parents must be honest about monitoring and educating children about media. 

A History of Violence
Violence as entertainment plays a large role not only in modern media but bares strong historical resonance. From Grecian gladiators battling in front of crowds of thousands in the Coliseum, to Japanese paintings of great battles fought between differing factions of samurai with an aesthetic eye for the macabre. To Shakespeare’s  plays, with his most violent tragedies being cited as his most popular works. Finally to religious texts that use violence as a narrative device in reaching resonance with in a proverb. The fetishisation of violence to punctuate the human condition has been a consistent theme throughout history. A testament to our animalistic nature, and recognition of our mortality, we have used it to highlight discourse and struggle, it is a vital part of our fables. If censorship were to remove violent depictions in art, vital works and pieces of text would, by technicality have to be removed. Regardless of their influence or validity, art is loosely defined; its gradation is a subjective experience.  Rendering the perceived artistic merit to paranoid prejudice, regardless of the relevance a piece might have. This all encompassing censorship is destructive not only for our introspection but for future generations to come.

Conclusion

Art in all forms regardless of personal preferences is sacred. The creations of man tend to serve one of two purposes, they are either tools serving a direct purpose, or art being abstract in form and function, serving as commentary or being pleasurable to the senses because of an ability to entertain. Actively created based upon an appraisal or critique of a consistently changing world, pieces of zeitgeist to chart our history for better or worse and allow us a window into different periods. The idea of an ominous force to define content based on a limited and arbitrary evaluation of artistic merit is void and contradicts the free thinking that art represents; whether a glowing meadow or gruesome battle, art carries a vivid message whether inherently pleasant or ugly, it plays such a vital part in culture and society and must flourish in all its forms.

References


Rhodes, R. (2000). Hollow claims about fantasy violence. Retrieved September 17th
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/17/opinion/hollow-claims-about-fantasy-violence.html

Thierer, A. (2004). Censoring violence in media. Retrieved September 17th
http://www.cato.org/publications/techknowledge/censoring-violence-media
Teinowitz, I. (2013). Report: More Research Needed on Link Between Media and Violence
Retrieved September 17th
http://www.thewrap.com/media/column-post/report-more-research-link-between-media-and-violence-should-be-priority-95641
Hanson, R. (2013). Why Think of The Children? Retrieved September 17^th
http://www.overcomingbias.com/2013/09/why-think-of-the-children.html

Wax, T. (2013). Is the Bible Too Violent for Kids? Retrieved September 17^th
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevinwax/2013/06/05/is-the-bible-too-violent-for-kids/

Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aestheticization_of_violence

http://www.thepediatriccenter.net/docs/brudenell/UnderstandingtheImpact.pdf

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/aurora-dark-knight-suspect-Joker-cops/story?id=16822251

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngaudiosi/2011/07/24/norway-suspect-used-activisions-call-of-duty-to-train-for-massacre/

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/manson/mansonBeatles.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/9272774/MPs-call-for-violent-video-game-ban-after-Breivik-claims-that-he-trained-on-Call-of-Duty-Modern-Warfare.html

http://benzino84.hubpages.com/hub/The-Forbidden-Fruit-Theory

http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/what-parents-can-do-about-media-violence

http://www.mybanktracker.com/news/mbtslider/people-love-sue-mcdonalds/

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/21/living/parenting-kids-violence-media/index.html

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/violenceinshakespeare.html