Media & Violence.

If it is one thing we see throughout media, especially in those action packed video games such as the infamous Grand Theft Auto is violence. Violence plays a major role in the overall aspect of content. It's engaging, it keeps you at the edge of your seat, it keeps you wanting more. Violence is engaging to some, terrifying to others, while others may feel indifferent to the acts of violence in general. Throughout our last lecture in class, the content of what is shown worldwide was a main topic. The idea that freedom of speech while protecting the minds of those viewing certain programs has become a debate on just how much or how little we feed into the ways of the content we view.

Media violence can influence a term called victim effect in which people develop and experience fearfulness of violence. There are various theories suggesting the different ways in which media violence influences/affects different persons in different way. Realistic Violence generates mostly an emotional commotion and approach due to pureness of its content. While Aggressor effect on the other hand suggests that exposure to media violence brings about pleasure and encourages confrontational behavior. The theory of disinhibition suggests that media violence softens the social norms against violence that people would usually abide by. The theory of enculturation is the on going exposure to media violence, thus inspiring the idea of violence as a norm, encouraging aggressive behaviour. The theory of imitation maintains that audiences will copy the aggressive behaviour they see on media programs, especially targeted towards those who do not fully understand violent displays and the extents of it.

One thing that media corporations want to allow is a little bit of everything to interest a wide majority of viewers - which of course keeps everyone coming back for more. But the problem arises when individuals either take too literally to what they view or take it with a grain of salt. Television Content Rating systems have been established to separate the types of content targeted towards different age groups and audiences. This has allowed for both freedom of speech and expression as well as discretion. As they always say, a little discretion goes a long way.

Image source: Google Images.