The Killing Screens: Media & the Culture of Violence

[MrStillmans]

Basically, an old fart wanting everything to be as it was in the old fart days. No thanks.

[flutterandwow]

It's that from all with some of them to take with us for being now in today

[DRZO1BERG]

What can you do about it though? People don't want to change, and are not going to change anytime soon. I agree with all of what he is saying, but yet i still like playing COD and watching action movies. I guess i've been brainwashed into mainstream media.

[oldschoolbarman]

Interesting, but I must say that ancient mythology, fairy tales in their original versions and even the old testament can be rather violent , so I don't think one can say that violence in any kind of media is new to our genertaion.

[Clariccy]

@oldschoolbarman the amount is (doh?!)

[Clariccy]

@oldschoolbarman What do you mean by "our generation", btw ?

[oldschoolbarman]

@Clariccy The amount has gone up, but so has the amount of produced shows. By our generation I meant the under 30 year olds, the generation I'm a part of and he is talking about in this video. I'm not saying that he's wrong, all I said is that violence in any kind of media is nothing new, nothing that hasn't existed before. In the end people can choose whether or not they want to see a movie like Deathwish. As for kids, it's the parents' job to monitor and decide what their children are watching

[BladedArrowTBGamer]

because there was no violence before video games and tv and movies

[Clariccy]

@BladedArrowTBGamer because what is going on now is totally comparable (lol)

[sidewallfusion]

Billions of people after a hard days work, sit down, tune in and switch off. From then on their minds are moulded into a confusing cloud of bigotry, murder and sex. They get their answers gift wrapped in dehumanising candy coated carcinogenic kak. Then they sleep on it before going back to work to shovel more cash into the corporate gob. Common sense is becoming viral, like a tidal wave of realisation sweeping up the ranks, where it will prevail. The writing is on the wall :)

[099749]

now they have exhasted the boyz blowing up stuff now the girls are, next it will be baby rambo.

[christophehersent]

hi everybody . maybe one day , people will remember they had a brain before internet , tv , and cell phones killed their imagination ! but i don't think ... sorry for my english , i'm french , but i'll try to express my mind anyway . beside my job , i like to try to bring to life things that i have in my mind , because things that seem to feed most of people just don't feed me . it's like that . well , i do some little stop motions video on youtube , and the last one is called blop75 . enjoy !

[1911GreaterThanALL]

This whole video is bullshit. You think people are violent just because of something they saw on TV? Are you are so stupid and lazy as to adopt such an easy scapegoat? Its not the media children watch it is the steadily decreasing parental skills new parents have. Fuck the Brady Campaign. Get trained, join the NRA.

[doloresm24]

The problem is society takes to long to realize the consequences. Children watch too much adult content in games and movies.

[TheMrSpartanking]

@doloresm24 I HATE when people judge how much stuff kids watch, your not a kid, you don't know, ask the people your trying to blind if THEY like they're media being taken away, and may I remind you, sex ed in school is not ridiculed, that has WAY more sexual content then the shows I watch. I am a kid, I play violent games, watch movies, and listen to dirty music, and strangely, I respect women, hate drugs, and have never gotten in ONE fight. Oh, and I am part of the WWF.

[doloresm24]

@TheMrSpartanking Sadly the only way to know why society is aggressive and there is so much violence in this society is to compare what society used to watch on t.v. and games that children used to watch and what they are watching nowadays which is not appropriate for certain age groups. You only have to see the classifications like, m15, R18, rated G and so on. Before it was strictly prohibited for certain age groups to watch certain shows, whereas now, children watch anything.

[TheMrSpartanking]

@doloresm24 I watch what I want, when I want. It's fair, is the real world all rainbows and sunshine, hell fucking no. I'm a kid, and I don't approve of adults always trying to censor everything that is somewhat fun. I enjoy media violence, but have never liked real violence. Kids need a voice. Not a bunch of adults controlling us. I never listen to any adult. I have a free will.

[doloresm24]

@TheMrSpartanking People like you are influenced heavily by what the ruling class promotes. It is kids like you who are aggressive to parents because all you see around you is violence and you don't realize the affect this has on your up bringing. Parents only want what's good for their kids. My son is good in this way that he listens to me even though he is influenced a little. I'm one of the lucky ones. We are heading for world war three and this is why you are shown violence.

[TheMrSpartanking]

@doloresm24 I will be shown violence for as long as I want. I would NEVER hit my parents unless they're trying to kill me. Which does happen, and I meditate every day, and ww3 will happen, I'm aware of that. And when I become president, I will protest for peace, and I will order 1 of two things. Order our Military's retreat, or, something I will regret, drop every nuke we have. That will ONLY go into effect if ALL else fails. And I won't give up until I'm president. Semper Fi.

[doloresm24]

@TheMrSpartanking What do you mean "when you become president?" I don't know if you even realize if that is possible.

[Mrpdragon191]

@doloresm24 This again? Again, it's your responsibilty as parents to monitor what your kids watch. Not the industry. This violent stuff is made for adults. The only reason kids watch "anything" is because parents let them. Violent media has been in our culture for centuries. Look at the bible, or novles of the 18th century, or anything. That has been the iflunce of modern media we see today. Just look at it as art. It's not for everyone, but it's not your place for you to be judging people who-

[Mrpdragon191]

@doloresm24 - watch it or make it. I'm sick of you parent group supporters scapegoating the media for all of soiciety's problems. Shows and movies here for kids barely have any violence in them, but in Japan shows are incredibly violent and their crime rate is a fraction of ours. It's really the cause of bad parenting and education. I'm not saying your a bad parent, but what you're saying is ridiculous. TheMrSpartanKing said he wasn't violent at all and yet you still say he is influenced. How?

[doloresm24]

@TheMrSpartanking You are a product of this society which is controlled by the rich and who determine what they want you to watch and what you like. How wonderful life could be if there weren't people so easily influenced as yourself. They should promote love and respect for one another instead of violence and killing.

[Mrpdragon191]

@doloresm24 I watched violent stuff with my dad, but it had no effect on me at all. It's just another stupid scapegoat the news media likes to use for everything. Not everybody follows your system of beliefs( That would be fascism). Penn and Teller made a great point about all of this. Nobody has ever gotten hurt by watching something violent, but between 1936 and 2007, over 600 kids died from football. All these kids that died were encouraged by school and society to do this.

[rollingcoyotes]

Please check out the Rolling Coyotes video/song on this topic. Hopefully it will inspire you to take action and join the Brady Campaign.

[ZigZagRunner]

no, this generations problem isn't that. its the fact that the mothers and fathers lived during the sixties "free love" and all that and simply don't care for their children as much because they value the image of sex, which ironically, only has that image for reproduction because those who didn't enjoy it died out. up bringing also has a part. you can blame female choice for that. they are also brought up with alcohol. people need to look at humans as any other animal rather than gods

[JamesB609]

This guy is totally right. It is mass vicarious sadism. And the most obvious and irrefutable indictment of our times.

[majordbag2]

@JamesB609 Huh, you managed to watch this whole thing? I got bored after a few minutes and switched over to a Gears of War curb stomping montage (where the heroes crush the skulls of wounded enemies with steel boots) set to Weird Al's "Weasel Stomping day"

Seriously though, I'm a big 80s action fan and this guys statistics are shoddy. The first Rambo had way less kills (only one confirmed death) than Rambo III, deathwish III has hundreds of kills and some of the scenes from T2 were from T1.

[Duckhugger]

The most important thing is separating fantasy from reality in our minds. Violent fantasy is exciting and appeals to human beings in many basic ways. You can't eliminate or censor those fantasies into oblivion, but you can try to raise a generation of people that, while still enjoying the fantasy of violence, understands that violence in real life is often an ugly and ill-fitted tactic to take towards life's problems... pointing out how, more often than not, violence leads to loss, not gain!

[OneProof]

@Duckhugger can I use your quote?

[Duckhugger]

@OneProof I suppose that's alright, yeh. What would you be using it for... just curious?

[OneProof]

@Duckhugger my media presentation, it's about media violence and audiences ... thanks man ...

[Duckhugger]

@OneProof Ah, school type thing, eh? That's cool... glad I could be a help.

[Duckhugger]

Violence is an essential part of the human imagination. You can't just censor it because it makes you feel bad. Look at the Bible, that book is horribly violent in several key places.

I do get tired of media showing violent solutions to every problem (with unreal success by the hero). I think it would be nice to see more movies that show violence in exciting ways, but with bad results... helping people see that violence is often a tactic that ends in utter failure on all sides of a situation.

[eurasianchica]

media has ALWAYS been violent. Ancient egyptian art- kings in chariots slaughtering enemies and wielding dismembered bodies of the dead. aztec art- more violent war scenes. ancient chinese art- beautiful ceramic statues of kings and soldiers trampling, shooting, and stabbing the enemy. there are countless other examples...it's just that we now have the tools to create more realistic depictions.

[r3ini]

I would say my opnion here and all that, but if the channels just start rating sistem, it would solve all the problems, after that is up to the parents to control what their kids watch. Done.

[95topaz]

Here's another thing about media violence. It's not very entertaining. I used to just tune out fight scenes. If you've seen one, you've seen 'em all and they seldom serve the plot. I've been without TV for a while now and my response to scenes of gratuitous violence has returned to the visceral disgust that such scenes engendered in me as a child. So disgust or boredom. Wow. That's entertainment.

[derpenstein]

Apparently the spanish version of Terminator 2, is Terminator 1.

I was confused at first when they said "RAMBO" had 62 corpses, because the first Rambo movie had 0 corpses (Rambo only puts some people in the hospital), and it was called First Blood. The second movie was called RAMBO: First Blood, or just RAMBO for short. The reason it's confusing is Rambo 3, which should have been called First Blood 3 (but anyone can understand why they'd use RAMBO instead).

[KeyInALock]

Violence purifies you.

[mannecyberguy]

@KeyInALock How does violence allegedly "purify" a person? PLEASE explain it to me, IF you can.

[Yamanotaka]

Representations of violence have always been presented as a form of entertainment. Take Shakespeare for example - his tragedies are profusely violent (see King Lear). Why? In the words of Tarantino: Because it's so much fun.

[95topaz]

@Yamanotaka I think some amount of violence is necessary to certain kinds of stories. To have a plot, you must have conflict. Conflict sometimes leads to violence. There is a difference between violence that serves the plot and and gratuitous violence or violence AS the plot. That shit is either disgusting or boring as hell. It's not fun or interesting at all.

Snooze... Granted, there is some pointless violence in Shakespeare, too. Nobody's perfect.

[artisanmagic]

@Yamanotaka Unless it happens to you... then it's not so much fun. ;-)

[puyen58]

This guy is full of crap.

[SterlingSadler]

Nice work. keep it up. mean time come for social media marketing for esteembpo**com xjnbcmv

[Eceoes]

Most of what this guy says his all hype and exaggerated. What he is basically saying that violence is not naturally part of human nature, but instead installed by evil capitalist. I say bullshit. Violence was always a part of human culture.

[gatheringleaves]

That is not true at all

Tibet was violence free before being overtaken by China because their religion Buddhism advocated peace and kindness

Quakers were also extremely nonviolent because their religion taught them to be kind and not to use violence

It's all due to cultural conditioning

[puyen58]

false

[gatheringleaves]

True

Look it up

[puyen58]

False.

If you want truthful, reliable facts, stop getting your information from communists and anarchists.

[puyen58]

I concur. This social constructivist blaming nonsense has to stop.

[LillianColwynnscehy]

This is nice video113543424

[EgyptianPrinceCB]

That is true and very VERY sad

[cyberdaemon]

Im getting tired of how all the big screen movies and games are all around killing and death :(

[gatheringleaves]

Good comment, Cyberdaemon I agree with you

[majordbag2]

@cyberdaemon Yeah but it's like they say, violence travels well. It works off of primal instincts and emotions, sort of the same way with horror. Drama and comedy work off of cultural norms which don't travel well.

Also it's worth pointing that violence was surprisenly rare in countries like Nazi Germany; the most popular movies under the fascist regimes tended to be romantic comedies because they wanted to keep the people's minds off the war.

[Mrpdragon191]

@cyberdaemon It's been like that for centuries. The bible, Shakespear, the first horror novels. This isn't new.

[hockey31gfs]

I have no idea... Sorry.

[Gary320]

Booooooo thx anyway

[hockey31gfs]

That is my grandfather

[Gary320]

If this is your grandfather, do you know where I can get this video in full? I need to watch it for one of my classes >_>

[Animeforever18]

I saw this video in my Mass Media class the other day. Next time I see a violent movie i'll count how many people die rofl.

[ataru14]

This was very well done, the guy is a pretty good speaker and the clips made the point.

[pizzatay6378797]

theres no way 62 people died in rambo 1

[bluballzzz]

he dosnt mean first blood he means rambo 2

[tommy123yea]

ta weno el video

[tutiitah]

great video....SO TRUE

[alanaldasucks]

humor is not more expensive to produce, tv is not out of reach of democratic decision making, it is very much ini the reach more than anything else, if people dont want to see violence then they turn off the tv or movie and they lose viewers, this video is wrong

[flatlandtom]

the news media is the problem not movies and tv shows. this is just more white male bashing

[xXthaXx]

no its not n yeah the news is the problem but tv n movies are too n its rich white male bashing the rich white males who dont give a shit about u so dont start putting race into it beacause if your poor middle class and working class and even if u are rich your are influenced negatively by these dickwads

[lonegibbo]

Dude...Help if i could understand the audio...

[sharonafox1]

Thank you for this excellent video...God Bless!

[jonKb79]

he makes a pont, but i would have to say, the Greeks, Romans, normans, saxons, colonists of the new world, lived and experienced much more violence than children of today..

[Alexsy82]

Boy, what a smug academic he is. I wonder if it ever crossed his mind that stories are violent because PEOPLE ARE VIOLENT. Because EXISTENCE IS VIOLENT. NATURE IS VIOLENT. It makes sense, therefore, that since we live in a violent world, we might want to try and describe it.

[s11m0n]

the problem is not violence, but killing, or seriously injuring others in television

there is always violence yes, but the amount of murder is truly excessive dont you agree

[jcobaltss2005]

that comment is totally contradicting haha. you cannot have murder without violence of some sort, and you cannot have intended injury without violence.

[supermarx]

what modern tv and movies have really given us thats unprecidented in history is the ammount of anti-war arguements presented to the gernral public... you think there was any profit back before tv and movies in telling the guys who would have to defend their civilisation that war sucked? ...

what a load of pessimistic, intellectually dishonest bullshit.

[bapyou]

Yes, there was no profit "back before tv and movies in telling the guys who would have to defend their civilisation that war sucked". The operative word in your comment is profit. The defense of who's civilization? Who makes the decision and to whose gain, i.e. profit?

[supermarx]

The defense of who's civilization?

the civilisations who survived... all the peaceful civilisations are dead

[bapyou]

Is Marx your family name? Or is it just something that you chose because you heard it somewhere? You should read some Karl Marx. And the amount of "anti-war arguments presented to the public (has increased)"? Holy shit! Talk about intellectual dishonesty! In America (1) a majority of people get their information from TV; (2) the amount of air time is severely limited.

[bapyou]

There isn't any SERIOUS or substantive anti-war discussion in the United States taking place on television.

[HahaLung23]

theres people talking about "change"

but we all no nothing is going

to happen with the war especially.

[supermarx]

yeah... before tv there was no violence in any form of entertainment... the witch in snow white never danced herself to death in red hot shoes... children were never taken to public executions... the colloseam was home only to clowns... and all the epic tales of warfare and conquest throughout history were never retold untill tv forced them down our throats...

[mayartay]

This video is worth watching just for the violent scenes.

(Joking - haha!)

[McDude21]

His message was that the fact that the media being Big conglomerate business and part of an oligopoly. That they are using violence to sell advertisements because violence is in the "public interest". Media should be less concerned with what sells and more about what information is being consumed and how it effects us.

[Thunderchief105]

Excellent post!,

Americans have NO say-so,in the amount of VIOLENCE shoveled into their heads..in FACT..they LOVE IT!!

They LOVE "Fantasy Violence" that is..in the old days,Thunderchief F-105s dropped "Cluster Bombs" on the heads of Vietnamese children,today "A-10 Warthogs" drop "Cluster Bombs" on the heads of Iraqi children.

When i try to show my fellow Americans,"REAL VIOLENCE",Dead Children and Infants,they go all 'WIMPY" on me.

[hockey31gfs]

thats my grandfather. We miss him :(

[hmc115]

I envy you...I consider him a patron saint.