Beyond Good & Evil: Children, Media & Violent Times

http://www.mediaed.org

The belief that �good triumphs over evil� resonates deeply in our psyche through religious, cultural, and political discourses. It is also a common theme in the entertainment media where the struggle between good and evil is frequently resolved through violence. The potential negative impact of media violence on children has long been a public concern. It is even more troubling when U.S. military violence, both in the news and in the entertainment, is often glorified as heroic and patriotic.

Children's worlds of fantasy and reality collided when our political leaders, in response to the September 11th tragedy, simplified the complex international relationships into a fight between good and evil. The Bush administration used the narrative strategically�and the news media perpetuated it with enthusiasm�pumping up patriotism and generating public support for the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

This video examines how the "good and evil" rhetoric, in both the entertainment and the news media, has helped children to dehumanize the enemies, justify their killing and treat the suffering of innocent civilians as necessary sacrifice. The interviews include media scholars (Robert Jenson, Robin Andersen), child psychologists (Diane Levin, Nancy Carlsson-Paige), teachers (Merrie Najimy, Brian Wright), educators (Eli Newberger and Betty Burkes), and the children themselves.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• MEF
• Media
• Education
• Literacy
• Critical
• Mass
• Industry
• Educational
• Sut
• Jhally
• Violence
• Morality
• Politics
• Children
• 9/11

[hudsonbrenda]

It seems to me that we are teaching our children that violence toward the "bad" guy makes it "good". It's also awful that the bad guy is anyone who is not a white American. We need to be teaching our children that violence in any form is unacceptable.

[realmagikcom]

All the good and all the evil of mankind dwells in the heart of each of us.

[megakirbymon]

@realmagikcom "for the the heart is the most deceitful?"

[ajs3939]

@hudsonbrenda there being taught in films violence and computer games they have to understand that guns are bad and people dont get up like they do in the games children shouldnt be taught this sort of stuff

[bestofyoutoday]

Visit the Best of You Today to view Diane Levin's interview with us

[TheUltimateReaper3]

Imagine how boring this world would be without these concepts. You are effectively saying we should censor everything that isn't fucking peachy. Reality is grimy, why won't no one deal with? Who gives a shit? Why do people look at this now? Make the world a better place, and socialized good and evil won't be an issue anymore. The world is the issue. Fix the source, fix the problem. Enough said

[joemoin]

@bradidup take your shit out of here, you wanna talk of wickedness? what about "for the LORD will execute judgment by fire And by His sword on all flesh, And those slain by the LORD will be many" thats wickedness i find it funny that a religious moron is talking about right and wrong when they know nothing but hatred for differant people, i say good that their godless, the idea of god just brings suffering and hopefully the idea of a god will be gone from the earth soon

[joemoin]

@hudsonbrenda as if thats ever gonna happen people need to realise that humans are naturally violent

[cherubicnerd]

i like this. very informative. i always had a problem with violence in the media. as a girl,disney movies always  felt wrong to me.

[EsaShortyloca13]

Let see, first thing first. this viedo has alot of truth behind it. what they about movies always focusing on a white american is almost always true. movie dectories also always some sort of violce with in thier movies. but what are children see and do not see is up to us, so we must teach them the difference between good and bad befor they get thier own meaning

[Mrpdragon191]

@doloresm24 Well the thing is you can't shield him form these things forever. Your son is growing up and as a grownup he'll want to do grownup things. Like Movies, TV shows, video games, acholol,etc. But as a teenager (however old he is) you can block him from any videogame. You get carded at movies and game stores, there are parental controls. But like I said before, you can't shield him from this forever.

[Mrpdragon191]

@doloresm24 1.) Congress voted on the war.  2.) The destruction of jobs was created by the crooks at Wall Street. ( Watch the doucmentary Inside job)

Truly it is you who is blind. People like you always want a bigger answer to everything, however whenever you ask questions like this we can easily contradict them. Besides, this was about violence in the media and your job as a parent.