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Violence in Mass Media and its Effect on Children

For years, the concept of violence has been shown in a variety of ways and the effects of

violence in the media has become a controversial topic of debate. While many argue that it has a

negative effect on people around the world, specifically children, others argue that violence in

the media does not really have any consequences or negative impacts at all. Still, even though it

has become controversial, it is quite evident that the mass media has become captivated by

violence, and the content exhibited by them through various outlets proves just this. Nowadays,

whether it be in movies, television or video games, violence has become a vital theme for

consumption and is something that children have become accustomed to seeing. That is exactly

why many feel that the media does in fact have a negative effect on children because the more

violence a child is exposed to at a young age, the more aggressive he or she might become as

they mature.

Violence in entertainment has been around for a very long time. In fact, according to

Jeremy Torr, it has been around for as long as anyone can remember, dating back to when

ancient Egyptians began to entertain themselves by reenacting the murder of their God, Osiris

(Torr 7). While many people became amused by these reenacted scenes, others took them as a

complete slap to the face due to the fact that they felt it was extremely disrespectful which

eventually resulted in performances of those kind being banned. However, as the decades passed,

certain technologies emerged and movie production slowly became prevalent. That was when

movie producers started to use violence in their movies as a means to appeal to a larger crowd of

mostly children and younger adults. Eventually, the severity of the violence portrayed progressed

causing many to grow concern over the content their children were being exposed to. Due to this

growing concern, major film studios started to control what type of violence could be shown on
screen. Still, the idea of being able to minimalize the violence that was being portrayed was too

good to be true because although there was a growing concern, the audiences were ultimately

interested in the violence. This resulted in the producers decision to give the filmmakers more

freedom again, and with less restrictions and the invention of exploding blood capsules came

bloodier and more violent movies (Torr 21). At that point, many knew that the violence

portrayed would only escalate because trying to tone it down did not work, instead it led to a new

era of violent movies like Scream or Friday the Thirteenth.

In recent years there has been a huge increase in the violence that is portrayed in movies.

Whether it be action, horror or even comedy, movies seem to get more exciting and more

popular than the ones from years past. According to Keith Perry, children ages 8-12 are the ones

who watch these kinds of movies the most which makes them more likely to be influenced by

what they see (Perry 10). All the exposure to violence through the movies that they watch

causes these children to become fascinated with the violence, eventually sparking an interest in

experiencing violence for themselves (Perry 16). It also affects the view of oneself, others, and

the world people live in, which can lead to negative thoughts or even worse, negative actions

such as becoming a copycat murderer, something seen already in murder cases like those of

Belgian teen Alisson Cambier. According to Amanda Mannen, Alisson was murdered when she

refused to be with Thierry Jaradin, a seventeen year old boy from her hometown who decided to

copy the murderer from Scream by not only dressing up in the same costume as the character but

stabbing her thirty five times, even though he knew she was already unconscious. After he

committed this horrific act, he made a few calls to authorities confessing to the murder as well as

the fact that it was all inspired by the film which he claimed to be his favorite.
When it comes to violence in television, things start to take quite a turn for the worse.

Due to the fact that American children watch an average of four to five hours of television per

day as opposed to one or two movies a week, television has become one of the most powerful

influences in a childs development as well as shapes their behavior (Wilson 20). That is why

with content like World Wrestling Entertainment, Mixed Martial Arts fighting and even certain

news reports, children are being exposed to violence no matter what channel they might be on or

what show they might come across. For example, when it comes to reporting news, news

reporters seem to only cover violent content like shootings instead of covering the good that goes

on in the world which has caused a great amount of concern because it seems like no matter

what, children will always be exposed to violence through the media. This has become a growing

concern because significant relationships have been found between childrens belief that

television violence is realistic and their aggressive behavior with the amount of violence they

watch (Wilson 26). Additionally, according to David Pruitt of the American Academy of Child

and Adolescent Psychiatry, many studies have shown that there indeed are many negative effects

of television violence on children and teenagers (Pruitt 23). These studies have found that the

more violence children are exposed to, the more they may begin to become immune to the horror

of violence, accept violence as a way to solve their problems or even imitate the violence they

observe.

Unfortunately, cases like these have already come to light with the case of the seven year

old boy in Dallas who accidently killed his three year old little brother after using a professional

wrestling move on him that he had seen on a wrestling show. According to Amarillo Globe

News, the move that was pulled on the young toddler resulted in a head injury that was so severe

it made investigators think an adult caused it. Now, although the older brother did not face any
criminal charges due to the nature of his age and the fact that he had no true intention of harming

his brother, the results of this tragic event became a harsh reality for the victims family for the

loss of their young one, which could have easily been avoided. In another case, which did not

turn out so well, a Louisiana teen was sentenced to three years in a juvenile facility for killing his

little sister after performing a bunch of pro-style wrestling moves he had learned on television.

According to CNN, the thirteen year old boy was charged for second degree murder after he

confessed to punching and jumping on the girl as well as slamming her into her bed after

watching a bunch of moves on WWE. While the older brother knew that he was hurting his five

year old little sister, it became evident that he did not think his actions would result in her life

being taken since all he wanted to do was wrestle. That is why it is so important to address the

issue of violence in the media because it was the very fact that he had watched so much wrestling

on television that led him to do what he did and caused his little sister her life.

While it is evident that violence in movies and television has a proven to have a negative

effect on children, one of the more severe issues is the one of video games and the violence they

promote. When video games first came to the market in the early 1970s, there was not really

much speculation on the thought of it effecting children. In fact, according to Nicholas Carnagey,

it wasnt up until a couple of years later that the debate on whether or not violent games could

have any effect or impact on a childs development started (Carnagey 12). That was when

concerns elevated because people already believed in the effects that violence in the media had

on their children, so when violent video games, like Grand Theft Auto, came about the debate

really began to take off with more people looking into the matter and voicing their opinions. In

his one of his academic journals, Christopher Ferguson talks about video games like Grand Theft

Auto and how he believes they desensitize youth to killing due to the fact that they stimulate the
real thing making them want to partake in the action (Ferguson 28). He also mentions the idea

that the exposure to violent video games such as this one can be a predictor of youth violence

(Ferguson 35). That is why video game programmers should try to find ways to target the young

people without using violence in their games because if they put out more nonviolent games then

those will be the ones children play with, resulting in less violence being portrayed.

This has yet to become a reality because with the advancement of technology and new

video game counsels coming out all the time, more and more violent games are being made.

Additionally, with this advancement in technology, more children are becoming familiar with the

use of these new video gaming systems resulting in more exposure to the violence portrayed in

games. According to Brad Bushman, studies show that nowadays, as much as 97% of kids ages

8-17 play video games, contributing to the $21.53 billion dollar video game industry where more

than half of the fifty top-selling video games contain violence (Bushman, 17). That means that

children are playing video games now more than ever and are at risk of being exposed to all this

violence even though they do not really see it that way. In another study conducted by Lawrence

Kutner, he points out that most children have no idea that they are actually being exposed to the

violence through video games because most of the time they are just focused on playing the

game and beating it (Kutner 16). Unfortunately, what they dont know is that the video games

they spend so much time playing stimulate aggression and increase violent behavior, not in the

moment, but later in life.

Clearly, the effects of violence in the media has been a controversial topic of debate in

which many have had different feelings and opinions towards. While many believe that the

violence portrayed in our movies, television shows and video games has no effect on children, it

is safe to say that there indeed is a correlation between the two, which directly effects them as
well as their development. Now, while parents should do a better job at monitoring what their

children watch on television in order to avoid tragedies such as those mentioned previously, the

large corporations behind the making of these violent movies, shows and games should take a

note of this rising issue and do something to dim it down. Yes, a decrease in violence may cause

these corporations a couple of customers as well as a couple bucks, but in the long run they are

doing something for the betterment of the world. Not only will they be giving the children who

are being exposed to all this violence an opportunity to not be an aggressive person in the future

but they will also be shaping them for the future. The children of today are the adults of

tomorrow and if we target the issue now, while we have the opportunity to, we can indeed make

the world better and a less violent place to live in.


Works Cited
Torr, Jeremy. Media Violence Research: Is Media Violence a Problem? Academic Psychiatry,
2002.
Perry, Keith. Violence in Movies and Real-Life Aggression: Review of the Literature. Journal
of Adolescent Health, vol. 3, no. 6, 2001. 5-20.
Mannen, Amanda. 10 Movies That Inspired Real-Life Crimes. Listverse, Nov. 2014. Web. 15
Nov. 2016.
Wilson, Barbara. The Handbook of Children, Media, and Development, MacMurray, 2008.
Brown, Cameron. TV Violence and Children. AACAP. American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry, Dec. 2014. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.
Pruitt, David. Your Adolescent: Emotional, Behavioral, and Cognitive Development from Early
Adolescence Through the Teen Years. Hypercollins, 2000.
Williams, Richard. 7-Year-Old Kills Brother Using Wrestling Move. Amarillo Globe News,
July 1999. Web. 17 Nov. 2016.
Anderson, Romeareo. Louisiana Teen Sentenced for Wrestling-Style Killing of Sister. Cable
News Network. CNN, Dec. 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2016.

Carnagey, Nicholas. Violence in the Media and its Effect on Childhood Behavior.
Psychological Science, vol. 14, no. 3, 2005, 10-20.

Ferguson, Christopher. Evidence of Violence in Video Games: A Meta-analytic


Review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, vol. 5, no. 7, 2007, 25-40.

Bushman, Brad. Violent Video Game Effects: How Violence in Video Games Impacts
Children." Psychological Bulletin, vol. 7, no. 3, 2010, 15-20.

Kutner, Lawrence. Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games
and What Parents Can Do. Simon and Schuster, 2008.

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