Violence in Media

Terrorists kill passenger in hijacking. Four military men die in a shootout. 16-year-old boy kills parents with a shotgun.

Violence is a common fare in media. Big, bold headlines in tabloids and broadsheets say it all. Television soap operas, thrillers, serials and even cartoons glamorize violence. Films make folk heroes out of Van Damme, Stallone, Schwarszenegger and their like who rake in millions of dollars for glorifying revenge and crime in their movies. In the local scene, we have the likes of Rudy Fernandez, Philip Salvador, Cesar Montano and Bong Revilla, to name a few.

I have always had a weak stomach for movies or any kind of media that portray violence. As a kid I was exposed to television and radio but the usual fare then was melodrama and cartoons. I had my first exposure to violent scenes (which were actually mild compared with the kind of films being done now) when as a young girl, my sister took me to see a movie. There were action scenes and guns and blood that left me trembling with fear afterwards. And I could not help wondering then if there was something wrong with me. Since then, I have shied away watching movies that depict too many action scenes simply because I could not stand it. But this resolve was put to the test when I decided to see Braveheart (a Mel Gibson starrer) a couple of years ago. I have always been a fan of Mel Gibson and I simply could not let it pass. The story was about love and war, and as can be expected there were lots of killing in it. You can just imagine how I felt watching the film. At some point I had to close my eyes and grit my teeth because I felt very bad.

Today’s kids do not show any emotion at all when confronted with violence in media. They have become immune to it. They even shout with glee when the good guy kills the bad guy. Never mind if it is too violent for comfort. I see it in my young nephews who practically grew up in front of television and videos. Even though their usual fare are cartoons, still there is too much violence there. Oftentimes viewers (kids and young adults, most especially) are seduced into rationalizing the use of violence in films or TV programs when it is presented in conjunction with patriotism, law and order and crime. But the fact remains that too much violence in media either physical or verbal does affect us psychologically.

In its June 1 issue, Time Magazine run an article about the sad story of a teenager “who loved bombs”. He appeared to be a regular kid on the block until the day he killed his parents and sprayed bullets in the high school cafeteria killing two and injuring others. The day Kip Kinkel was arrested, authorities discovered homemade bombs and electronic devices in his house including literature on bomb making from the internet.

Should media be blamed for this kind of violent behavior? One thing that cannot be denied is the reality of violence being glorified in media. Such exposure can generate wild ideas and feed on the fantasies of disturbed individuals. Sometimes the violent crimes that happen in real life are nothing but a carbon copy of similar crimes shown on films or television.