Thursday, February 13, 1997
Crime depicted in TV, movies not to be blamed for real-life
lawlessnessChieh Chieng
The story was nothing out of the ordinary in our chaotic era.
The words of the reporter did not strike an initial reaction in me
as she detailed the recent home-invasion murder of an entire family
in Koreatown. A few commercials later, however, I reflected on my
general state of apathy and my fixation with violence in the media.
At first, I fearfully thought how I could have been in the place of
one of the slain family members and how my home could have been the
target spot of those insidious criminals. My roommate’s comment
that there was nothing in our apartment valuable enough to lure
potential home-invaders did not successfully placate me, though.
The troubling implications incurred by this news story spread
beyond the one incident.
Violence in the media and the entertainment industry has been a
hot topic of debate for the past several years. A while back, Bob
Dole warned that American films and television were overflowing our
country with "nightmares of depravity." Aside from a few Marilyn
Manson videos and Dole’s own presidential campaign, I have yet to
find anything on TV or the silver screen which keeps me up at night
worrying about the moral decay of society. In fact, the news
provides most of the troubling images for me.
However, Dole’s comment illustrates perfectly the paranoia with
which a large portion of the American public regards violence in
the entertainment industry. As I watched the director’s cut of
"Natural Born Killers" a few nights ago, I searched for any
elements which would explain why this film was such a popular
target of conservative-minded politicians. I had seen it before and
did not really care for it, but I was curious to see the parts
which were so blatantly advertised on the back of the video’s
box.
The promo, which enthusiastically cites missing scenes involving
"the Warden’s head" and "Ashley Judd’s courtroom death scene" truly
appealed to that pro-wrestling- watching, violence-addicted and
macabre part of myself.
After wasting three hours on the couch, I still could not
understand how this film was going to instantly corrupt our youth
and increase the murder rate in our country. Granted, the
experience was probably much more interesting for my roommate, who
by the end of the film was buzzed on a few bottles of Heineken.
Based on common experience, we know that children, especially
younger ones, are impressionable and will impersonate what they see
on television. However, shouldn’t parents, rather than the boob
tube, be responsible for educating children? I know that if I
happen to get mugged on the streets of Los Angeles, what I won’t do
is blame "NYPD Blue" for encouraging the assailant to rob me. No,
my unfettered rage will scream for the blood of this individual’s
parents  parents who obviously didn’t do such a great job in
child rearing 101.
Jeff Cole, director of the UCLA Center for Communication Policy,
conducted a study which indicated that violence on TV and in films
actually decreased between 1995 and 1996. However, violence in real
life is still going strong.
In defense of their art, gangster rappers often claim that they
write about what they know and their personal experiences. Their
comments make me think. The impoverished ethnic ghettos of this
country breed crime. The disproportionate share of wealth and
opportunities in our land causes crime. Sick and twisted psychos
with mental problems commit crimes. For the most part, books,
movies, and music albums do not.
So what is the relationship between real life violence and
Hollywood? My amateur opinion suggests a correlation rather than a
causal relationship. The violence embodied on-screen reflects,
rather than causes violence. Perhaps we should look at films and
music as a barometer of how we’re doing as a country rather than
label them as the source of our problems.
The television rating system which sprung up recently gave me
pause the first time I saw it. There were the letters, TV14, on the
upper left hand of my television. I note how this is not unlike the
theater rating system which, if anything, encouraged youngsters to
watch what they weren’t supposed to. The element of the ‘forbidden
fruit’ in such censoring measures represents an overpowering
temptation to their adolescent minds. I wonder why we need these
letters.
In referring to the noble distinction between man and the other
animals, a friend of mine earnestly states that we are the only
species which possesses a soul. In response, I conclude that we are
also the only species which kills for political gain, money and
expensive sneakers.
Violence was programmed into our genetic code from the very
beginning alongside compassion, sexual urges and all the other
aspects of our nature. As for the argument that television
glorifies violence, our history is littered with acclaimed acts of
brutality. The Romans had their gladiator matches and the Bible
depicts scenes of mass destruction and warfare that the best
disaster films today can’t come close to matching. I couldn’t even
keep track of the body count in Homer’s "The Iliad."
As long as human beings continue to rule the earth, they will
continue to spawn irrational, barbarous acts upon one another. The
medium through which we express these unpleasant experiences ought
not to be scrutinized. Politicians should not trouble themselves
protecting the American public from harmful movies and bands. I
would much rather they protect us from the criminals
themselves.