Screen Violence

[MonkeyDrummer]

This topic has probably been covered in boards gone past, but I'm attending a focus group meeting tonight where the subject matter is violence on the screen and the effect it has on violence in society.
I'm pretty much of the impression that there was plenty of violent acts pre-television days and certainly violent acts where access to television is limited. Well, certainly to the lastest hollywood blood-romp.
I'm also of the impression however that it can't have no effect whatsover on impressionable minds. People are influenced by what they see on television, but by how much. Would people have still commited the acts if their fiendish ultra-violent brainwrongs hadn't been manifested by tv-indulgence? I sway towards thinking that they would, however I'm interested to hear what other people think.

Would Christ still have been flogged to bits if no-one had seen The Passion of The Christ? We'll never know.

edit: Balls, this thing starts in half an hour, should've posted this morning. Quickly please.

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

Yes, a very small minority will be influenced, but for the majorty- seeing violence on screen produces only slight effects. The older you get, the less the effect, hence why we have certifications for films.

The same goes for computer games. I don't think people should pinpoint these as reasons for violent behaviour, as they are far to negligable, and easy answers in comparison to facing the reality that certain areas of society produce these problems.

I'd say that violent films and computer game violence acts as a release if anything- making the majority calmer and less likely to commit violent acts.

[12 Storey Crisis]

Peter Cook had a good quote on this subject on one of the Derek & Clive records, something like:

"You know those studies that say that TV violence affects the viewer in an adverse way? I reckon they must be true. I was at home watching a documentary on Hitler the other night, I popped out to the shop afterwards and before I knew what I'd done I'd gassed 3 million Jews."

[Some Herbert]

I'm attending a focus group meeting tonight where the subject matter is violence on the screen and the effect it has on violence in society.

Who is conducting this focus group? It sounds like it might be a flawed study from the outset, if the researchers assume that (a) 'screen violence' is a definable concept, and (b) that it makes any kind of sense to assume that 'violent acts' on film inspire viewers to commit violent acts in the real world.

I'm reading a book called Ill Effects: The Media Violence Debate at the moment, and it gives a refreshingly different perspective on the whole stale "effects" debate. Until fairly recently, a lot of the media research on this subject has been woeful. This lack of good research has played into the hands of the right-wing press. Hence the "Burn Your Video Nasties" and other campaigns.

[Pinball]

If I was influenced by the films I've watched/bought, I'd be out on the streets right now ravagaing & pillaging, rather than sitting at a PC drinking beer.

Ho hum.

Another technology, another perceived threat, something new for The Man to control. We can't have the people set free, after all...

[Rev]

I can only remember the study very vaguely - and have no idea who conducted it - but there was a fantastic investigation into the effects of screen violence a couple of decades back.

The researchers took a group of kids and split them into four groups.  The first group were led into a room filled with mannequins, and watched while a bunch of adults poured into the room with rubber mallets and beat the shit out of the dolls.  The second group were shown a film of the incident.  The third were shown a cartoon version of the mannequin-bashing, and the fourth were shown nothing at all.

After this, each group was taken to a big cupboard full of toys.  They were allowed to look at them for a moment, before being told that they weren't allowed to play with them, because they were for other children.  The cupboard was closed.  After this, the kids were put into the room with the mannequins and mallets.

How did each group react?  Each group did exactly the same thing:  bugger all.  One of them sat on one of the dolls, I believe, but that was as violent as it got.

[elderford]

Have a google for Nepal (?) recently got the telly and now they're all mad for committing violent crimes.

Oh ignore me, I'm probably making it all up anyway.

[best batch yet]

Have a google for Nepal (?) recently got the telly and now they're all mad for committing violent crimes.

Oh ignore me, I'm probably making it all up anyway.

that would be Bhutan:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0%2C3605%2C975769%2C00.html

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

That's something absolutely different. When you are suddenely exposed to 50 cable channels having never ever seen television before in your life, that will produce a different effect to us, who have invented the television and watched it evolve- being outraged every once in a while when we feels it's gone too far.

The main efect in Bhutan was the rise in promiscuity. The crime rate is still relatively low, much lower than you'd expect if you were searching for a trend.