From Dante's presentation of Francesca and Paolo, he brings to mind the question of moral responsibility in depictions of love, sex, and violence in our own day. Check out the below links. *The Killing Screens: Media & the Culture of Violence (not for the light-hearted!)
Here's the question: Who is more (or less) responsible and therefore accountable for unacceptable attitudes and behavior in society: the creators and vehicles of such messages or the consumers and audiences?
I think the consumer's accountable because the creators are just catoring to the audiances and what they want. If it didn't intrest people, it wouldn't even be so widely aviable. Also, the audiances don't have to watch anything they don't want to. Those creators also have respect for their consumers because they rate their material appropriately so the consumer knows what they will be watching.
ReplyDeleteDefinantly agreeing with Merissa on this one. Consumers by far are the more responsible party. Yeah some material is just outta place for all ages but that just means the parents should pay attention to what their precious li'l children are watching. In my opinion, it's consumer's unable to fufill this basic concept that lead to the downfall of modern civilization. Looney Tunes and Animaniac violence were good clean fun, and I'd personally like to find the individuals responsible for claiming these hilarious cartoons spawned the violence in modern culture. Seriously, whole generations grew up with this stuff. If the media were responsible for the violence in modern culture, then our street thugs would be packin Acme products. Since they aren't then it can be assumed that they inherited their violent traits from sources other than the popular media of their youth.
ReplyDeleteHow many of you saw Lauren R.'s American Dream video on video games influencing violence in modern society? Exactly.
ReplyDeleteI strongly believe that I am nothing more than a collection of specifically chosen pieces of my environment. Personally, I don't really think that cancelling violent video games/tv shows/movies is going to stop violence in the world or keep kids from getting scared. I also don't think that keeping sex scenes out of movies or stopping pornography from being created is going to stop the subjugation of women.
ReplyDeleteI am extremely against violence and female subjugation, however I admit that I play grand theft auto, one of the games mentioned in the links above. When I play, I beat, kill, cheat, use prostitutes, and steal, but in real life I don't do any of those things. I think growing up in a city like San Andreas of grand theft auto in real life would definitely effect a person and their actions, but playing it has little effect. There's a big difference between real life and a game or tv and if you grow up in America, you probably know that difference.
So to answer the question, I think the responsibility lies with the individual consumer, but an individual is only made up of what he/she consumes.
I believe both parties are accountable. The creators should have some boundaries kept in mind. But I also believe the consumer should be responsible and mature enough to be aware that what they are experiencing is for entertainment purposes.
ReplyDeleteI actually have an 11 year old brother who LOVES violent video games. You know, the ones that only have the objective to kill the other team. The only reason I am comfortable with him playing these type of video games is because of the rating posted on the outside of the box. After discussing with my parents, my little brother knows his limits and knows he is not allowed to rent any video games rated M. I don't believe the games have the effect the websites stated, but that could be because of who my brother is and the way he's been raised.
I agree with all of the posters so far. The creators are there to create the games, shows, etc. The consumers are the ones who make the concious choice to purchase the product. However, just because people are watching violent shows/movies or playing violent games does not mean they will act these things out in their lives.
ReplyDeleteThe only reason I think there is any argument over this is that it is much easier to blame the creators for the poor behavior of people.
We wouldn't want to have to admit to our faults, would we?
I agree with Caitlin when she said that we blame the creators for our poor behavior. Simply because it's the easiest thing to do.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, I more strongly agree that it's the consumer's fault. We have a choice, and our decisions aren't merely based off of video games and media. And like Ashley, I used to play violent video games, but all of the stuff that I did in the game, for example, shooting and killing people, stayed in the game. It's just for entertainment purposes and doesn't follow me in my life.
I sort of half agree with everything. Its more of a mix of both the consumer and the creator. I think that the creator is the one giving us ideas on what we like or what we should like and want to play, use, watch, etc... However, we the consumers can't be entirely to blame either because it's not like we stopping buying/watching things because there was a little bit of violence or sexual content. We create the higher demand so therefore the creators must supply it. Its kind of fascinating to wonder who first started this whole sex, drugs, and violence in the media. Was it the creators themselves or did they simply see it in everyday society so they figured we must want to see some sort of portrayal of it on tv and in games?
ReplyDeletei am personally of the opinion that while at one time the creators may have invented something because it was required by the consumer, those days are long gone. in today's society, creators are miles ahead of the consumers, constantly predicting what we may purchase in the future. with this advantage comes the ability to sway our desires in their favor. in reality we as a civilization don't "need" anything. creators know this, and spend countless dollars in revenue assuring us that we do in fact need what they create. this is the equivalent of putting a blindfold over our opinions as individuals. we currently reside in a whirlpool of opinions that we can adopt, and we often do so at the highest bidder (subconsciously). this fact, in my opinion, takes some of the blame off of the individual. we are told what is good and what is bad; what is cool, and what we need to have/do to be cool. we are tricked into believing that we are one step behind everyone else. constantly we're racing to catch up with the norm. all of this fake commotion distracts us from the fact that what we are trying to be is nothing less than a product of the creators that we constantly claim have no affect on us. individuals prefer to blaim themselves than to accept the fact that we arent in complete control of our opinions. i blame the creators.
ReplyDeleteI believe that it is also, like what the majority of people said, the creator’s fault and partial the audiences’ part. Television was made for entertainment purposes and strictly that; everything that is basically on TV is factual. The audience watching is suppose to know the line about what is acceptable and what is not. It is the parents’ job then to tell the kid that what they are viewing is unacceptable behavior and is not sociably acceptable to do.
ReplyDeleteThe audience sometimes doesn’t comprehend what they are watching though isn’t sociably acceptable. They deem what they are watching to be cool and desire to be like there “hero”. This is where it is the consumers fault for placing these ideas and images in our heads. Not only are they affecting people by violence though. The media also controls what we should look like. Millions of people starve themselves to appear as skinny as the celebrities they see and don’t realize that “normal” people are general not that skinny.
I beleive that it is the consumers fault, they have the right to choice, they get to choose what they watch and they also react to what they see. Yes the creators are trying to get something out of the consumers, but it completly up to the consumer how to take the message.
ReplyDeleteI would say that people who follow society are the ones who are to blame. Any one can create a hostile environment. People make violent movies and movies with sexual content in them because Americans want to watch them. The people who follow the creator's ideas have a mind of thier own and are able to make thier own decisions about how they want to live thier lives.
ReplyDeleteI personally believe it the consumers and followers, becuase eventually they become the creaters of the new problems of society. It's like a cycle, there is a problem, then it is followed by the audience of people who all they do is live their lives like that, then they create a new problem in society, that a new crowd follows.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Emily that both parties are responsible. I think the creators must have some accountability for what they do, but the problem is how to hold them accountable. The best way is for consumers to take a stand and not patronize those who produce inapproriate stuff. It all comes down to money. No one would be producing this stuff if they couldn't make money doing it. So if consumers would just stop buying it, no one would produce it.
ReplyDeleteI also think some of this is sensationalized a bit. Just because you play violent games or watch violent movies doen't mean you will become a violent criminal. I think that is more of a character issue. The people who blame their actions on the media are just looking for an excuse. They should have been their own peson rather than letting something influence them.