Why are we obsessed with Violence in the Media?
The media we consume every day can shape our thoughts and thinking. With all of the good content that people can receive, negative and violent content makes its way into our everyday queue of movies and tv shows. The topic I am proposing to write about is the controversy around violent content in the mass media. I want to explore this topic from a psychological background. Instead of looking at the surface of the effects of violent content, I want to look at the effects on a person’s psyche as well as the society as a whole. I believe that having violent media as an option is important to our society’s growth and understanding of problems. Examining the people’s response and connection to violent content is important because it indicates what our society is driven towards.
I first became interested with this topic when the Ted Bundy Tapes became live on the popular movie and television show streaming site, Netflix. There was a lot of backlash on Twitter about how people were being weird to romanticize such a violent and dangerous man. Since then, I thought about all of the different shows and movies that our society likes to watch. I think this topic deserves further exploration because people don’t usually question why we watch such violent content. I want to learn about the psychological aspects of our society when I research this topic. I think that our fascination stems from a deeper feeling that humans feel and it is a result of wanting to experience something that can be harmful or dangerous.
Since the media is extremely relevant in our everyday lives, I think that this topic has to be explored. Humans consume media in every way shape or form at all times of their life. Whether it is through a card someone has given you or the news channel in the background, the content we perceive is imperative to the way we live our lives. Violent content, in general, has been looked down upon by parents and others who worry people will become harmful to society. In recent days, parents are concerned mainly about their kids recreating the violent habits that they can see in the media they consume. For example, a teenage girl stabbed their peer as a way to impress Slender Man, a fictional horror character. The game was violent enough that a girl went out of her way to please the villain by stabbing another person. This is a perfect example of how people today can become obsessed with violent media. Patterns and events like this are what is scaring citizens today. We can look at this type of media and connect it with the different types of behavior people exhibit. It’s relevant to today’s discussions because violent content can be a factor of harm done
Although this is a valid concern, violent content is a source of catharsis, or purging one’s emotions, for many folks. Aristotle’s theory of catharsis comes from Ancient Greek times, explaining the human fascination with violent content. Back then, violence was a staple for human life. Ancient Romans would watch gladiators fight each other, animals, or even criminals. Watching this violence indicates how “emotional discharge can be cathartic, reducing tensions and reducing displaced expression of the emotion” (Feshbach 99).
Currently, violent content can come in the form of movies and television. Popular Netflix content like Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes or Narcos exhibit extreme violent behavior and actions. In the case of these tapes, people who are involved in the real-life aftermath believe it’s extremely weird to be romanticizing the man. A journalist who witnessed killer’s execution stated that they thought it was disrespectful as well as sick to be creating a stigma around a horrible man such as Ted Bundy. There is a disconnect between the audience who is viewing these events from afar and people who have been faced with the situation very closely. The accessibility and abundance of violent media in our society can be alarming, but it is all up to the consumer with what they choose to do with it.
It is odd that people are fascinated by such violent and gruesome content, but it connects back to Aristotle’s theory of catharsis. People watch things as a way to compensate for what they lack in their real life. However, others take that to extreme levels. The streaming platform, Netflix, even responded to the reaction of fans by tweeting about how “there are literally THOUSANDS of hot men on the service — almost all of whom are not convicted serial murderers” (McDermott). The important thing to remember is that this content has a reasonable amount of demand. People want to see crazy stories and experience them from a safe distance. With a romanticized reaction of a serial killer, the question of where our obsession with violent content is posed. Has the obsession of violent content gone too far?
Some final questions I have about the topic that I want to answer are: What makes us want to watch violent things? When did this all start? What percentage of consumer content is violent compared to everything else? I think examining this topic from a clinical standpoint can change the way others view how violent content is portrayed in today’s media. I hope to learn more about how people perceive information as well as understand it.
Works Cited
Eltagouri, Marwa. “A Teen Stabbed Her Friend to Impress ‘Slender Man’ — and Will Spend 40 Years in a Mental Hospital.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 2 Feb. 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2018/02/01/a-teen-stabbed-her-friend-to-impress-slender-man-and-will-spend-40-years-in-a-mental-hospital/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a0868552d2ac.
Feshbach, Seymour. “The Catharsis Hypothesis, Aggressive Drive, and the Reduction of
Aggression.” Aggressive Behavior, vol. 10, no. 2, June 1984, pp. 91–101. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1002/1098–2337(1984)10:2<91::AID-AB2480100203>3.0.CO;2–7.
McCarthy, Tyler. “Journalist Who Witnessed Ted Bundy’s Execution Criticizes Netflix for Glorifying the Serial Killer.” Fox News, FOX News Network, 19 Feb. 2019, www.foxnews.com/entertainment/journalist-who-witnessed-ted-bundys-execution-criticizes-netflix-for-glorifying-the-famed-serial-killer
McDermott, Maeve. “Netflix Sends a Message to Viewers: Stop Lusting after Ted Bundy.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 29 Jan. 2019, www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2019/01/29/netflix-ted-bundy-series-stop-calling-him-hot-serial-killer/2708150002/.
