Why do we like violence - Essay Example

?An undeniable fact is that the individuals within our society grow up in a world that is saturated by media and media influence.  One particular aspect of this saturation is the extent to which media violence pervades the current culture.  Whereas individuals of generations past have been exposed to television, the total numbers of hours each week that exposure portends has increased seemingly exponentially of late.  This has many negative effects on the individual which is exposed; regardless of age.  One of the aspects of the negative effect that a large consumption of television media has been shown to effect is a range of health issues within those individuals that watch a number of hours of television programming weekly.  Although the negative health affects have been a topic of much recent discussion, the expressed purpose of this research analysis will be to draw a level of inference upon the way in which violence represented in television media affects the minds, outlook, psychology, and world-view interpretation of the adolescent viewing audience.  From such a review, the reader will be able to understand that even though violence within the media has increased within the past several years, it is not doing so divorced from the demand by the viewer. It does not take a great deal of analysis to understand fact that this pervasive level of violence only exists is due to the fact that consumers are actively engaging with this violence and consuming it. It is the understanding of this particular author that the reason and rationale behind this has to do with the fact that violence represents one of the most primitive and basic mechanisms through which humans have evolved. When one begins to integrate with an understanding of basic human evolution, they come to the analysis of the fact that almost all history has been dictated with respect to power dynamics and the threat and application of violence. In such a way, the exhibition of violence with regards to media, and in a boxing, and a litany of violent video games is a manner through which humans are able to connect with a more bestial and under-evolved aspect of their own evolutionary history. This appeal and violence has is primitive; almost as primitive as the appeal of sexual desire. Accordingly, one does not need to look very far within advertising, media, or any other form of societal representation to understand that the appeals to a more basic levels of humanity are the ones that integrate the most closely with the stakeholder. Violence, as with sex, is something of a vicarious experience. Whereas it is obvious that it is illegal for an individual to venture out on the streets and engage in an argument with someone that they find offensive – eventually coming to blows and knocking out this individual – this vicarious experience can be had via the litany of different violent video games, television programs, and other representations about that exist within society. In such a manner, the angst and frustration that individuals feel at any given time is able to be vicariously experience through such representations of violence. Even though organized society has come a long way, and individuals are arguably more involved now than at any other point in the past, this basic desire to solve any and all confrontation with violent means is an innate facet of humanity that will not likely disappear anytime in the near future. The impacts of this permeation of violence is of course a society that continues to keep violence front and center within their own minds; sustaining it to a stature that it would otherwise not received. Whereas violence is a determinant aspect of human evolution and provide something of a historical recollection point through which confrontation can be solved, it must also be understood that different societies integrate with violence and different manners. It is arguable that the globalizing influence of Western media has gone a long way in negatively impacting the extent to which violence is represented within cultures throughout the world. From a range of Hollywood films, violent action stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Bruce Willis, and a litany of others are representative of individuals around the globe as indicative of the ideal and dynamic macho man. The repercussions of this representation reverberate within society as violence begets violence and individuals come to a realization and appreciation for the fact that disputes and disagreements can be solved in the same way that they are solved in film and within the media. The underlying understanding that this analysis has thus far put forward is that media violence is not a vice that is foisted upon the viewer forcibly. So many stakeholders in society view media violence as indicative of a culture that attempts to degrade the viewer. Rather, a more informed interpretation would yield the result that media violence is, like any other product, seeking to fulfill an extant demand within the market. Although it is true that the levels of violence within the media have necessarily increased over the past several years, the demand for violence and the evolutionary expectation that this option for conflict resolution always remains the most viable is an aspect of the human psyche that is unlikely to become changed anytime in the near future. A further interesting point with regards to this is the fact that media violence exists even in an era in which political correctness and a focus upon the rule of law and using violence as a last resort is trumpeted at the highest levels. This of course helps to underscore the fact that representation of violence in the media and the demand for it in society is much deeper than culture or any other of the determinants of societal integration; rather, it is an ingrained response mechanism and evolutionary need for conflict, for survival, and for the process of life that nearly all humans, regardless of their gender, have. Read More