Violence
Violence is a social construct that is represented heavily in cultural products such as different forms and art and the media. Popular cultural artifacts have a role in shaping, mediating, and reproducing acts of violence by directly influencing the mannerisms of viewers and audiences. Popular culture can protect against violence but can also support and encourage violence in solving various situations. The media represents violence as a norm by highlighting broadcast stories that heavily involve violence between countries and individuals. Games such as Call of Duty and Mortal Kombat shape children’s rational into thinking that violence is an acceptable form of settling disputes. Films have also increased the social tolerance of violent behavior since the action is among the most produced and preferred genre of movies. The exhibition of sexual, domestic, political, and physical violence in films can either shape the audience to encourage violence or sympathize with the victims and help fight against violence. The incorporation of fierce and intense lyrics in music also normalizes violence among the listeners.
The audiences of films vary depending on the genre. Adults are more inclined to genres, such as action films, science fiction, and romantic genres. Teenagers prefer comedy and films that challenge their imagination, such as Sci-Fi and action, adventure, and romantic films. Children are more inclined to animations and cartoons. However, these preferences are not standard and vary depending on the viewers. The composition of music and film audiences has significantly changed over the years. Film producers have drifted their focus into mirroring different audiences’ tastes, thus the increased proficiency of adapting to the changing preferences by the viewers.
After the conception of film production, producers mostly target the immigrant, affluent, and working-class members of the society who could afford tickets to the pricy movie theatres. In the mid-1910s, film production evolved from short kinescopes to feature films, thus narrowing economic gaps. The middle-class members of the society could afford tickets to legitimate theatres, bringing together the working and middle classes, thus significantly increasing film audiences. The introduction of a studio system in film production made the film accessible to all social classes and made it accessible to all demographic groups. People of all ages, genders, and cultures could now access films depending on the conception rate of films in individual countries.
The music industry has equally undergone monumental evolution since its inception. Music listeners have drastically increased over time. The platforms for music consumption have a direct influence on the music audience. In the 80s and 90s, people would only listen to music through phonographs, gramophones, and cassettes. Only the affluent members of the society-owned these devices and were, therefore, the only people with access to music. 1954 saw the invention of the first transistor radio. The transistor radio significantly increased music audiences as both the upper and middle class would afford it.
Other devices such as the Walkman, compact discs, and MP3 players also increased music audiences, but still, not all people could access music. The digital era reigned at the beginning of the decade, with platforms such as YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, and social media platforms that allow people of all classes, ages, genders, and culture to access music with little or no limitations. Digital platforms also allow people to share music. Everybody can now access any music depending on their preferences.
The representation of violence in films has a direct impact on its viewers. An average child witnesses eight thousand murders and over ten thousand acts of violence by the time he or she joins elementary school. The question of whether the violence in films contributes to the violence in the society has aroused debates over the decades. Violence in films have a cause-effect relationship with the violence in the society. The portrayal of violence and criminal acts in films create an impression that violence is “normal” and a standard way to solve disputes between warrying parties. Violent scenes in films exposes children and even adults to stimuli that leads to many viewers adopting to mannerisms of a violent character in the film.
Violent films also encourage and support domestic and sexual violence. For instance, if a child sees a scene in which a character playing the role of a father is battering the mother, (or vice versa), the child tends to think that the same should apply in real life families. Therefore, when the same child witnesses their parents engaging in physical fights, the child will think that fighting is normal and a way of life. Similarly, if a film viewer witnesses a sexual abuse and violence scene, and the abuser in the film manages to get away with the crime, he or she might want to practice sexual violence, thinking that they too will get away with crime. Therefore, violence scenes in films influence their viewers into practicing the acts of violence in real life.
However, films with violent scenes not only portray negative messages, but also have several advantages. Films with violent scenes educate their viewers on the causes of violence and how different people deal with acts of violence. For instance, documentary films about refugees from terrorist attacks and victims of homicide educate their audiences on how the victims found themselves in camps, others in streets and others homeless. The films create feelings of sympathy and empathy and the viewers come together to aid such victims with basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter. Films on domestic and sexual violence create movements against the vices, and members of the public come together to help victims of rape and battering through counselling, therapy sessions and seeking justice against the perpetrators.
Music equally has significant influence and impact to its listeners. Songs with violent lyrics upsurge negative emotions and thoughts that consequently lead to aggression. Aggressive emotions often result to aggressive behavior. Violent lyrics, therefore, have a direct correlation with aggressive behavior. Violent song lyrics influence listeners’ perceptions of the society, contributing to the development of aggressive dispositions and mannerisms. Some music genres such as rap music heavily contain lyrics about shootings, murder, and fights. The lyrics stir emotions of anger and aggression, leading to acts of violence. Although some artists create the songs with no intentions of advocating for violence, the viewers receive the music differently. Some viewers perceive the violent acts described in the music as a norm, and therefore practice some acts such as fighting. Some songs touch on humanitarian issues such as racism, provoking violence between the attacking and the attacked race.
There is a strong correlation between violence and gender. Gender-based violence is prevalent in almost all countries of the world. Gender based violence is not specific to only one gender, but cuts across to both men and women. Although men perpetrate majority of gender based violence cases, they also experience acts of violence in the hands of girls and women. However, women experience the most forms of harassment. Approximately one in five women experience assault, whether physical of sexual assault in the United States. Gender based violence arises from superiority complex, entitlement, misogyny, toxic feminism or similar attitudes in perpetrators against either men or women.
Gender based violence has numerous extensive categories such as rape, domestic violence, sexual abuse and harassment, female genital mutilation, abduction and forced marriages, forced abortions, human trafficking, forced commercial sex working, sexual slavery, ill treatment of widows and widowers, discrimination of transgender community, and flogging. Gender based violence has severe implications to the victims. Violence against both men and women often prevent them from contributing to social, economic and political development of their individual selves, their families and the society. The repercussions of gender based violence also extend beyond social divisions into health concerns on the victims. Victims of domestic violence suffer from internal and external bleeding, fractures and even bone breakages. Victims of sexual violence are at a higher risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS, and unwanted pregnancies among girls. Victims of gender based violence (and any other form of violence) suffer from mental issues due to the traumatic events. Some victims end up forming disabilities, and in extreme cases, some victims die. There are various organizations all over the world that fight tirelessly to see the end of gender based violence.
The government and private institutions govern the content that artist air to ensure that the messages do not promote sexual profanity, violence, drugs and substance abuse, hate speech and incitement. The government and private organizations suppress and restrict the publication and airing of objectionable, sensitive, and immoral content through censorship (Abbasi, 2015). Radio and television stations censor music in several ways. The first method is by completely editing out the scenes in films and music videos. The second method is by placing a sound over the obscene speech to overlap the original words. Such sounds include buzzes and bleep sounds. Censoring can also take the form of text boxes with closed caption subtitles with phrases such as “explicit,” “expletive,” and/or “censored.” Others prefer non-letter symbols such as asterisks, hyphens, hashtags, and percentage to replace content, especially in a curse and obscene words when films and music videos contain subtitles.
Artists that create content for films and music have the right to freely publish their content on internet platforms such as YouTube (Savage, 2019). However, various bodies regulate the distribution of such content. The Supreme Court of the United States provided a complete mandate to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to monitor the broadcast of content. FCC manages jurisdiction of broadband access to ensure that the content aired on radio and television is not indecent and that music exposed to children is of the age-appropriate subject matter (Federal Communications Commission Consumer Help Center, n.d.). For the film industry, the United States has the Motion Picture Production Code that permits and restricts the distribution and exhibition of all sorts of motion pictures. Although such bodies regulate how the content reaches the audience, the do not control the kind of content that artists put out to the public. The constitution of the United States provides artistic freedom to its citizens. Artists, therefore, have the liberty to produce any time of content whether the messages are not socially and morally acceptable. The regulation bodies only limit public access of the different forms of art.
Music has several advantages and positive impacts on societal values. It promotes values such as confidence when performing in front of a live audience. Music promotes peace, harmony, and unity despite cultural differences such as race, ethnicity, and nationality. Music also promotes religion and love. However, music has detrimental factors in societal values. There are many albums and singles with lyrics that promote sexual profanity and glorify drug abuse (Hitter, 2019). Other musicians promote murder, violence, and other forms of abuse.
Audio-visuals such as films are inarguably some of the most impactful forms of art in contemporary society. Different film genres influence the morals and emotions of their audiences. Sitcoms and comedy films make people laugh, creating a happy environment around their viewers. Movies from the romantic genre promote virtues of love and selflessness. Films also create awareness around society. During this era of the novel coronavirus pandemic, different filmmakers have come together to produce films that create mass knowledge about the disease and preventive measures against it. However, just as most forms of art, films have negative impacts on society. Movies with violent and crime scenes erode sympathetic feelings. Such views normalize acts of violence and apathy, making murder and crime seem acceptable. Genres with explicit pornographic scenes expose underage children to sexual profanity leading to premarital sex. Other films normalize and advocate for drugs and substance abuse, misleading young viewers into drug addiction.
Music and films contribute significantly in the entertainment industry. As a fan of both, the messages brought out in both films and music link directly to my personal values. Films and music expressively contain scenes about love, especially love for family, a value that I dearly regard. They also contain messages of peace and harmonious living. A film such as War Room heavily brings out the theme of Christianity, and gospel music helps one connect more with God. However, both films and music contain values that are detached from my personal values. Some films blandly portray values such as hatred, murder, jealousy, and violence. Artists should, therefore, produce content that positively impacts the values of society.