Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Media Violence




Write about your chapter on your blog in a way that will help teach it to the rest of us who have not read it.  Include major argument (thesis) and any supporting examples the author uses to explain his or her point.

I chose to read the article Examining Media Violence: How can we help students to think about the relationship between media images and violence by Bakari Chavanu.  The setting begins in the classroom where an English teacher has to deliver a nine-week unit to his 11th graders on violence in society.  The author uses a resource entitled Beyond Blame produced by the Center for Media Literacy in Los Angeles. 

The major argument is that the media is not the sole cause for violence in society, but that the media plays a major role in reinforcing the myths, images and even attitudes that support a culture of violence.  Just as the media shifted around smoking, cholesterol, and buckling your seat belt, it can do the same to encourage choices about violent behaviors. 


One particular exercise the teacher uses with the students is “Damsels in Distress: Women and violence.  Student set the purpose before watching video clips by having to circle descriptive words that describe how men and women are depicted in music videos.  The first part of the activity served to help the students recognize the differences in gender.  After this activity students watched a selection of videos first with sound and second without sound.   The students quickly realized that the music served as a distractor and they were able to see more without the sound. 


Another activity the teacher includes from the resource is entitled Media Heroes, Real Heroes.  Students had to call out descriptive words used to describe actions of a typical hero. Then students had to describe people in real life who they could describe as heroes or heroines.  The point of this exercise was to help them see the contrast between media and real-life heroes.


The teacher finally ended with a segment special Kids Killing Kids and a discussion about non-violent solutions. One student was quoted as saying, " Without violence, TV would be boring." What do you think?



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4 comments:

  1. Maria RaspalloJune 27, 2018 at 4:55 PM

    When I have an hour or so free, I am going to watch a Disney film without sound to test if I am able to pick up on more messages and images of sexism, racism, and stereotypical images with more ease than watching it with sound. I am going to do this with a movie that we have not analyzed in class or that i have not seen in recent memory.

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    Replies
    1. DenaJune 27, 2018 at 5:25 PM

      Good evening Maria,

      I think that is a great idea. Let me know how this strategy works for you. I tend to turn down the sound during scary or suspensful moments in movies to aleviate some anxiety.

      Delete
  2. UnknownJune 27, 2018 at 6:03 PM

    Very informative Dena. Eye opening; yet not surprising.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownJune 28, 2018 at 6:58 AM

    Hello Dana,

    Sadly, American children watch an average of four hours of television daily. Television can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and shaping behavior. Unfortunately, much of today's television programming is violent. Hundreds of studies of the effects of TV violence on children and teenagers have found that children may:

    become "immune" or numb to the horror of violence
    begin to accept violence as a way to solve problems
    imitate the violence they observe on television; and
    identify with certain characters, victims and/or victimizers.

    Extensive viewing of television violence by children causes greater aggressiveness. Sometimes, watching a single violent program can increase aggressiveness. Children who view shows in which violence is very realistic, frequently repeated or unpunished, are more likely to imitate what they see. Children with emotional, behavioral, learning or impulse control problems may be more easily influenced by TV violence. The impact of TV violence may show immediately in the child's behavior or may surface years later. Young people can be affected even when their home life shows no tendency toward violence. Media is not the sole cause of aggressive or violent behavior, but It does play a role in reinforcing the myths, attitudes that support a culture of violence.

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