Written Analysis I

Written Analysis I: Violence in Pop Culture

                Violence is without a doubt embedded into today’s pop culture.  Society has slowly but surely been shifting towards a culture that is not only more tolerant of violence, but welcoming of its mysterious draw on our curiosities.  In America, TV shows can act as a pretty good gauge in what people are interested in.  Shows that are interesting get more viewers, so it stands to reason the most popular shows contain topics we find most interesting.  With this being said, the most popular show in 2013, NCIS, is focused around violence; violence centered shows made up for 50% of the top 20 TV shows (Schneider, 2013), and as far as gaming goes, the entire list of the 20 most popular PC games are centered around violence (“Most played PC,” 2014).  The most popular movies in the US paint a similar picture.

                There are also many popular beliefs that point to violence.  The idea that violence breeds violence has proliferated throughout society, with many scholars looking into whether or not watching and roleplaying violence leads to violence in the real world, with mixed findings (Steinfels, 2001).  If you’ve watched the news lately, you’ll notice that ISIS is on the rise, with all violence being centered on religious beliefs.  This goes to show that there are widespread beliefs that violence gets you what you want.  From armed robbery to war, from gangs to terrorism, violence is perpetrated as a means to achieve a goal.  Violence is a default for many in our culture to get what they want when they want it.

Even myths give way to violence.  The Monomyth, is a myth in which the hero must usually take to violence to win over his goddess and to achieve his end goal and become a master of two worlds. Another myth, good vs. evil, has violence at the very center, with good trying to overcome the violence spread by evil.  It’s hard to deny the overwhelming presence of violence in our culture. 

Pop culture has even birthed a few icons of violence.  Gangsters such as Al Capone, gangs such as the Bloods and the Crips, the term “9/11,” and even guns such as the Glock and AR-15 have all become household names, usually (and sometimes incorrectly) tied to violence.  Violence is in our movies, our music, our games, and especially recently, our news.  We cannot watch even a 30 minute newscast without hearing several instances of violence in our own backyards. 

So, with all that being said, is violence here to stay?  I’m inclined to believe so.  Violence is so engrained in our culture, that a child killing someone on a video game doesn’t spark unease in the average parent.  Brutally violent movies are getting PG-13 ratings (Dahl, 2013), and the most popular music among the most impressionable of us, teenagers, speaks of nothing but drugs, sex, and violence.  Perhaps this is a fad more than a permanent shift, and one day violence will fall out of favor among pop culture. But, for the foreseeable future, I see NCIS and Call of Duty standing at the pinnacle of pop culture media, on the shoulders of American Idol and Tetris.

References:

Dahl, M. (2013, November 11). Pg-13 movies are now more violent. Retrieved from http://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/pg-13-movies-are-now-more-violent-r-rated-80s-f8C11566223

Most played pc games. (2014, March). Retrieved from http://www.statista.com/statistics/251222/most-played-pc-games/

Schneider, M. (2013, June). America's most watched. Retrieved from http://www.tvguide.com/news/most-watched-tv-shows-top-25-2012-2013-1066503.aspx

Steinfels, P. (2001, October 27). Beliefs; violence can breed justice as well as injustice. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/27/us/beliefs-violence-can-breed-justice-well-injustice-when-history-common-sense-make.html