Monthly Archives: January 2022

In my blog post last week someone brought up in my comments that violence is not relative to just America and it is a global issue. It got me thinking about how the U.S. is different in terms of their media compared to a lot of other countries. As I had previously mentioned in last weeks blog America uses a lot of violence in their TV in comparison to the rest of the world. But if we compare Europe to America in terms of the media the conversation of violence and even sexual scenes would be totally different. In the US we rate explicit scenes with more scrutiny than extremely violent scenes, but this is the total opposite from Europe. European television has a lot of nudity and sex, the American perspective of what we think is too sexual and racy in our television is what Europe would consider a tame scene.

In the U.S. the MPPA is the power or group that rates most forms of media into its respective categories such as G, PG, PG-13, R, and  NC-17. The MPPA was established in 1922 by the major Hollywood production studios in response to increasing government censorship of films. The concept of having a body rate movies is because America was concerned that their youth would be corrupted by the media that was being released. This was taken even further when the Hay’s code was released which solidified the desire for “pure” movies to be released for viewing. For more than three decades, the code applied rigid moral scrutiny to films, banning everything from interracial dating to “lustful kissing.” It died officially in 1968 — but in practice, it was always taking hits. Films were based on wether it was deemed “morally acceptable” but after World War II it was declared that the First Amendment protected movies. The current day MPPA makes judgements based on ethical and moral perspectives including violence and sex.

MPPA will allow high levels of violence even for children which is evident in kids cartoons however the slightest suggestion of something sexual, even a noise that could be interpreted as sexual is a scene that could be cut. Many cannot understand the reasons behind this as sexual intercourse is a normal part or growing up and experiencing adolescence, it’s even something that will be taught in school. America seems to take the stance that they should not expose children to things they do not know about yet. However European opinion believes  showing these kinds of things through movies may be a more responsible way to educate adolescent’s rather than finding out through surfing the internet. This just shows the difference in mindset on how Americans and Europeans view sex and violence completely flipped. Being naked is generally no big deal and TV serves to show realistic experiences in all aspects including sex.

Foreign television that includes nudity and more sex isn’t even relative to just Europe but a lot of other countries. The most explicit displays of sex and nudity on TV occur in Europe, Japan and some South American countries, particularly Brazil, says Robert Picard, chairman of the communications department at California State University, Fullerton. Japan is a lot comfortable with nudity in TV because they overall are more comfortable with their bodies.  While they don’t air sex scenes like Europe because they are more reserved in that aspect, the mindset of nudity in TV media is a stark difference from the US. Additionally some South American countries such as Brazil are well known for its steamy soap operas.

While  you can argue that the U.S. is not the only country that is restrictive with nudity and sex scenes since Southern Asia, the Middle East, and Africa are similar in ideals, do we really gain anything from censoring? The restrictions overall do not really protect adolescents and almost hinders them from exploring their sexuality because they have nothing to relate their experiences to. By not portraying things such as sex and nudity, it contributes to the problem for a lot of struggling kids.

Have you ever noticed how unbothered we are when it comes to gruesome displays of violence in the media? In fact, the most popular types of media have dark themes with bloody violence. When we see characters die in an excruciating way many of us can sit and watch it without cringing and even enjoy that aspect as part of the plot. While it may be normal for us, in other countries this degree of exposure to violence feels sickening and is not something the audience can stomach watching. Wednesday’s class discussion with classmates talking about how they love murder mysteries and hearing dark stories goes to show how normal it has become that we enjoy this kind of content in our own free time. 

People in United States are exposed to copious amounts of violence which  become glorified. The amount of violence in TV now is unlike anything in the past and is expected, and there are more guns depicted in PG-13 films. Examples of high violence can be seen in shows and movies such as Squid Game, My Friend Dahmer, or Extremely Wicked and Shockingly Vile. Violence is extremely prevalent through all forms of media, and it desensitizes people starting from an early age. Every person or every household has a device that gives them access to streaming and social media. In fact, for most younger children and teenager’s social media is where most of their time is spent besides sleeping. An average American youth will witness 200,000 violent acts on television before age 18. TV content can be decently violent even when advertised as non-violent. In addition, a large amount of violence can be shown even in kids cartoons where depictions of violence are often written off as humor for the audience to laugh at. You can often notice in some people that many deal with pain or dark topics by laughing. This may be a taught reaction that feels natural because of how much we have been desensitized to violence that we can cope by finding humor. Media violence can desensitize children to the real world and fantasy violence. The more violence is shown through television, the more viewers learn to turn off their emotional response when there is an infliction of pain on people/characters. Because there is so much exposure, there is an apparent lack of empathy shown towards characters suffering through violence.  

Video games is another form of media that depicts violence and, in most games, has the player utilizes weapons to kill other players. Nearly all American teens have played or actively play video games. Even people who don’t enjoy video games or just don’t play by themselves can watch other people play through streaming services such as Twitch. Even if they aren’t participating in the game themselves, they are still exposed to the violence of video games without having to play. Studies show that video games can cause aggression. Dr Grafman, a senior investigator, studied 22 boys between 14-17 where they watched short violent scenes where they would rate the level of aggression depicted. They monitored their brain functions while viewing the videos and found that the activation in the areas of the brain that deal with emotional reactivity was decreased. This study is one of many that proves that people can quickly become desensitized, especially if they have been exposed to violent media since childhood. Following into adolescence and adulthood people will continue to feel fewer emotions over time as they are exposed to various and heavier forms of violence. While violence in media can still be enjoyed, the rate of violence that is produced can soon become alarming and a threat to our ability to properly emphasize with violence in reality.