Violent films and TV programming are among the most popular forms of entertainment today.
Why do you think these programs are so popular?
Propose possible reasons to explain their large number of viewers.
The popularity of various forms of media are usually very revealing of a society’s collective psyche. Often audiences consume programming that allows them to experience an existence not available to them in their day-to-day lives, and this is thought to be the main cause for the dramatic popularity of violent art. This will be proven by looking at how violent media allows people to both explore certain curiosities and release tension.
Firstly, most legal systems around the world greatly reduce the amount of violence people experience in their daily lives. For example, in countries with developed legal systems, experiencing physically aggressive situations in real life is extremely rare. The irony is that this low exposure often piques a natural curiosity in violence among people. Violent media, therefore, is popular because it allows people to vicariously experience a fantasised instance of violence without harming themselves or others.
In addition to this, violent media acts as an outlet for the natural aggression of human beings. For instance, most would agree that adolescents act more physically aggressive towards each other than any other age group. This aggression is usually thought to be a retained primitive instinct that predisposes adolescents to a natural degree of physical confrontation. Thus, a likely argument for the popularity of violent media among adolescents is that it allows them to release this pent up hostility.
After looking at the above, it is clear that there are multiple factors contributing to the widespread consumption of violent media. The enduring audience for this sort of media makes me feel violent programming will be made available to people for years to come.
