We live in an age of technology. And while technology has given us many advantages it has also taken something from us: our ability to recognize and react to violence.
As advances in technology have been achieved, society as a whole has regressed. I attribute this to the amount of free time the average American now has at his or her disposal. Technology, in my mind, is inherently linked to machines. As machines have developed they have taken on both menial and labor-intensive occupations that people are now free from performing. This freedom is mostly spent in attending to visual medias such as television and films. And here is where the desensitization comes in.
Television programs and films have increased the amount of Torture-tainment, a genre of visual media in which acts and moments of torture are depicted, in their content. This constant exposure to violent scenes leads to a diminishing emotional response in those who watch and even to a lack of recognition that an act that violates human rights has taken place.
The Hunger Games, both a book trilogy and a four film franchise, has been read and watched by hundreds of people. Its main target audience is adolescents. At first glance, The Hunger Games seems to follow the protagonist Katniss Everdeen as she enters a life or death situation in lieu of her sister which in turn sets off a catalyst of reactions that end up with the oppressed people of The Hunger Games world to rise up against its government, the Capitol.
With this rudimentary understanding, The Hunger Games appears to be a narrative of Good triumphing over Evil with overtones of Love conquering all. However, what most people gloss over is the methods that the Capitol used to maintain control: torture. Viewers and readers recognize that the government of The Hunger Games is not a functioning one, they categorize it in terms of tyranny and abuse of power. What they don't see or overlook is the systematic killings of 23 youths with one forced-killer surviving the genocide, often with psychological trauma.
New Yorker staff writer Amy Davidson likens The Hunger Games to a story of counterinsurgency and wonders whether its popularity is stemmed from America's involvement in multiple wars. This not only speaks to a desensitization of torture but also a demand for violence by the public.
This desensitization to violence is not a new idea. It can be traced back to the 1970s to German-American novelist Kurt Vonnegut and the publication of his book Slaughterhouse-Five (1969). Through this book Vonnegut published his concerns of society failing to react to images of mass death and violation of human rights that filled the newspapers and filled the television screens during the duration of the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Vonnegut himself was a veteran of World War II.
Vonnegut may have been advocating for society to recognize its worrisome relationship with acts of violence and degradation of the human body in the early 70s, but it appears that society took no heed. With major blockbuster films such as Zero Dark Thirty (2012) and Deadpool (2015) America's relationship with violence, and by extension torture, appears to be stronger than ever.
What does it say for the future of America that its most seen films and television shows are constantly screening images of torture- an act that demeans the human body?
Your sources are very well embedded and supported- and you used a lot too! Your intro is especially intriguing, its such a good hook. However, you might consider changing the word "area" in the first sentence to something like "age" because area sounds more like a space than a time- unless you mean America when you say area. I also really like your transitions between paragraphs, they're easy to follow and they add to the tone/style of your blog. I also completely agree with your stance. I often find myself so used to violence in movies that I'm no longer thrilled by them which is disturbing to me. I have to disconnect myself from the movie to really look at what is being done and how it would be seen in real life.
ReplyDeleteI agree. There is an developing desensitization to violence in the homes of a multitude of people. I myself am I very great fan of the Hunger Games series and absolutely love them. Though you make a very compelling case about the urging desires of consumers to receive more content with violence I have thought greatly about this idea as well. As you mentioned the desensitization towards violence may be a phenomenon that arises from the multiple wars that the US has been involved in. It has weighed heavily in my mind that perhaps the Hunger Games series are so popular because they express a form of protest against the waging of wars that normally is not fought so literally against the government. The film is centered around a group of adolescents that fight the Capital, the symbol of power. The capital's forced participation of teens to fight to their deaths is an idea that similarly resembles the drafting of young students and boys into the US army. Katniss and her friends represent the efforts to retaliate against this practice and end it once and for all. Another feature that is included in this series coincidentally happens to be the highly valued notion of individual liberty. The Capitol deprives its citizens from their liberty while Katniss and the rest of her group fight to regain their freedom from this dictating government. The series itself can be taken to be as a form of criticism of government actions yet at the same time has a perceived focus on violent scenes of suffering and torture. Perhaps it is a combination of these two characteristics that made this series so popular in the entertainment industry.
ReplyDeleteAs a Hunger Games fan myself, I can directly relate to your argument. I do feel that that the torture inflected by the capitol is greatly overlooked as the audience is memorized in the love of Katniss Everdeen. The topic of desensitization to violence can also be seen in video games. In my household I grew up playing countless video games. In on particular series, Call of Duty, I have only recently discovered the multiple torture scenes in the games. At the time I thought nothing of it, but not that I am older I can see the wrong in the scenes. You introduce allot of support which works well with your argument. I'd also like to see a bit more of your opinion voiced in this post.
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