Why audiences are attracted to violent entertainment

Goldstein, Jeffrey 1999 'The Attractions of Violent Entertainment', Media Psychology, vol.1, no.3, pp. 271-282.

The core idea of this article is that majority of researchers only concern themselves with effects of violence in mass media, neglecting the question of why the audience is attracted to violent entertainment in the first place. The author describes the attractions of violent entertainment, based on a project supported by the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation (HFG).

This article fits into a lot of different categories on violence such as the violence in movies and video games. There is plenty of literature that dives into this subject matter but appears to tackle this subject matter. Other articles makes the point at that violence is basically the foundation of a lot of films, TV movies, and not to mention even action series. To take it even further, violence is repeatedly identical with "action." For the reason that screenwriters, directors and producers utilize violence regularly and in countless ways, how do we start to identify the differences in places such as the media violence? Literature reviews point out things like how are people able to figure out if a shootout or fist fight is a lot or not? This article fits into the category of understanding that there is a simple method to the depiction of violence in TV, video and movies. In the wider world of research and higher knowledge, this article fits into category of sociology. For instance, the sociological aspect of it explores how society deals with violence on television movies and series and how the community deals with this as a whole. The sociology category focuses on the fact that many violent images are seen in movies and on television on an everyday daily basis, and yet not the merely cause, are a strong subsidizing issue. There are those in the sociology fried that believe the point-of-view from which the audience opinions the violence differs straight with the method the scene affects them as a society. The sociologist come from a point-of-view a film's perspective defines the audience's response.

Structure

The article follows a simple structure following off with a brief abstract that basically make the point that the authors do consider why violence is such a noticeable characteristic of entertainment that attracts them. The abstract is very brief but the authors to a good job in letting the audiences or the readers know exactly what they are about to dive into. The next thing in the introduction. However. There is no heading that exactly says "introduction" but it is obvious they are setting the tone of the paper by having gripping first sentences that explain that if detective or any other type of violent entertainment rouses "criminal leanings" has been extensively talked about and studied. The whole entire paragraph does set the tone of the thesis statement which tells us exactly what the readers are about to get into with the rest of the article. The next thing is the first header which talked about the attractiveness of the entertainment. Goldstein first heading is right on point and gives the reader the first argument of the article. It make the point that the attractions of violent entertainment are many and varied. It offers something for nearly everyone (pp. 272).

The next part is the second heading which goes directly into the audiences that are involved with it is difficult to think of a group of people that is not in some way an audience for violent imagery. Goldstein argues how people consume violent images, talk about violence, read about it, and write scientific articles about it (pp. 273). In this section he really does make sure that the reader understands that it is hard to think of a crowd of individuals that is not in some way an audience for violent descriptions. This heading does a good job with staying on point by explaining how people are consuming violent images, talking about violence, reading about it, and writing scientific articles in regards to it.

The next section is the part that delves in to the 'why' factor. It make the point how people can make the choice of what they want to watch when it comes down to violent movies and television series. This heading is a good one because it brings together good details especially when it makes the point that people are able to choose the degree of emotional content and anger with which they are most relaxed, just as they do when choosing music to listen to (pp. 274). The next heading is a very informational heading because it brings the reader into identity. The author did a good job here with stating that a person is what they basically watch. If they watch horror then they will exhibit this type of behaviour. Goldstein even went into detail by explain the different types of movies that had impact on people that caused them to go out and do harm in this section.

The next section basically talks about the thrill and the excitement of watching violent on television and the movies. The heading points out the fact that people are thrill seekers and enjoy seeking a lot of thrill in dark movies that have a lot of bloodshed and violence. Goldstein makes the point that people are just reckless. The next section talks about when violence gets to the point where it is not really accepted. In other words, enough is enough. Goldstein does a good job up under this heading making his argument that studies show using bloody films that viewers found decidedly unappealing, violent portrayals can be disturbing, disgusting, and depressing, but these effects are insufficient to deter some viewers (pp. 277). The section was very too the point. The author talked about the collaboration the context of violent images themselves and the circumstances in which they are experienced play a critical role in their plea.

Style

The author used a lot of informational style in his writing. The article has very informative writing and it also brings in material that educates the readers by communicating straightforward information and facts, but never opinions that are personal. This article, for instance, is an example of informative writing because Goldstein for example mentions the negative emotions that can be mixed with positive ones. He even went on to the point by using the movie Steel Magnolias which is a movie that justifies his argument about mixed and positive emotions. The author showed detailed in explaining that the movie was directly related to the degree of sadness experienced all through the film.

Evidence

The author uses a lot of evidence to support his argument. For instance, he uses Japan violent comic books to stress his point how violence is in cartoon form and how that has spreaded over time. In Japan, both men and women read "Manga," extraordinarily gruesome comic books that feature extreme violence. Goldstein mentions that the Great Railway Bazaac Paul Theroux picks up a fat comic book left by a girl seated next to him on a train in Japan. "The comic strips showed decapitations, cannibalism, and people bristling with arrows like Saint Sebastian . . . . The girl returned to her seat and, so help me God, serenely returned to the distressing comic." (pp. 272). This shows how people were drawn into the violence of the comic book and could not put it down. He was able to show that the graphic violence charm to Japanese readers for the same reasons that Arnold Schwarzenegger films are appealing to those that are living in the Western culture. Goldstein was able to use this evidence by showing that the he attractions of violence are best explained by examining its depiction, its audience, and the background in which it is used.

Evaluation

One of the strengths of this paper is that Goldstein was able to make a fair case in regards to the attraction of violence. It is clear that he did a good job showing this attraction by breaking it down into gender. Here he showed how the effects of these movies have a huge appeal when it comes to boys and men. However, another way it could be strengthened is if there might could have been more information on how women react to violence. The information focused more on the fact that boys and men were prone to watch the most a movies that had high level of viciousness whereas the women seemed to focus more towards movies that had a lot of mixed emotions in it such as the example of the motion picture Steel Magnolias used in the previous example. Also, he did a fair job with giving some examples of movies that did seem to have a huge impact on people. Without using these movies as examples it would have been very hard to try to see the point. He also went so far as to describing some of the scenes. This was a good idea because some readers are visual and being able to picture a movie scene in their head is a way of them feeling more connected.

Conclusion

Goldstein was able to use this article and providing very helpful information on how violence in the media can change a society all over the world. He was able to show how violence affects different people in various places of the world and also how over time, the media has used this violence as a marketing tool. It is clear from reading that as long as there are a lot of men and boys that are drawn to violence in the entertainment that it will possibly increase and grow towards making entertainment even fiercer.