Juan Arreola
Professor Godbey
Eng 102
April 1, 2014
Societies Sick Entertainment
Death and violence is not something experienced everyday, but is seen on a daily basis. Not always witnessed by someone near the accident, but it is usually watched on their computer or on their television. Violence seems to be one of the most common issues in many of today’s society. Acts of murder are feared and are avoided by anyone in their right mind. With this in mind, how can people watch murders on the TV screen, but will do anything at their power to avoid death. No one wants to die, but they find entertainment in other people’s deaths. Don Delillo’s Videotape reveals how humans have a tendency to watch terror and death due to a desire to numb one’s own fear of death and for personal entertainment.
Don Delillo has a specific message in his story about a young girl witnessing a murder through a camera and a man watching over and over as a form of entertainment. Don Delillo’s story Videotape begins with a young girl in a car on the high way, on what seems to be an ordinary day. However, while she innocently video tapes the stranger in the vehicle behind her, the stranger is suddenly shot in the head by “The High Way Killer”. The girl continued to tape as the man’s life was unexpectedly taken away. Moreover, the narrator of the story is a man, also in the story, watching this exact footage and obsessing over the fact that the man’s life was ended so abruptly. How is it that people are able to watch other humans die or being harmed? Watching horrid videos either on the internet or on the news of real happenings says something about society. Don Delillo writes,” You keep on looking not because you know something is going to happen-of course...
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...e and had millions of hits. Just shows how our society is. In the story Videotape the man watches the man getting shot over and over. He has an odd curiosity for death just like many people in this world do, because we are all afraid of death. We all want to know how we are going to die. Seeing other people die gives us a sense of what death is like and how it could be like for ones self. We watch it to see how a person acts when they are slowly dying or when they are about to die. Just like the man was waiting and watching for the drivers death. Death can happen so unexpectedly and people are afraid of it. By watching or reading incidences of murders society becomes less sensitive to it. This exposure through media demonstrates decreased sensitivity and increased curiosity in death and violence. Don Delillo’s Videotape reveals this aspect of society.
As typical human beings we all want to know why someone could randomly take the lives of several innocent people all at one time. It is frightening and scientists figure if they can figure out why, then it can be prevented in the future. The documentary, Mind of a Rampage Killer, tries to solve the mystery and really dive deep into the minds of people who could potentially create such a horrifying situation. Through the use of ethos, logos, and pathos, this documentary concludes that every killer had something in common; they all struggled with mental disorders, depression, or outbursts of violence, all stemming from early childhood or an internal battle throughout growing up, some could have even just been born with a violent rage.
The media has long been tagged as a catalyst that influences the way people act in their daily lives. In the article “Unnatural Killers”, author John Grisham criticizes the movie “Natural Born Killers” as the only influence upon which two youths commit murder. The various types of environments shown on media most certainly influence the thoughts people make towards certain situations. However, the ultimate decision of the actions taken is up to the individual; everyone is responsible for their own actions. Therefore, the defendants in the article should be declared guilty of the crimes done.
This article also makes referral comparison to another genre of film “Unlike in other genres (detective, thriller), there is usually neither sympathy for the victims of Evil nor admiration for heroes opposing it.”(Kord, 2016) Violence is what triggers the guilt in the audience and what starts to make them speculate of their morality. “Violence may well be the horror film’s way of hacking away at its audience to engage with guilt. Admit who you are. Admit what you did.” (Kord, 2016) The author questions other theorists with an ample amount of valid research from validated
2.4 The issue of vigilantism in each of the three movies has proven the hypothesis to be true, with each of the films positioning the viewer to accept the killing and to sympathise with the victim as if they are the only wronged party. The philosophy that says revenge killing is a form of justice is constantly depicted to society through films such as the above. However, in essence the film makers carry an unseen responsibility to the viewer to unveil the moral issues that ari...
In the article “Serial Killer Motives”, childhood neglect and abuse is talked about and the way this it can affect a person’s chances on becoming a serial killer. In the video “Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer”, neglect and abuse are talked about to see if these are the reasons why someone would become a serial killer. Both the article and the video have a very plain tone to them; for example there are not any crazy backgrounds or any outrageous introductions in them. In the video, the speaker stands before a plain white background. He looks right at the camera when he is speaking making it look as if he is talking directly to the person watching the video; it does not appear he would be talking to a large group of people. The article does not have anything exciting about it; just an abunda...
In America, violence has always been an integral part of national culture. Crime and bloodshed are glorified both on and off screen. The more disturbing the act of violence, the more enthralled the public seems. The most prolific of crimes, those committed by infamous serial killers, inspire the most attention. As said by Jeff Lindsay, creator of the book series that inspired the wildly-popular television program, Dexter, “We’re sickened and disgusted, but we need to know. And the more we know about the scene, the more we really are horrified” (“Sympathy for the Devils”). Violence, especially committed by this special class of felons, is enthralling. News reports play a role in this strange attraction, as it is through the news that people even have knowledge of such killers, but the evolution in the “serial killer genre” (Lindsay, “Sympathy for the Devils”) of film and television helps to desensitize people to the gruesome murders that are committed. This begs the question of whether this disturbing trend should be stopped, lest the American “culture of violence” (this has a source) continues to grow stronger. Through news reports, film, and television, criminals are constantly romanticized through use of sympathetic characterization and gratuitous depictions of their crimes, which lends to peoples’ increasingly positive attitudes toward violence and, in turn, feeds the growing culture of violence in America.
From 1949 to 1996 to now, the way people see a story or movie has changed tremendously because of the change in violence. When the short story, “The Lottery” was written , the thought of this was awful, but the thought of this was different in 1996. Back in 1949, violent events are rare, but closer to the 21st century, violent things start to occur more often. When Shirley Jackson’s short story was published, people were so astonished that a human being could write that. Shortly after her short story coming out, people started to take back their prescription from the New Yorker, and they also started to send her many death threats per day. Since the time of the short story coming out, America has experienced more violence, making people in America not angry when they watch this
In “Who Killed Benny Paret?,” Norman Cousins discusses why sports are as violent as they are, when they can be safe and still as physically challenging. Cousins’ thesis blames society for the extreme brutality in sports, “The primary responsibility lies with the people who pay to see a man hurt.” (Cousins, 340) In “Why We Crave Horror Movies,” Stephen King takes a different approach by explaining why people watch gruesome and blood filled moving. Without others playing out our own sick fantasies, or fueling our blood drive, we would be more inclined to becoming violent. We, as humans, want to see blood and guts that are as real as possible to make us feel more comfortable, and to feed the “hungry alligators.” (King, 2) The initial need to release of primal and violent instincts are catered to through visual stimulation such as bloody boxing matches, and gruesome horror films.
We all have cravings, be it for snacks or sweets, there is always something we desire. We crave horror in the same way. In Stephen King’s essay, “Why We Crave Horror Movies,” he argues that people need to watch horror films in order to release the negative emotions within us. King believes that people feel enjoyment while watching others be terrorized or killed in horror movies. King’s argument has elements that are both agreeable and disagreeable. On one hand he is acceptable when claiming we like the thrill and excitement that comes from watching horror movies; however, his views regarding that the fun comes from seeing others suffer cannot be agreed with because the human condition is not as immoral as he claims it to be.
Don DeLillo’s ‘Videotape’ is a short story of man who is absolutely captivated by some footage on the news that can be described as both, raw and shocking. The footage is being repeatedly played over and over. It depicts a young girl with a camcorder travelling in the backseat of her family’s car who happens to be filming a man driving a Dodge behind them. She continues aiming the camera at the man and filming until, suddenly, he is shot and murdered. The man watching the tape at home is clearly mesmerized and fascinated with the footage to the extent that he was trying to get his wife to watch it with him. This story portrays society’s utter fascination of shocking and disturbing content relating to death and other horrible events unless they themselves are involved. This, along with other characteristics, clearly suggests that “Videotape” is a piece of postmodern literature. This report will analyze and describe why “Videotape” belongs to postmodern literature through the in-depth analysis of the selected passage and a brief breakdown of the story as a whole.
The techniques used in this film create a feeling of violence beyond that of the actual murders that take place. Through its breakneck rhythm, changing color to black and white and cartoons to television anti-sitcoms, all while showing violent acts of murder and sexual abuse, takes shock to a new level. What makes this film so shocking is the fact that it shows how our nation reacts to such horror. “Stone was attempting to make a film that made us experience the true nature of violence, in order to see how absurd it is when the media makes killers heroes.” (O’Brien) Stone comically portrays Mallory’s childhood as a television sitcom. Her father’s abusive words towards her and her mother are the punch lines that the crowd is most pleased with. “ Maybe Stone meant his movie as a warning about where we where headed, but because of the Simpson trial it plays an indictment of the way we are now.” (Ebert) This clearly is a mirror image of our nation’s behavior during similar instances like the O.J. Simpson trial. During this time court TV was more of a soap opera than a trial of a man suspected of viciously killing two people.
The contemporary writing period is considered to still be occurring as we speak so many of the themes and ideas presented in these works are still prevalent in today’s world. One piece that highlights a particularly gruesome trait of our culture is “Videotape,” written by Don DeLillo which tells a story about us, America, watching a video of horrific murder over and over again while it plays on the news. The story is slightly slow paced at the beginning but you can tell that the author is foreshadowing a big event especially when he bluntly states “It is not just another video homicide. It is a homicide recorded by a child who thought she was doing something simple and maybe halfway clever.” He goes on to tell how the man that the girl was
DeLillo’s narrative technique first appears in his first novel, Americana, published in 1971. In this novel, DeLillo discovers the power of moving "from first person consciousness to third person," of moving from the subject position to the object posi...
Television violence causes children and teenagers to be less caring, to lose their inhibitions, and to be less sensitive. In a study on the connection between violence and television done with 1,565 teenage boys over a six-year period in London, William Belson, a British psychologist, found that every time a child saw someone being shot or killed on television they became less caring towards other people (Kinnear 26). William Belson also discovered that every time a child viewed this violence on television, they lost a fragment of their inhibitions towards others (Kinnear 26). In addition to William Belson’s study, studies done by many scientists and doctors show that seeing violence on television causes viewers to become less sensitive to the pain of others (Mudore 1).
With the explosion of technology today, access to the media is at your fingertips, anytime, anywhere, and almost 24/7. Video games, movies, cartoons, daily news, websites, music videos, and even in commercials, violence is everywhere, and it becomes harder and harder to avoid. Violence in the media has been increasing and reaching dangerous proportions. According to Report of the Media Violence Commission, the effects are remarkably consistent regardless of type of medium, age, gender, or where the person lives in the world (336). Many studies and researches reveal the empirical evidence that links violence in movies and television shows to aggressive behavior in children, teenagers, and adults. Increasing aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence, and fear are three types of negative effects contributed to by violence in movies and television shows. The article, “The Influence of Media Violence on Youth” emphasizes that violent television shows, films, and music reveal unequivocal evidence that media violence increases the likelihood aggressive and violent behavior in both immediately, and in the long term (Anderson, Craig A., 81). Violence now has gone into the mainstream. The Hunger Games, one of the top grossing films in 2013 replete with blood, gore and violence. The Walking Dead was once voted highest-rated entertainment program on TV with horrific violent scenes, killing from stabbing into the heads, bloody corpses, and disturbing, haunting images shown in most of the scenes. CBS’ Criminal Minds is television show with series of scary scenarios showing the violent murders of psychopath people. Worst of all, Silence of the Lambs deals with a psychopath who ...