Stephen King Research Paper

There are a lot of people who either wonder or believe that violent media is bad for people and mostly children. Not all violent media is bad. Sometimes when people have a stressful day they will play video games to let off steam. A few people like watching horror movies because of the thrill of being scared. But if you’re a kid with no friends or you are alone most of the time, you might enjoy comic books. They are filled with action and heroes. Doing any of these can give off a sense of adventure, thrill, and excitement. It doesn’t mean that you’re going to go off and start hurting people because of it. There is a lot of evidence that states the media affects viewers by encouraging violent behavior and weakening their creative ability. The question is whether the media is truly the problem, or is it the parental role that is the problem.
Well according to Manfred Spitzer, the media is the problem. Spitzer says that children are mostly affected by violent media because they are still learning.

He goes on by saying that too much T.V. can cause brain damage and causes attention deficient disorder. Then Spitzer gets extreme by saying that children watching too much television from ages 5-15 are more likely to become obese. The reason is because you lose muscle tone by just sitting in front of the TV, therefore television is fatting children. Finally he says that the kids that watch too much television has bad behavior problems.
However, Mr. Gerard Jones has a different opinion. He believes that violent media is actually good for kids. It helps them find out who their heroes are and to have something in common with other kids by their interests, so that they can make new friends. Jones explains how he didn’t have friends and spent a lot of time alone because his mother kept him away from violent media. Until one day when one of her students convinced her to allow Gerard to read comic books because it teaches lessons. That changed Gerard’s life. His hero was the hulk and he made friends with kids who also read comic books. Then later on in his life he became an action movie writer and a comic book writer. Gerard says that many of his fans was the same as him when he was a kid. They were outcasts with no friends until they became comic book nerds. This became His motivation to continue to do what he loves. To help and give entertainment to kids. So to Jones, violent media helps the kids who need an escape or to find common interests with fellow peers.
Lastly is the opinion of Stephen King.

King talks mostly about horror movies. He says that he loves horror movies, and that the best ones are the most aggressive. Then, King says that we are all crazy. King says that horror movies are a release. To distract us from everyday life. He also says that we watch horror films to feed our dark side. Meaning that you get your “fix” of hurting people just by watching the movie. That way you can keep your humanity and don’t go out and hurt anyone in real life. Another reason for watching horror movies is simply for the fun of it. We go as if it was a dare, saying that I’m not afraid to watch this. Just like a roller coaster, we go acting brave and confident and as it goes on it plays with our emotions and might get a scream out of us at certain times. Also, King mentions that horror movies are like sick jokes. “They have a dirty job to do” (King, 563). He says that because it releases our nastiest fanatics and appeals to all of

us.