Violence in the Media

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Bang! Bang! Little children running and screaming; terrified that they are going to die. The shooter walks into the room heavily armed, with a crazed look in his eye. There’s a women near a closet and small group of 1st graders behind her. He starts to go toward the little room to finish what he started. Then the young woman steps in front of the unstable gunman to shield the students from harm. A fatal shot is fired and the young teacher lies dead. That woman was Victoria Soto, a hero in the Sandy Hook Shooting, who risked her life to save her students from that delusional man, Adam Lanza. The horrific incident that took place on December 14, 2012 took the innocent lives of 26 students and teachers. Lanza did have a mental illness, but that isn’t all to blame. The shooter was known to play and watch violent movie and games (Aliprandini and Finley). This shows that media violence can be linked to aggressive behavior and that violent media can affect the minds of some young children and teens. Studies in the past decade have helped prove that sometimes the media can be bad for kids. The outcome of playing first-person shooter games could end up in innocent lives dying like in Newtown. Young children are exposed to violence every day. In TV shows, books, games, cartoons, movies, and the internet, violence is a part of everyone’s lives, but especially those of young kids. For example, recently Paramount Pictures released Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, a weapon slinging twist on a classic fairy tale (McKay). In the movie they have people blow their own heads off with a shotgun. In retrospect this movie isn’t meant for children 13 and below, although kids would want to see a “fairy tale” like this. Young 10 year olds, today even ... ... middle of paper ... ...iew Reference Center. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. Driscoll, Sally and Denise B. Geier. "School Violence: An Overview." Points Of View: School Violence (2013): 1. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. Gastaldo, Evann. “Jim Carrey Denounces Own Movie.” Newser.com: Jim Carrey (2013): Web. 24 Jun. 2013. Newton, Heather. "Music Censorship: An Overview." Points Of View: Music Censorship (2013): 1. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. McKay, Hollie. “Post-Newtown Massacre it is Violent Movies as Usual in Hollywood” Foxnews.com: Violent Movies (2013): Web. 12 Feb. 2013. Norcia, Andrea. “Parents and Teachers: The Impact of Video Games.” Pamf.org: Media Violence (2013): Web. 31 Aug. 2013. Vasilis, Pozios K. and Kambam Praveen R. and Eric H. Bender. “Does Media Violence Lead to the Real Thing?” NYTimes.com: Media Violence (2013): Web. 23 Aug. 2013.

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