I recently wrote a blog about why it's kind of a bad idea for the media to glorify crime and make it more relatable the way they have been doing with TV shows lately. They humanize the bad guy and make him the "star of the show" so you end up subconsciously rooting for that person in some ways.
Shows I listed included: Dexter. Weeds. Hannibal. Bates Motel.
Breaking Bad. The Sopranos. CSI. Snapped. Game of Thrones. Bones. Vegas.
Sherlock. Sons of Anarchy...
Today I found out a 16 year old boy named Steven Miles who suffered from a mental disorder was inspired by the show DEXTER and murdered and dismembered his girlfriend 17 year old Elizabeth Thomas. he wanted to "recreate" the show into reality.
"Having stabbed her in the head and back, he went on to dismember her
legs and an arm, wrapped the limbs in clingfilm and placed them in bin
bags, before covering her body in a green plastic garden sheet."
And things like this have happened before. I'm not saying if you play Grand Theft Auto you'll steal cars. What I am saying is if you make it more and more permissable and acceptable and understandable to commit crimes by focusing your attention on glorified criminals in made up TV shows you will likely perpetuate and desensitize people to the severity of those crimes themselves.
For example, in the show Hannibal you don't usually witness the murders themselves -only the crime unit trying to figure it out. And when murders are shown they're done with lighting effects, drama, and slow motion. It is either hiding the crime, downplaying the severity of the crime, or borderline romanticizing the crime.
You CAN watch these shows but you also have to remember: Most of them are based on things that DO happen in real life and should be treated with that kind of weighted acknowledgement AND there are likely to be mentally-unstable people who WILL watch the show and feel inspired to act on what is being portrayed in a romanticized way.
*Update 10/08/14: Chef Marcus Volke killed, dismembered, cooked, and ate his girlfriend: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/06/chef-cooks-girlfriend-marcus-volke_n_5940150.html
No comments:
Post a Comment