Movies, Music, TV,
and Peer Pressure

by Francesca Cappucci Fordyce 

Media violence does not cause children to be violent. If a child is angry, violent movies, television shows, and negative lyrics in music merely add fuel to an already smoldering fire. A violent world contributes to violent children, but is not the cause. That is not to say that television, movies, music, and video games do not hold a tremendous power to influence. They do, and in that respect, they can share the blame, but we must not overlook the deeper cause of violent children, which is an increasing lack of nurturing adult involvement. It is also true that while guns facilitate the act of killing, guns do not create the mindset for the action.

Without question, media violence contributes to the breakdown of inhibitions. The sheer repetition of killing seen on television and in movies, desensitizes our youth, and increases the likelihood that someone will gravitate towards a gun to settle a conflict. But the person has to have a pre-disposition to kill. The issue at hand, which can not be over-emphasized enough, is that we are raising children to have such a disposition. Murderers are trained.

Why Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold plotted, and then stormed Columbine High School with an arsenal of homemade bombs and guns, remains a mystery. The newsmakers ask, was the lack of parental involvement the impetus, or should the blame fall on our violent culture? What of the multitude of offensive computer games, TV shows, movies and CD's, with death and murder themes filling the marketplace? Both Klebold and Harris were reportedly avid fans of the violent video game "Doom". But many other teens, who spend countless hours in front of their computer monitors, thoroughly absorbed in this game, say "Doom" was not the cause.

If you visit Doomworld on-line, you can observe countless messages from girls and boys all defending violent games, and proclaiming they should not be culpable for teen violence. Repeatedly, teens visiting the "Doom" web-site state, that while they frequently enjoy gruesome movies and video games, they have no inclination whatsoever to shoot or kill anyone. They say "Doom" is just a good way to be entertained. They affirm, if "Doom" and other violent mediums were indeed the cause of escalating teen violence, then surely everyone would be waving guns and making pipe bombs.

Concerned parents and professionals in education and psychotherapy are aligning their voices with a contrary belief. They strongly maintain that violent movies, videos, and music provides an easy way for teens to strike back any anyone who has angered them. "First Person Shooter" is another popular video game. It allows the player to view from the perspective of the shooter. Lawyers for the parents of three girls killed in the Paducah, Kentucky school shooting, charge that video games, such as "Doom" and "First Person Shooter" are partially responsible for the girls' deaths. John Thompson, an attorney for the victims' parents says, these video games teach "a technique that is totally counterintuitive, and that is to point the gun, pull the trigger, instantly move to the next target, pull the trigger again, where the natural thing to do is empty your gun into a target until that target falls." He adds, "the games taught the young shooter how to handle a gun. The boy, who had not previously used a gun, was able to hit eight scrambling, terrified girls in just eight quick shots."

But Steve Rickard of the Denver Police Department's gang unit has a view contrary to what many professionals and parents are claiming. He brings it back to home life, saying that violent problems are rooted in home life and not in entertainment mediums. Parent interaction appears to be the biggest factor in determining whether children turn to violence. Adding, many young people migrate to gangs or cults seeking acceptance, a feeling of self-worth and a sense of identity. But Rickard was quick to interject, "A lot of times, entertainment, music, movies are the trigger. They are not the cause necessarily; it's the little push that makes them do something." Additionally, why would kids want to spend hours on video games if they were really engaged in their families and communities?

After the Columbine massacre, Crosbie-Burnett told CNN, "Do teenagers have anybody they can talk to about how much this hurts? Because the hurt comes first, then comes the anger." Did Harris and Klebold have anyone to talk to at home? Or did they confess all of their misery onto each other, reinforcing the bad feelings so that there was no escape?

Searching for answers, the world may be quick to find a scapegoat within the media. This would take the blame and ultimate responsibility away from parents, allowing them to continue life as usual. As we have said, to fix their children, they have to fix themselves. This explains why the country is banding together, placing the blame on everything violent outside of the home. It is much more difficult to acknowledge the violence (physical, sexual, verbal abuse, neglect and domination) within the home. How many parents made changes in their homes after Columbine? And if they did, were they long-lasting? Are parents still spending far too much time submerged in their work and away from their families? Are they sincerely interacting and listening to their children?

Currently we are allowing Government interference because no one knows how to handle the problem of violent youth. The American government is all too eager to take charge. President Clinton spearheaded an anti-school-violence campaign. The first mandate was to order a government investigation of how the entertainment business markets violence to children. Clinton said, "Our children are being fed a dependable daily dose of violence. And it sells," adding "The boundary between fantasy and reality in terms of violence -- which is a clear line for most adults -- can become very blurred for vulnerable children." Clinton sited that thirty years of studies have documented that by the time a typical American child turns eighteen, he or she has seen forty thousand "play" murders and two hundred thousand dramatized acts of violence. The government investigation will examine industry-marketing practices similar to the government-investigated tobacco ad campaigns, which concluded that ads were, in fact, aimed at enticing kids to smoke.

Former Attorney General Janet Reno said, "We now need to know more about how children learn about the existence and the contents of violent material, and why they are drawn to them, whether it be movies or video games."

But Douglas Lowenstein, President of the Interactive Digital Software Association said, "This nation should not lose sight of the fact that parents, not kids, buy most games. And therefore keeping games not appropriate for children out of their hands, starts and ends at home.

Furthermore, how many times have you gone to the movies and seen very young children attending a violent movie with their parents? These adults take their kids with them to see a PG 13, or even R rated film, because it is the film the parent wants to see. The two hours are filled with guns, bombs, sex and vulgar language. Why do parents do this? Mainly for their own convenience, and because they do not care what goes into the minds of their children. If they did, they wouldn't take their kids to see such films. The message kids take away is that their parents are more concerned with their own entertainment. What really hurts them is the indifference of their parents, not the guns, violence, and vulgarity.

With candor, it is important to ask yourself what kind of child are you raising. Can you be sure he has confidence, tolerance, and laughter in his heart? Will your child become an adult who will be able to make his dreams come true? Or, is your child filled with anger and restlessness, leading him to battle mind traps of obsessiveness and self-loathing for the rest of his life?

Parenting is the most difficult job there is because of the immense responsibility of shaping another human being. Your child's character and inner structure is like putty in your hands. You hold the power to shape and mold a child's vulnerable constitution. With such big stakes, it is peculiar that most embark on becoming parents without any kind of instruction or training. So much can, and does, go wrong.

After serious inventory of how you have disciplined, instructed, and guided your child, you can begin the process of mending the places that have been hurt. Parents can begin to re-connect with their intuition, and begin to faithfully listen to their children. The path to healing is then opened for both parent and child.

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