Recently I caught the movie 'Death Race' in cinema. Here's a brief synopsis on the film:
In 2012, the
The film is built upon popular media culture today, that of reality tv and violence; bringing out the issue of how home viewers enjoy the idea of reality tv providing the 'what you see is what you get' sense of realism and unpredictability, and also how violence is now perceived to be a form of entertainment.
'Perception is the process of selecting, organizing and interpreting information in order to give personal meaning to the communication we receive'. Psychological and social factors are highly influential in the way we choose to perceive things around us, and media being one of the social factors, plays a crucial role in affecting the selection process of perception. In the event of flawed selection, as in the case of media depicting violence in a good light, perceptual errors such as that of distortion may occur.
In 'Death Race', violence in reality tv is seen as a platform for revenue and also a solution to reviving the declining US economy. This is where perceptual distortion comes in. The message that is brought across to the viewers is that violence actually has a good cause! We can use violence to save the country! But hey I thought we were taught since young not to use violence to deal with problems? I see Hollywood thinks otherwise. The death race is also portrayed to be US's 'most popular pay-per-view sport', whereby viewers enjoy watching such violent killing programme and actually see the inmates as reality tv racing idols rather than who they truly are: murderers, rapists and paedophiles. Media is indeed a powerful tool when it comes to distorting the truth, and blurring the line between fact and fiction. A famous, or rather infamous example of media popularizing a serial killer would be Jack the Ripper. Some believe that the killer's nickname was invented by newspapermen to make for a more interesting story that could sell more papers. Media in the 1800s casted Jack the Ripper in a mystical, almost legendary light, causing many to actually idolize the vicious murderer, ignoring his acts of brutal killings.
The once conventional roles of police and thief are also being interchanged in the movie. Police used to be the image of justice and authority; however in the film they are everything but your friendly neighbourhood policemen. Instead, police are portrayed to be a money-minded evil bunch who malign and capture your regular good citizen (Warden Hennessey framed innocent man Jensen for wife's murder in order to have him disguise as Frankenstein to join in the Death Race). The inmates on the other hand are almost viewed upon as heroes instead of villains here, what with the fearless and cool tough guy image they give forth to viewers. You may just be surprised the next time you ask your 7-year-old boy cousin the question of 'what do you wanna be when you grow up'. The once predictable answers of policeman or fireman may now be replace by that of gangsta or psycho!
The underlying message that the film seems to convey is that violence is cool. The concept of this 'kill-or-be-killed car race' is obviously only the toughest will survive. Is death being portrayed as a game here? And lives, insignificant? The typical happy ending of Jensen reuniting with his baby daughter and taking revenge on Warden Hennessy by sending her a bomb disguised as a gift, seemed to set forth the idea that violence can be countered with violence. What then does such notion tells the audience? When all else fails you can always resort to violence to resolve your troubles? Some of you may see this as purely Hollywood movie gimmick, but with incidents like the 1999 Columbine High School massacre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_shooting) and 2005 Red Lake High School massacre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Lake_High_School_massacre), both shooting rampages carried out by American high school students, I find it hard to belittle the effects media violence have on people, especially youths today. Media violence through movies, songs, internet and video games are seen as one of the contributing factors to the violent acts of the high school killings.
Personally I see media as the main culprit for depicting violence as a form of popular culture today. Younger generations easily exposed to media influence are usually the ones most susceptible to such violent culture. Violent acts should never be something perceived to be cool or worshiped, regardless of how media may choose to portray them. Violence = good entertainment? I beg to differ.
5 comments:
violence, like everything else, depends on the viewer's mindset i guess?
to a sensible person, violence in movies is just good entertainment. to a person easily-influenced, then yeahh... violence in movies is a BAD IDEA.
hellooo! havent caught this movie yet haha but based on what u blogged, i think there's both sides to the story.
We're talking about USA.. It's a free world there, purchasing and owning guns are allowed. And yeah its no hidden secret that Hollywood directors will forget moral values and the influence it has in tweens just to gain box office hits. the most they'll do is just to get the board of film censors to put a nc16 or m18 rating to it :)
But then again, there's conservative countries like China where the govt controls what's aired on national tv closely. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the crime rate/violence tendencies to be significantly lower than other parts of the world.
Ultimately i feel that, true, media violence has bad effects on young children, but we've gotta rmb tt it still depends on the childrens' characters -
do they have enough self-discipline to identify that what's on tv is good/bad?
:) interesting point u raised!
hi there to janice and amelia :) i agree with the both of you that yes ultimately how great the effect of media violence really depends on the perception and mindset of one on the issue. however i see media as a VERY influential medium in promoting the idea of violence.
even though as amelia has pointed out, there may not be vast difference in the crime rates between the western and eastern countries, media violence is definitely very much in existence taking the form of the world wide web. there is just so much that the govt can censor and restrict no?
anw this is just MY perception on the issue. thank you guys for raising another great point!
hey hey... always thought you had violent tendencies... haha kidding.
well well death race from first impressions looks like, or rather sounds like a movie that has a nice ring to it.
that's it.
yup that's all you need to know about death race.
a nice ring to it.
=)
violence is a subjective word. to certain cultures violence is more often than not an intent, an act that sends an underlying message in the most crude way.
to tell us "hey, you don't mess with me" or "you're next"
to me violence equates to senselessness. no doubt it is a form of communication, but it is the kind that is warped, narrowed, and only the deluded would think that it would lead to peace.
World War One (WWI) has solved nothing. World War Two (WWII) has won some directors an Oscar (award) or two but that's just it.
Violence serves no purpose. lots of feedback though, like injuries and deaths. and at this time and age i feel that we should fight against the usage and screening of violence as people are becoming more "bloodthirsty", for fame and fortune.
children too, should be shielded from such situations. the trauma they recieved is unimaginable, and the disorders that they bring with them as they age.
i can't imagine a world like that. violence breeds more violence.
more peace, and We All Know One.
i think the main reason of violence prevailing in our culture today is simply... POOR PARENTING.
no one is forcing those kids to play those games or watch those movies. it is a parent's onus to nurture his/her own child(ren), and not just blame the video/game industries (for providing us good entertainment, mind).
parents always have the option to ground their kids; or erm resort to... violence such as the cane; or just simply talking to them, teaching them about the mature, explicit stuff that they'll be inevitably exposed to later in life.
like what janice said, it's all about perspective. if certain adults aren't capable of taking care (and that includes proper education) of kids, they shouldn't have any in the first place.
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