Violent Media Is Good For Kids By Gerard Jones Analysis

Improved Essays
Contrary to popular belief and conventional wisdom, violence in the media is way less harmful than what people think. Since the early days of motion pictures, violence has been overly criticized by many generations of adults generally and parents specifically. But after reading “Violent Media Is good for Kids” by Gerard Jones and how interesting is his take on this matter, the use of violence in the media makes much more sense. The discussion about good and evil, and what’s the proper way to settle the score between them has always been an obsession for mankind, no matter what age or ethnicities they are, but the common way it’s done in pop culture is by the use violence which can be seen as just fiction in the media, but ultimately impacts …show more content…
I had a fantasy self who was a self: unafraid of his desires and the worlds disapproval, unhesitating and effective in action.” This shows how deeply Jones was in need of “another self” to make him feel better in his every day life. At 13 years Mr. Jones was afraid and lonely, he found refuge in the persona of the larger than life character we all know as Hulk. More can still be understood from the article such as the influence of violence on the youth, as it makes them think about social relationships in another point of view, in addition of fulfilling their emotional needs Jones …show more content…
Another view from the detractors of violence in the media says that video games are the most harmful media format to kids, because they are fully knowledgeable of what they are doing, and in the video games that promote murder, theft and prostitution, the kids imply that such things are “okay” and normal in the society so they don’t feel the need to be discrete about these matters, “it is believed that acting out such violence as opposed to just viewing the violence causes the children to become more familiar with how to act out violence without consequences.” - The Academy of Pediatrics.

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Jones uses a different approach when writing this article. Its not like most where he has a thesis statement, rather he is telling a story. Us as readers know what his thesis is once we start reading even though he does not directly state one. “Violent Media is Good for Kids” is what I believe to be a strongly written article about how a modest amount of violence and heroism can benefit a child’s development.…

    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the reading, Violent Media Is Good for Kids, it talks about how as a child, author Gerard Jones, was sheltered and afraid to join peers in adolescent boyhood. He drew himself into passivity and loneliness, until his mother gave him a marvel comic that changed his life forever. By reading comics, he said, it has freed him. As the reading goes on, Jones tells also how comics have helped his son. But, although he and his son have found comfort through comics, many people say they are too intense, and lead to real life violence.…

    • 386 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Zachary Long Professor Elchlepp English 103H Essay 2 October 12, 2014 Analysis of "Violent Media is Good for Kids" Within Gerard Jones' article, "Violent Media is Good for Kids", first published in Mother Jones on June 20 of 2000, Jones makes a claim explicitly within his title that violent media is good for children, specifically by allowing for children to form an identity and teaching them to overcome life's challenges using the tools they have i.e. channeling their natural, darker feelings such anger. Jones' argument carries with it many strengths such as the use of Melanie Moore as a source and his varied gender examples clearly showing no differentiation in the results of children exposed to violent media based on gender. However,…

    • 1165 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Violence is a major problem in American culture, and many people wonder about the role of media. With all of the gun violence happening across the nation at the hands of our youth, one must wonder where the cause of this violence stems from. In John Leo’s article, “When Life Imitates Video”, the author firmly believes that violent youth behavior is associated with media violence. Throughout his article, the author attempts to persuade his audience of the impact video games have on children. He begins to build his credibility with personal facts, citing reputable sources, and engaging emotional appeals.…

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gerard Jones wrote “Violent Media is Good for Kids” explaining violent media do benefit and help kids. A child can imagine a fantasy self who was unafraid of his or her desire and world's disapproval, unhesitating, and effective in action. People who pull themselves out from emotional trap and immerse into violent stories. Fear, greed, power-hunger, rage are aspects people try not experience in their lives, but wants to experience. Rage motivate children to resist the greater threat and take more control.…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essay On Violent Media

    • 1050 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Conventional wisdom contends that violent media is harmful to children, but the author flips this assertion on its head by claiming that violent media, instead, provides positive psychological benefits to children. The evidence that he presents to support his argument is underwhelming, at best. He does not provide any empirical data to support his claims (his study is the closest thing to empirical evidence, but it’s lacking). He relies mainly on his experience as a child, his experience as a parent, his experience dealing with his son who, like he, suffered from low self-confidence, and his experience working with several troubled children who, in the end, benefitted from being exposed to violent…

    • 1050 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    At that time, most of the vulnerable children including me, had not realized those violent games directly reward violent behavior. Initially, we just considered playing violent video games as a kind of entertainment. However, after being exposed to violence day by day, underage children can become emotionally numb to violence, it’s much easier for children to engage in violent act. In the article, Timothy F.Winter reports that people playing violent video games are actively involved in the undertaking of the violence such as choosing whom to kill, beat, rape or urinate on rather than sitting back and watching violence. (Winter para.5).…

    • 1018 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The article “Violent Media is Good for Kids” by Gerard Jones is very convincing. Jones argument goes against the majority of societies opinions. Jones article first appeared on Mother Jones, which targeted many parents and their opinions on weather or not they agreed with showing their child media violence. Jones believes that media violence is not harmful for children, it is helpful. Jones also believes that when children see and use violent media it is helping them in a positive way so children meet their emotional and developmental needs.…

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A big conflict today between adults and teens is whether or not violent video games will cause you to act out violently and make you more aggressive. There is no solid evidence or data that links violent acts to playing these violent video games. Parents and experts feel that some games are just too violent and they demand the government to regulate the sales of these games. However, I believe violent video games do not cause an increase in violence and the idea to regulate these games is caused by an exaggeration of the effects of violent video games. Others need to look more into this idea and find the benefits that these games can actually have.…

    • 1245 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Consequences of Digital Worlds: The Effects of Violent Video games on the Youth For as long as video games have existed, people, especially parents, have wondered what effects such devices have on children. However, interest in this topic reached new heights during the 90’s when video games got blamed for the violent behavior of kids. Multiple stories were released by the press that accused violent video games such as Mortal Combat for many violent activities happening around the country. As a result, many parents panicked, but the question still remained if video games could actually have such a big effect on kids. Research shows that violent games do, in fact, affect adolescents in several ways, specifically, increasing aggression and…

    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Video Games Do Not Cause Violent Behavior Over the years there have been several incidents that have stirred up the emotions of people, parents and especially investigators. These incidents include the Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting, the Columbine Massacre, and the incident in Colorado where a man went on a shooting spree in an Aurora movie theater. There was one key thing that aroused people’s emotions connected by investigators to all three incidents: video games. This led to the belief that if the parents’ children play violent video games that the child will become violent. Even though people have been led to believe that video games cause people to become cruel and commit violent actions, video games do not cause people to commit acts of violence because they don 't have time to…

    • 1737 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Playing violent games has made it where society has begun to accept violence and the media uses it for advertising and in tv shows as well. Media violence is a very common thing in today’s society, but what people don’t realize is that it is actually very harmful and can cause damage to the brain as well as make kids act out and be more aggressive than they normally would be.…

    • 847 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There is a lot of gore and violence that kids do not need to see. Kids who play those games are more likely to act out in violence or in a disrespectful manner. They may think that robbing a bank is easy and it gets you a lot of money without a consequence. The study shows that people who have committed violent crimes who…

    • 1275 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The United States has countless children aged 10-14 viewing violent and traumatizing motion pictures. Most have seen the harsh movie The Dark Knight, which has a PG-13 rating. This horrifying film continuously shows the main character, as a terrorizing joker who enjoys to kill for entertainment. This is unacceptable because it teaches children and young teens it is perfectly normal to kill without having any type of reasoning behind the madness and insanity. Furthermore, countless details support the conclusion that extreme violence should not be witnessed at young ages.…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Video games and Violence Video games have been the pinnacle of modern day entertainment ever since the late 1980’s when it really grabbed the attention of many children seeking entertainment outside of watching television. The only problem with this is that video games like everything else that is popular, has become controversial. The main controversy surrounding video games is that they are considered violent and unsafe for children to play. Video games are also being blamed for inspiring countless acts of horrific crimes such as mass shootings, and murder which most of the time is unjustified and makes no sense. There is no research that proves video games cause violence.…

    • 1404 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics