Media Violence: The Influence Of Violent Media On Youth

The Influence of Violent Media on the Youth Just as author Wes Moore states in his book The Other Wes Moore: “When we’re young, it sometimes seems as if the world doesn’t exist outside our city, our block, our house, our room. We make decisions based on what we see in that limited world and follow the only models available.” (Moore 178). Unfortunately, today the model that young children have to follow is violent media. “Research on violent television and films, videogames, and music reveals unequivocal evidence that media violence increases the likelihood of aggressive and violent behavior in both immediate and long-term contexts.” (Crowley). Violence has infiltrated every aspect of the media and has increased the daily exposure to violence …show more content…
The movie features a Panda who is trying to learn the ways of Kung Fu. Though this seems as though it would be an innocent movie with talking animals, it is anything but that. Throughout the movie, one character relentlessly tries to kill the protagonist. The movie contains scenes of extremely graphic violence as the animals fight to the death. The creators of the film took what would be a mature topic for a movie, and used animals as their main characters in order to cater it towards young children. This transformation of movie culture has proven the want for more violence within films. Social Psychologist Dr. Kaj Bjorkqvist ran an experiment where he assigned groups of six year-old children to watch either a violent or non-violent movie. After the exposure, the children were put together to play. The adolescents who were assigned to watch the violent movie were rated much higher on physical assault and aggression than those who were assigned to watch the non-violent movie. Studies show even being exposed to a violent film one time can cause an immediate increase in aggressive thinking and emotions (Anderson). During these formative years of a child’s life, they need to be exposed to positive influences, but instead are receiving dark, violent messages. When the first Kung Fu Panda came out, it was rated “G” and was perceived by its audience as a friendly family movie that sent a positive message to its viewers. However, three short years after the release of the first movie, Kung Fu Panda Two came out, and depicts hatred of others, and war. As a result, Kung Fu Panda Two possesses the rating of “PG”, therefore requiring parental guidance. However, parents of young children recognize that the material in this film is far too harsh for young viewers: “It is nothing like the sweet, funny first movie of a panda finding his Kung Fu destiny. This is a dark violent film with a sadistic