FREE ESSAY ON VIOLENCE IN MOVIES

VIOLENCE IN MOVIES

I go to gross movies and listen to heavy metal and rap music and I haven't killed anybody,
a teenager said on a call-in radio show devoted to the tragic murders in Littleton. This
young woman completely missed the point.
These things provoke anger, temper, and crummy attitudes. Gross visuals and music dull
sensitivities. They teach the wrong way to handle problems. Make no mistake about this.
No matter what this girl or other defenders of this junk may say, violent movies, video
games, and gross music have consequences that include more arguing, hitting, abuse, and
other violent behavior; sometimes even killings like happened in Littleton.
However, instead of focusing on the real problem, most of the attention has been focused
on guns. Yes, these boys used guns. They also made and used bombs. Obviously, kids can't
have guns at school. But band-aid solutions about controlling gun sales would not have
stopped these kids from from getting guns--or from buying nails, propane and other things
they used to make the bombs. These kids broke a dozen laws in doing what they did.
Another law or two on the books would not have prevented the massacre in Littleton.
Common threads in this and other episodes of school violence have been that the kids have
watched lots of violent movies and videos, listened to gross music, and played violent
video games. I'm more worried about filling kids minds with gross violence in videos,
movies, and video games than I am about guns. I'm also very concerned about the
disconnect from parents and the lack of respect for authority. Parents need to take
charge. Obviously this needs to be with love, but parents need to be in charge and know
what is going on.
Other than guns being the quick diagnosis and thing to fix, all this awful violence seems
to be a big mystery to so many. This isn't a mystery. There's no mystery about it. 
If there's no respect and if kids' heads are filled with evil, violence, and sex--which
is what has been happening, why is anyone surprised about this horrific behavior? A large
part of the responsibility for the violence that happened in Littleton must be placed on
the producers of increasingly gross and violent movies, music, and video games. 
When kids go to a movie, watch television, or play video games, they become part of what
they see and hear. Soak this stuff in their heads long enough and it becomes a part of
the way they think, act, and live. The line between pretend and reality gets blurred.
This is why it's essential to keep garbage out of our minds--no matter what age we happen
to be. Since we watch a movie to escape from our own problems for a while and pretend we
are one of the characters, we vicariously do everything our movie character does, good or
bad. If our character is grossly violent, so are we. Just think what happens with a
steady diet of this stuff as has happened with the kids who shot their classmates and a
teacher in Littleton and in each of the shooting sprees in schools in the past few
years.
Parents, pay attention to what your kids are watching in videos in your home. And check
the video games that are on the computers around your place. You may be shocked. If you
find video games that make violence seem fun or exciting, put them in the trash. Junk
them. And monitor every computer in your home. They should be in a prominent place--not
behind locked doors in kids' rooms--any more than televisions and VCRs should be out of
your control. Do you know what your kids are watching or doing in the homes of their
friends? If not, find out. And do everything you can to help them stay away from the
grossly violent movies that are becoming more and more popular.
It's true that you can't completely control the lives of your children and teenagers. It
isn't possible. But you can control what comes into your home and what goes on there--if
you are there and if you take charge. The more a kid imagines doing something, the more
likely he or she is to do it in real life. This is tough. It isn't easy. But we are
talking about a very serious problem. Help your kids understand why your family rules
preclude this grossness, violence, and sex in your homes. Of course, they'll be watching
you. So don't watch this stuff either. There are so many good wholesome books to read,
movies to watch, and other things to do that we shouldn't let our time and our head be
filled with material that could put us in a frame of mind to do self-destructive things.
And even though the teenager who called into the radio show didn't shoot anyone after
watching and listening to this garbage, it certainly didn't do her any good. There are
many lesser effects from watching and hearing violent entertainment than creating
killers. Think about temper, anger, hostility, child abuse, spouse abuse, and many other
behaviors that are clearly and obviously made worse by constantly dumping unwholesome
junk into the heads of children, teens, and even grown-ups.
Click here for a commentary about why we go to movies and why it's such a problem for
kids (or grown-ups) to watch movies and television where the characters are involved in
non-married sex. 
This has been a terrible year or so--of the worst possible things being done to mislead,
misguide, and scare our kids. Now, let's take back our country--and set things in order.
We live in a society that teaches kids there isn't such a thing as right or wrong--that
they are to decide things for themselves. And when young people are enabled to do
anything--with no more authority in the world than what someone happens to think, we are
in big trouble. God and time-tested values are not allowed. Filth and evil are. We live
in a society that permits and enables bad--and censors traditional values. This must
change. It's time to get rid of the misinformation kids are taught. 
It's time that schools get tough. How long would a kid in a black trench-coat have been
allowed in school when you were a student? Kids need to feel safe at school. Of course
guns, knives, and weapons cannot be allowed in schools. But, I'm more worried about the
gross movies and video games the kids watch than I am about guns. It's time to have rules
at school--and at home. 
It's time to teach children and teenagers values. It's time to teach them that there is a
loving God, a father in heaven who loves us all and who gives us rules and laws that will
help us be happy and successful. And it's time to teach these kids these time-tested
principles--at home and in our places of worship. 
It's time for moms and dads to spend time at home with their kids. It's time to listen.
It's time to talk. It's time to play together. And it's time to pray together.