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Dialogues@RU is published
annually
by the
Writing Program at
Rutgers, The State
University of New Jersey
Volume Two
Spring 2003
"I Want You to Hit Me as Hard as You Can!":
Screen Violence as a Reflection of Mass Reality - Page 1
by James Nelson
Entertainment in the twenty-first century is monopolized by the audience's desire for reality. Reality and realism are relative terms, defined by each individual's own sense of the world around them. They represent what we understand, relate to, and identify with. Although this has the potential to vary greatly, there is a unifying reality, cultural conceptualization, and an innate sense of self that is shared by the mass. It is this portrait of reality that is used as the basis of modern film and television. Both mediums take this reality and present it in endless different scenarios and contexts that will entertain and connect with the audience on some level. Even in science fiction and fantasy, two genres whose trademark is often the dismissal of reality, there is always an underlying connection made between the story and the audience's emotions that, in turn, creates reality for the audience. One of the most pervasive and constantly increasing attributes of today's version of realism is violence. It is everywhere we look, in all countries, and in many different forms. Popular culture and, more specifically, modern film, are attacked for using violence as the groundwork on which a story is then developed. Such an attack was made on the film Fight Club , the tale of two men who experience a spiritual rebirth by directing their physical aggression on to one another. The critics who dismissed the film as an overtly "guy flick" failed to realize the accurate comment the film made about popular culture and the reality on which it operates, the mass reality. They claim that films are shaping a violent popular culture, causing us to perform in certain ways and do things only because we are shown them. However, we are innately violent and films like Fight Club do nothing more than point that out and provide us with the graphic elements it takes to entertain us. Violence is seen so openly on screen because the mass audience identifies with it and understands its role in society.
Popular culture is a term that is loosely thrown around by critics, many of whom lack the ability to correctly define it. Author John Storey, in his article, "What is Popular Culture," identifies and examines six different definitions of popular culture. The most valid and reliable of these definitions aligns with the idea that popular culture is a reflection of our own behaviors and constitutes what will entertain the most people. Storey states that "popular culture is the culture which originates from 'the people'.. It is a culture of the people for the people" (Storey 13). Media critics attack depictions of sex and violence that now dominate everything from film to print advertisements, however, these critics are often entirely out of touch with the mainstream. Current films are not made for those who grew up on John Wayne and "Ozzie and Harriet," they are made for the generation who idealized Rambo and connected with the offbeat and exaggeratedly unconventional family dynamics of "Married with Children." Popular culture operates under the simple formula of increased need equals an increase in product, seeking to mirror and appeal to the mass population's reality. Popular culture media is involved in a very simple relationship with society; it gives us exactly what we ask for. This is the correct definition of popular culture.
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