Popularity of Violent, Crude, Amoral or offensive American Television

Introduction

The influence exerted by the mass media on society is undeniable, in some cases this ability to intervene on the individual, and thus on the social community can be beneficial, however in the past, may have an actually harmful. In the US, survey had shown that 80% of the television programs are violence and exposure to television account approximately half of the homicide committed in the US. Youths growing up in the midst of violence will show worse effects than adults as they may fail to distinguish between real and fantasy world, and may see the world as an unfriendly place to live. The popularity of violent, crude, amoral or offensive American television should be explained openly.

Discussion

The article "A Moral Never-Never Land: Identifying with Tony Soprano" by James Harold argues against Plato's and Tolstoy's criticism of art being "dangerous." (Harold, 137) Harold argues that Plato and Tolstoy theory of art are to "simplistic." (Harold, 137) He used the hit show The Sopranos as an example to illustrate the complexity of art. Becoming a viewer of The Sopranos or other television series takes a lot of time and effort to watch every episode. This leads viewers to understanding people who have similar problems as themselves and how to solve them (Harold, 140). Watching three days of footage over time gives a person a good sense of what each character is like. A viewer would know what makes one character happy and another character sad or angry. It is almost like the viewer has known them for a very long time.

Shows such as The Sopranos lead people to sympathize for fictional characters and feel the feelings of the characters, even when it's not appropriate to. These emotions can become so strong that a person couldn't control them in his or her everyday life. However these opinions are absurd. Television may be very dramatic and emotional, but it does not lead a person to think in one certain way about a show. If people always became emotionally fixed on television series, almost all of America would be corrupt because many people watch television shows. Harold states, “Sometimes the show does make Tony and his crew look quite sympathetic; but it also provides us with other perspectives, and permits us, if we try, to formulate a complex and sophisticated personal moral response to gangster ...