Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site gargoyle.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxn!ihnp4!gargoyle!carnes From: carnes@gargoyle.UUCP (Richard Carnes) Newsgroups: net.women Subject: Re: Rape - Another Solution (violence in art and on TV) Message-ID: <159@gargoyle.UUCP> Date: Mon, 19-Aug-85 15:36:57 EDT Article-I.D.: gargoyle.159 Posted: Mon Aug 19 15:36:57 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 20-Aug-85 22:23:28 EDT References: <2402@amdcad.UUCP> <5581@tekecs.UUCP> <29485@lanl.ARPA> Reply-To: carnes@gargoyle.UUCP (Richard Carnes) Organization: U. of Chicago, Computer Science Dept. Lines: 65 > Face it - violence is exciting (when you're not at the receiving end of it, > obviously). That's (one reason) why artists of all kinds have used violent > subjects. Believing violence in society is caused by violence on screen > seems just a little bit backwards to me. This discussion of violence in net.women seems to miss the point that violence in art, in itself, is neither good nor bad. What disturbs us is the way it is sometimes used, the function it often has, in various media (mostly TV). Consider *Othello*: when Othello strangles Desdemona for what he thinks is her adultery, this instance of violence against women is experienced as a human tragedy; one feels for both protagonists as human beings, caught in a web of Iago's (but also their own) making. The strangling and the suicide that follows, both occurring onstage, were not thrown in by Shakespeare to make the play more exciting but to achieve his dramatic and artistic aims, such as to dramatize the latent violence in Othello's character. On the other hand, in the *Oedipus Rex*, whose plot contains murder, suicide, incest, and self-blinding, Sophocles chose not to show any of this onstage, yet the *Oedipus* is as exciting and suspenseful as any play that has ever been staged. Compare, now, the standard TV cop show (obviously not HSB). Opening scene: A gorgeous woman returns to her apartment late in the evening, slips off her dress, turns to face the camera, screams. Cut to detectives standing over her body lying in a pool of blood, cameras clicking. The hunt is on for the psycho. If we're lucky we'll have a couple more gorgeous dead bodies. To me, this type of TV show is deeply offensive. The woman here is nothing more than a hunk of meat to "motivate" the plot and tease our voyeurism. I experience this as an assault on my emotions, when I have started to think of the woman as a real person and she is suddenly rubbed out -- the painful emotions this arouses are simply left dangling, and consequently one tends to protect oneself from the pain by not feeling those sensitive human emotions which set one up for the shock. Why indeed should the scriptwriters attempt to resolve these emotions and make the show into something meaningful? The entire point of such TV programs is to sell cars, junk food, etc., and evidently they do the job well -- millions of people (a large proportion of whom are kids) watch them every night, and presumably go out and buy the products the next morning. The point is that is not the portrayal of violence per se that is the problem, it is whether its function is to degrade and *use* the audience, as with the cop shows and some movies, or to ennoble or enlighten or divert (or whatever you think the purposes of art should be), as with good theater and movies. As long as we're griping about the portrayal of women on TV, you've probably noticed that in standard TV fare the female lead is always "beautiful." E.g., plot summary: "A beautiful woman construction worker meets a young news photographer...." etc. Obviously, plain Janes are non-persons, or fit only for supporting roles at the most. (Another gripe about TV: guns are shown as magic devices for blowing away bad guys. Thousands of bullets fly, but Magnum, Simon & Simon, etc. don't get a scratch.) TV does not originate, it just exacerbates and perpetuates, some of the worst aspects of our society (I think it also provides a few benefits). It would be hard for me to believe that the degrading experience to which millions of people are subjected (and subject themselves) each night does not have some serious consequences. Censorship is not the answer, of course. Changing our society is, but it's not a simple answer. Richard Carnes, ihnp4!gargoyle!carnes