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Jan. 19th, 2003 05:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfgroveI'll reply to the comments to my previous 2 entries a bit later, I seem to be unable to comment right now anyways. LJ won't let me.
A slightly disturbing thought from my Theatre teacher Friday...
The concept was put forth to her in a letter from a high school student.
Back in the elder days, Romans considered bloodsports the hieght of entertainment. Having slaves battle to the death, bearbaiting, throw the "pagans" (as the teacher put it, pagans at that time were any cult reigions including Christianity, but also others) in the arena to fight various wild animals, and other similar sports that involved real life and death situations.
I guess a lot of us find that a disgusting concept. You don't want to see people die for your pleasure, do you?
But my theatre teacher pointed out that they loved bloodsport so much because, plays having once been the center of society, they wanted something real and genuine. They had become somewhat immune to the false world of the stage.
And you see the same thing in today's society. We complain if the spray of blood in the movie isn't realistic enough, if the emotions are too fake, the plot too farfetched or too predicatable. We see people killed by the hundreds on the big screen and on the litttle box in our homes, and can fall asleep watching it. It bores us. We're becoming immune to it. The most popular shows that are croping up everywhere are "reality" shows. People's relationships, emotional lives, sanity, dignity, privacy are on the line and brought into the light for everyone to see. Fear Factor being among the ones to truly make my point. People putting themselves at risk for money and fame.
But, for how much longer is it going to be something safe and controlled. How long until it's not just their diginity, guts, and some cash on the line? How long until they have to start really killing people to keep our attention?
I wonder.
We're bored. We've grown impassive and immune to most violence. A real life and death situation? Maybe that's what we want. For when else? When your life is on the line, isn't that when you can see the most real moment of a person's true character? Is that not the moment when the truth of things comes out? In the most extreme situations?
I remembered a recent conversation with a couple of my friends during her not even five minute brief on the concept. We talked about how we disliked the reality show fad lately, though we didn't hit this tangent. Instead, we said to clean out the gene pool, maybe some of the people on there needed to be killed when they were voted of the island. Maybe the winner too. Get rid of that kind of idiocy. Hmm. What does that speak of us? We really are so desensitized...
I did a bit of my own variation on the argument thoughout there, but I had the same basic point.
Thoughts?
A slightly disturbing thought from my Theatre teacher Friday...
The concept was put forth to her in a letter from a high school student.
Back in the elder days, Romans considered bloodsports the hieght of entertainment. Having slaves battle to the death, bearbaiting, throw the "pagans" (as the teacher put it, pagans at that time were any cult reigions including Christianity, but also others) in the arena to fight various wild animals, and other similar sports that involved real life and death situations.
I guess a lot of us find that a disgusting concept. You don't want to see people die for your pleasure, do you?
But my theatre teacher pointed out that they loved bloodsport so much because, plays having once been the center of society, they wanted something real and genuine. They had become somewhat immune to the false world of the stage.
And you see the same thing in today's society. We complain if the spray of blood in the movie isn't realistic enough, if the emotions are too fake, the plot too farfetched or too predicatable. We see people killed by the hundreds on the big screen and on the litttle box in our homes, and can fall asleep watching it. It bores us. We're becoming immune to it. The most popular shows that are croping up everywhere are "reality" shows. People's relationships, emotional lives, sanity, dignity, privacy are on the line and brought into the light for everyone to see. Fear Factor being among the ones to truly make my point. People putting themselves at risk for money and fame.
But, for how much longer is it going to be something safe and controlled. How long until it's not just their diginity, guts, and some cash on the line? How long until they have to start really killing people to keep our attention?
I wonder.
We're bored. We've grown impassive and immune to most violence. A real life and death situation? Maybe that's what we want. For when else? When your life is on the line, isn't that when you can see the most real moment of a person's true character? Is that not the moment when the truth of things comes out? In the most extreme situations?
I remembered a recent conversation with a couple of my friends during her not even five minute brief on the concept. We talked about how we disliked the reality show fad lately, though we didn't hit this tangent. Instead, we said to clean out the gene pool, maybe some of the people on there needed to be killed when they were voted of the island. Maybe the winner too. Get rid of that kind of idiocy. Hmm. What does that speak of us? We really are so desensitized...
I did a bit of my own variation on the argument thoughout there, but I had the same basic point.
Thoughts?
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no subject
Date: 2003-01-19 05:26 pm (UTC)The more I observet human behaviour, the more I realize that the "dumb animals" that humans look down upon actually have a better idea about the world than we ever could.
no subject
Date: 2003-01-20 07:56 am (UTC)Yes, being overly sensitive to violence is bad, but I think this desensitizaqtion is equally bad.
Yes the animals have a better clue, but I don't think they're desensitized to violence. I think that rather, they are acutely aware of it, and that it has a place. And that's different from desensitization.
no subject
Date: 2003-01-20 07:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-01-19 08:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-01-20 07:58 am (UTC)Death and violence has it's place, but we shouldn't find it amusing... yet we do.
no subject
Date: 2003-01-22 12:50 pm (UTC)Never seen it.
Date: 2003-01-22 02:57 pm (UTC)I'll be back!