Exam Question

To what extent is there evidence that youths in western culture have become desensitized to violence due to its mainstream portrayal in modern films. Analysis will include crime thriller films such as Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs", David Fincher's "Seven" and Brian de Palmer's "Scarface".
The purpose of this piece is to discover if there is evidence of desensitization as time progresses, i.e. there is around a nine year gap between each of my key films in the study to incorporate into the hypothesis.
Desensitization is a media theory in itself, defined by Galit Ferguson quite simply in MediaMagazine as when "we are exposed to too much violence we will become less sensitive to real life violence." It goes on to raise concerns about the sheer amount of violence that is shown on our screens today, but also mentions the difficulty in proving this theory due to other influences on behaviour from the life that audience members may already lead.

Hall et al. (1978) suggest that violence is often regarded as intrinsically entertaining to an audience who, it is argued, have become more emotionally detached and desensitized to the vast array of visual images bombarding them from every corner of the world, this theory is very similar to mine, only it sounds better and cooler and stuff. This is in turn backed up by Jerry Mander, who states, ""Press conferences got coverage once. Rallies brought more attention that press conferences. Marches more than rallies. Sit-ins more than marches. Violence more than sit-ins. A theory evolved: accelerate the drama of each successive action to maintain the level of coverage." Quite intelligent, don't you think?

For this study I conducted some primary research in the form of a questionnaire, which urged any participants to consider their own possible desensitization, as I for one do believe that I have become desensitized, although only to a certain degree. I believe my desensitization is more central to people's use of bad language, though it still counts for violence. In reality, I've not yet conducted this questionnaire, but it's on my to-do list. The questions in the quiz first asked if they could recall any specific times they'd been effected or disturbed by a violent sequence in a film, then again at the end, to see if their minds had been changed on reconsideration. A further question could be to consider what, including violence, they consider to be the most psychologically affecting factor in films.