Violent Influences On Society

Saw III was number one at the box office and will be again this week (Borat probably doesn't have a chance at only 700 screens). I haven't seen any of the Saw films so I won't comment directly on their influence, but their popularity gives me the perfect launching point for a commentary on violence and sex in popular culture...

I'm in the middle on the question of how much it influences our youth, but I tend to lean towards the "more than we dare to admit" camp. When you have 8-year-olds blasting their way out of a convenience store as a way to get points on "Grand Theft Auto" it's kind of hard to imagine that doesn't associate a positive with killing and stealing at the onset of the formative years.

Fast forward 7 years and the same kid at the God-awful mid teens age where your self esteem is at its shakiest and outside influences, impulses and desires are at their greatest. So he comes home after his girlfiend dumps him, bullies beat him up, and takes it out on the Playstation. Is that healthy as an outlet (at least he's not taking it out in real life, and he's smart enough to know the difference) or is it fetishism and fantasy, and maybe he caps off his weekend by going to see Saw with his friends. The well adjusted kid, no worries. The messed up kid with lousy or no parental guidance, well, it seems to me that it's hard to have a positive influence on how to deal with crises with so many instant influences out there.