In this research paper I am going to talk about media violence, particularly the cultivation theory, and its connection to the actions and feelings of Oskar Schell. Throughout the novel Oskar talks about how he either wants to or how he does give himself bruises and how he is afraid of people from the Middle East even though he says he is not racist. I believe that the reason Oskar acts and feels this way is because of the way the media has portrayed the violent images from both the 09/11 attacks and the war in Iraq.
The Cultivation Theory believes that television is responsible for shaping or “cultivating” the viewer’s conceptions of reality. Television can either cultivate the viewers into believing something about society, such as fear of others due to the amount of violence shown, or it can cause viewers to be more aggressive towards one another or to themselves. Oskar shows this when he bruises himself or when he fights with his mother whenever he gets upset. A professor by the name of George Gerbner was the founder of the Cultivation Environment Movement in the mid 1960’s. Gerbner believed that there are three levels of television viewers; light, average and heavy. People who are “heavy viewers” watch four or more hours of television each day. Gerbner believed that heavy television viewers develop an exaggerated belief in a mean and scary world or what is known as the “mean world syndrome.” Even though the cultivation theory focused on television, I feel that all media can be grouped together in this theory.
The mean world syndrome is the mindset of general mistrust in others due to the great amount of violence that is shown on television. Oskar shows mistrust in people from the Middle East because of the 09/11 attacks. Even though Oskar stated that he was not racist, he still had a perception that all people from the Middle East are violent. In the mid 1960’s Gerbner found through research, that within a drama there were five violent acts per hour and within a children’s show there were twenty violent acts per hour. He calculated that the average television viewer had observed 13,000 violent deaths by the time they had graduated high school. He believed, along with other cultivation theorists, that television does indeed have long-term effects that can appear small at the time, but in the end can be devastating to an individual. The more Oskar looked at this picture of the falling man, the more he believed that it could be his father. The fact of not knowing what happened to his father ate away at Oskar and the image of the falling man caused Oskar to have many horrible thoughts and dreams.
The US Congress prompted a committee referred to as The Surgeon General’s Advisory Committee to research television violence and its effects. The research began in 1969 and contained content analysis, field experiments, laboratory experiments, observation studies and opinion surveys. There were forty scientists that were all experts in the behavioral sciences and mental disciplines selected to be in charge of the research. The results of the research were very shocking to say none the least.
The research found that eight out of ten dramatized programs contained violence and that in cartoons, the amount of violence increased. The average cartoon held close to six times the amount of violence than the average adult drama, which means that the greatest amount of violence was aired during the hours most likely for young children and teens to view. During the time that the experiment was held, the amount of violence shown on American television was greater than the amount shown by any of the other three nations. Oskar had complete access to Google, which he used often to learn about the 09/11 attacks and to get images from the 09/11 attacks. I believe that a half hour of web surfing shows way more violent images than a half hour of television does.
Also during the research, many children were both surveyed and observed. The surveys found that the greatest amount of television watched was during the sixth grade and after that it slowly declined due to other life activities becoming important; such as high school, college, work, marriage, and starting a family. The surveys also found that the average person watched three hours of television each day and that children who watched the least amount of television, were intellectually brighter than those that watched more. Observing the children, who were heavy television viewers, the scientist concluded that the children would most likely be aggressive to one another when given the opportunity to do so because of the amount of violence that they watched on television. Even though Jimmy Snyder taunted Oskar, Oskar had some disturbing daydreams of getting back at Jimmy like the one involving the play.
The Surgeon General’s Advisory Committee concluded from their research that television is greatly saturated with violent acts that may cause people to either be more violent towards one another or to view the world as a violent place to be. They also found that television did play a significant role in shaping the viewer’s beliefs about society in real life. Oskar beliefs of people from the Middle East was shaped from the 09/11 attacks even though he knew deep down not everyone from the Middle East wants to hurt others.
According to the research that the American Academy of Child and Adolescents Psychiatry has conducted, television can greatly influence children in developing values and shaping behavior. Their research has found that children can become “numb” to television violence, children can become excepting to violence being an option for solving problems, children enjoy imitating the violence they see on television, and children often identify with television characters; both the victims to violence and the violent offenders.
They also have found that children with emotional, behavioral, learning, or impulse control problems may be more easily influenced by television violence than those that don’t have these problems. Even if a child doesn’t have any violence shown to them in their family life, they can still become violent due to what they see on television. Oskar doesn’t appear to be the average young boy…could he possibly fit finding? The study found that it can take just one episode filled with violence to negatively affect a child to be more aggressive and the aggression can show up right away or can take years to come out. It only took one violent day such as 09/11 that caused Oskar’s aggression.
Watching violence on television can also cultivate people to have fear or anxiety. A recent survey that was given to parents that have children between the ages of two and seventeen showed that sixty-two percent of the parents had remembered a time when their child was scared over a violent act that they had seen on television and believed that it would also happen to them. Oskar was scared to go into high buildings or on boats because he was afraid that they would be under another attack. Another survey that was given to 2,000 children and teens showed that heavy television viewing of violence had caused them to experience anxiety, stress, and fear. The children believed that the violence that was committed on television does happen regularly in real life; not just on television shows.
In conclusion to my research, I have found that television and all media sources are full of violence that may cause people to be more aggressive to others or to themselves; especially with young children like Oskar. I have found that many children and adults have experienced fear or anxiety due to the high amount of violence that they have seen on television and in the media and that their perception of reality is cultivated due to the way television and the media portrays these incidents. I support the information that I have found and believe that society does need to open their eyes to what is being shown in the media.
Bibliography
1. Lowery, Shearon and De Fleur, Melvin. Milestones in Mass Communication Research: Surgeon General’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior. White Plains, NY: Longman Inc. 1988. Print.
2. American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Children and TV Violence. Aaca. Accessed March 1, 2010.
http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/children_and_tv_violence
3. Wilson J. Barbara. The Future of Children. Journal Issue: Children and Electronic Media. Princeton. Accessed March 8, 2010.
http://www.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/publications/journals/article/index.xml?journalid=32&articleid=58§ionid=268
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