<doc.id=0165.a3>
<title> Unnecessary violence </title>
This essay has used an article from 24 July 1995 by Ginia Bellafante as a springboard. In the article Bellafante talks about the violence on television. A solution to the parents' problem, with not being able to control what the children see on television, could be to install an antiviolence chip in the television sets. With this V chip it would be possible for parents to sift out programs with a high level of violence. Supporters to the V chip say that this may not be a perfect solution, but it gives more power to the parents. Opposition among broadcasters says that the V chip will not be able to see "the difference between Terminator 2 and Schindler's List."

Some people maintain that violence on television or in films is needed in order to make the viewer see the realness and authenticity in the film. I do not agree with them. For me, violence is something unnecessary and evil which cannot create anything good. I cannot understand how seeing a man getting kicked in the head or a woman being hit can do anything but make a young viewer think that "well, this is not as serious as it seems, and the persons receiving the punches always get up and hit back." I have discussed this with friends, especially boys, and they say that they have never thought that violence on television was for real and that they would not go out and kick somebody just because they had seen it on television. That is easy to say now, fifteen years after having seen the first violent film and being fifteen years older. But I do not think that children need violence on television to understand or see the authenticity. I do not regret that my parents never let me and my brother see the most violent scenes in the films when we were little, but I did feel a bit out of it the following day in school, when I could not follow the talk about the film among my classmates.

I have discussed the violence issue with my parents too and it surprised me to hear that my father thought it was justified to have violence in films. The film we were talking about was a Japanese film (Hana-bi from 1997) with the scene laid in Tokyo. The film is about a policeman who 'flips out' and becomes completely ruthless after a colleague of his has been seriously wounded by members of the Japanese Mafia. These murders are exposed in a brutal way. I went to see this film with a boyfriend and afterwards we discussed it. He thought it was very good and realistic (because of the many scenes of violence). I was not of the same opinion. Of course it was realistic and the violent scenes were the reason, but I still do not want to go to the cinema knowing that at any time now the blood may squirt me in the eyes. This was too realistic. However, my father thought the violence in this film was justified since this (almost) was the everyday life of a policeman in Tokyo. I understand the argumentation, but still, I think there are other ways to get the message through to the audience. Here I have a very good example and paradoxically it is from the same film. The last scene of it shows the chased policeman and his wife, who is ill, on a beach. He carries a gun and they both know what is going to happen - he will take his wife's life and then his own - but we never see this take place, we only hear the gun go off twice while the camera is turned towards the sea, and the last thing shown is the face of a little girl who has witnessed the scene. I know it is impossible to make the directors turn away the camera every time there is a violent scene. What I object to most is the closeness to the violence - there is no need to zoom in a wound. Tonight I heard the TV announcer warn 'sensitive viewers of the very realistic scenes of violence'. So why have these so called 'realistic scenes of violence' when the viewers have to be warned to cover their eyes in time for the scenes?

Sometimes these scenes comes so fast that I do not even have the time to close my eyes or look away before it is too late. I understand it is not possible to abolish all description of violence, but what I ask for is a little more understanding for those who want to enjoy a good film without the fear of seeing this violence. The 'hidden violence' described in the last scene of this Japanese film is acceptable, but the previous violence is too realistic.
</doc>