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<title> Are there differences in violence? </title>
The programs on television becomes more and more violent. It is not healthy for children to see all that is shown, certain programs should be warned against, but which. Is there a difference between the violence in a program or movie, that is accepted by the critics and a program that is not? Does a plot that is thought through make the violence less dangerous to children? In the article Locking Out Violence by Ginia Bellafante a member of the National Association of Broadcasters says " the V chip won't be able to tell the difference between Terminator 2 and Schindler's List. We have problem with any technology that makes a blanket judgement about programming.". This is her argument against the future possibility for parents to lock out certain programs from their television set. 

Is there a difference in violence between Terminator 2 and Schindler's List? There is certainly a difference in purpose. Terminator 2 is made to amuse, it is a science fiction story with a lot of special effects and a plot that is mainly unbelievable. Schindler's List is a movie about the extinction of Jews during the second world war, it has a mission to tell what happened but it is also a commercial movie meant to sell. In short if one assumes that the level of violence is the same in both films is it then possible that Schindler's List would hurt a child less because of its being a movie with a purpose of education, of telling history? Schindler's List makes people sick and scared while Terminator 2 is more like a fairy tale, it is so unbelievable, that makes it less unpleasant. Schindler's list should be seen but it probably requires that a parent or a teacher is available to explain the history behind and because it is a movie, not an exact retelling of known facts, discuss what parts could be fiction. 

So while both films have the same possibility for creating nightmares is there any other reason why one should be sent and the other not? There is probability of the children seeing it. There is of course a greater risk of a child turning on the set if it is Terminator 2 that is shown. It has heard of the movie from its friends and the commercials for Terminator 2 is unfortunately in a way turned towards children. But if by mistake it would encounter Schindler's list it would probably not turn it off, it is easy to be caught in a scary film.. Consequently it must be wrong to send a film because you believe that children would not see it. 

Finally, is there then any difference in the amount of damage that the different movies could cause children and therefore a way to chose what kind of violent films that could be shown? Terminator 2 is not real, it makes violence "fun" it is okay to shoot the bad guys because they are bad and deserve to die. The innocents are not anyone we know so it doesn't matter if they die, but the hero robot we know. He has shown that he is able to feel and therefore we cry when he dies. Maybe this film incorporates its way of thinking to us, that it is okay that people are shot as long as we don't know them. Schindler's List is the opposite. It is about a person who cares about people he don't personally know and he helps as many of them as he is able. But in this movie it is also easy to kill and humiliate people. The violence do repel us but it may influence anyway, make us used to see it and train the walls we put up in defence. A child who sees this movie without an explanation and grownup company may be as hurt by its violence as by the violence in Terminator 2. It is shown that certain anti violence films shown in Swedish schools had the opposite effect. Just showing any kind of violence made violence increase. Because very few persons identify with the victims, the weak. They want to be the strong ones. 

A blanket judgement about programming may therefore not be wholly bad, as long as there is a possibility to see se the movies. Maybe sending the violent movies late in the evenings or having a possibility to close the television set of from violent programs only when the parents are not at home, is an acceptable solution.
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