“Ensnared” – Illustration by Scott Ritchie
The recent tragic events in Aurora, Colorado and both their apparent and alleged link to the most recent Batman films spurred me to reflect on the use of violence in my own writing, as well as what my responsibility is as the creator of such elements and images in my stories.
First and foremost, I believe in the First Amendment and that the duty of any artist is to avoid self-censorship and be unsparingly honest in his work, whatever the subject matter or medium. Personally, I do tend to explore the darker side of humanity in my writing, mostly expressed through psychological terror, or emotional violence, but also occasionally through the depiction of physical acts of violence. Should I be concerned that a reader or audience member after reading or viewing something I’ve written will personalize and pervert it, use my imagination as inspiration to commit a heinous act?
If I worry about that, I’m already censoring myself and the work suffers.
Nature vs. Nurture. Does violence in books, film, art, video games, etc. turn seemingly normal, everyday people into sociopaths or psychopaths? I say no. Perhaps I’m more concerned that its ubiquity in our popular culture is having the opposite effect: desensitizing us to the point where we simply shrug our shoulders after reading about tragic and senseless death that occurs in the real world.
I have a choice. I have free will. I can write about anything I choose, so why do I choose to depict violence in my stories at all? What about it attracts me? Well, in the spirit of free speech there is, admittedly, and I know I’m not alone here, a small part of me motivated by an exhibitionist impulse to shock or elicit an emotional reaction from people via my somewhat twisted imagination.
And I am intrigued by the dark pocket I believe exists in each of us, the contents of which we’re secretly (and not so secretly) titillated by: the things that frighten us or seem most prurient to our more surface, public sensibilities. But it’s quite healthy, necessary even, to dip into this pocket and bring the darkness up into consciousness through creative expression.
What has suppression ever done but create walking talking powder kegs?
To be clear, I’m not interested in putting purely exploitative material out into the world, the only purpose of which is to debase and disgust. No thank you. I want to be provocative, yes, but in the pursuit of something with a point of view, where substance and style can achieve equilibrium.
In regard to violence (again, both physical and emotional), I feel a need to examine the act and its perpetrators in an attempt to understand why we behave the way we do, why we hurt each other, and to shine a light on the damage and the cost inflicted. The nature vs. nurture debate when it comes to violence can be spun into so many various and fascinating narratives, and ultimately the end result I’m striving for is a confluence of the thoughtful, unflinching, entertaining, and often uncomfortably humorous.
Sometimes the results of my “investigations” are ambiguous because there aren’t any clear, obvious answers. And some of the best writing doesn’t provide answers, but rather inspires more questions. But that doesn’t mean I’m hiding behind fiction or afraid to assert an opinion. There are artists who are not compelled to explain or defend their work, but if so challenged I will stand behind anything I’ve created and enter into any reasonable debate about its merit, about its right to exist.
I’m curious to hear from other writers, readers, filmmakers, filmgoers, artists and consumers of art in general. What’s your opinion on violence in the arts, the impact it has on our society, and the responsibility of the artist?
Art is a reflection of human nature. Our Earth, our home, is a violent place with all of its inhabitants suffering from or reaping the benefits of encounters with violence on a daily basis. Combustion is a violent act. Coal combustion is likely what is affording me the opportunity to use the electrical power that allows me to post this comment. Am I being “violent” while eating a steak?
Our entertainment has definitely reached a point now where it is producing some of the more violent images of all time, and more of them…the industry is merely feeding the consumers what they want. So we then must examine what role consumption of violent subject matter plays in human development.
It may go back to the old campfire ghost story…a certain chemical exhilaration produced to make our hair stand on end when we think about fear, a trait woven into our species for countless generations. It is our animalistic sense of fight or flight that is exercised when presented with violent scenarios, real or imagined. To be able to reproduce this sensation through various mediums, artificially, has merit. It must have, or there would not be so much effort devoted to creating such works.
The only responsibility of the artist is to create. The subject matter will always reflect some aspect of human nature, and history shows human nature is – at times – a violent one.
Very astute, Jim. You’re absolutely right about our collective need to experience vicariously an “extreme” sensation. Why we endlessly reproduce this stuff in the popular culture. Most likely we enjoy it so much because we can control how long we submit to it. At any moment we can change the channel.
Thanks for the great comments. And you be as violent as you want with that steak.
I agree that people are becoming more and more desensitized to violence. It stems from two things, capitalism and the human addiction for the taboo. Neither is necessarily bad in its own right. This has become the norm over the last 50 years, our society has found they can enter further and further into the taboo and be successful at portraying it as an art form. If you look back at the progression of heavy metal, it started as an idea of producing music similar to horror films. When Black Sabbath released their first album, there was nothing like it. People liked what they heard and it influenced many to start their own form of the same type of genre. Fast forward 42 years and you have some that have kept the idea and gone to extremes never imagined by the founders. This could be likened to any art/media format.
I remember reading that people were becoming depressed because their life could not be like what they saw in the movie Avatar. This was a shock to me, as it was hard to believe people were having a hard time drawing a line between fantasy and reality. Do we need to stop producing media that entertains, especially with extremes? I don’t think that’s the answer; you limit the rights of others. We do need to reinforce to everyone that most entertainment is fantasy, it allows for escape from real life, but should not replace reality. This is where we went wrong. It’s not having things becoming more and more extreme; it’s that we don’t reinforce the difference between fantasy and reality. Looking back at history, mankind is a very violent race. It’s our ingenuity and psyche that got us to this point though.
The problem is how our society views itself. Our freedoms are great, but one item that has been dwindling quickly in the last few decades is accountability. When something arises, it’s always someone else’s fault or some other influence. People can have troubles in their lives that influence their actions, but in the end they are still responsible for their own actions. To your point about investigations, results are ambiguous because when the root cause is “found” it’s normally something else’s fault, reinforcing the lack of accountability.
You’ll have to forgive my ramblings, still working on the first cup of coffee this morning. Now that the seed was planted by Jim, I think I’ll go get violent with a steak for breakfast. Good call.
Well-wrought, Tim, really appreciate your comments. When asking “why” this kind of violence occurs in the real world the answers are certainly multitudinous. And you’re right, unless there’s some accountability and change we are doomed to repeat the past over and over. All of a sudden this line from “Sympathy for the Devil” pops into my head: “I shouted out who killed the Kennedys, well after all it was you and me.” Regarding your thought about reinforcing the line between fantasy and reality, I don’t think this is the artist’s responsibility, and you probably don’t either. Where does this process begin?
You’re right, it’s not the artist’s responsibility in the least bit. The process needs to begin at home, just like the process for accountability.