Fictional Media is not Responsible for our Actions

Dear Editor,

I recently read your article “The Link Between the Rise of Violence Online and Horror Films”, and felt a strong need to counter the, frankly, outrageous claims that violence in films, particularly slasher films, are the catalysis behind real-life killings. The author’s reckless disregard for reality and their attempts to sensationalize the issue at hand need to be properly addressed.

The claim that fictional violence motivates individuals to commit acts against human life is not only an insult to the audience’s intelligence but also a flagrant display of ignorance. Fictional violence is just that- fictional, and separate from the sadism found in our reality. It’s an art form like any other, born from within our imagination and driven by a need to entertain. Slasher films are stylized spectacles, with over-the-top violence, exaggerated characters, and a disregard for realistic human anatomy.

To suggest that a viewer can seamlessly transition from a passive observer of dramatized on-screen violence to an active participant in real-life killings is a grotesque oversimplification of the human psyche. We can tell the difference between fiction and reality, as well as understand the unrealistic portrayal of serial killers found within the genre.

The so-called research linking violent media to real-life violence is a tangled web of dubious claims and questionable sources, which aim to vilify an artform without an attempt to understand what it actually is. Humans are complex, we are shaped by a mix of genetics, social experiences, and environments.

It takes no effort at all to look into the author, and see that through their job history they held positions in [source of bias], which leads me to believe that this article was written as a biased attempt to fearmonger. If this topic is as serious to the author, as they have lead us to believe within their introduction, then I put to question why they would not detail to the reader how the data they referred to in their secondary statement, “There is a upwards trend of children engaging in video games with a rating of Mature, or higher,” (Author, paragraph, 5.), was NOT found to have a direct link to acts of violence in juveniles. Following the data to the Michigan Health and Sciences in Youth group, you can clearly note how despite an increase in violent media consumption, there is in fact a decrease in reports of violence perpetrated by a minor over the last decade. This, as concluded by Dr. Budman, can be attributed to an increase of counseling programs made available to children across the country both in schools and community spaces.

A proper argumentative essay would acknowledge this data, and perhaps use it as a stepping stone to further their discussion. If the issue isn’t in kids with access to these care-programs, then who is committing these acts of violence. Kids are still actively shooting schools up, but the author fails to compare these data points that are seemingly at odds with one-another, and instead cherry picks their information in order to paint a false narrative.

The truth of the matter is that real life violence, as opposed to the violence depicted in media, has entirely different motivations. Violence in the media we consume is not senseless, it follows a narrative pre-determined by a publishing group in order to further the plot, or a character’s growth, or the profitability of the product they are producing in the first place. Real life violence is not so premeditated, even when it is. It is not possible to delve into the true motivations of an aggressive individual. There is a reason why people continue to be morbidly fascinated by those found guilty of extreme acts of violence, and attempt to dissect and interpret their entire lives and behaviors in order to see into their psyche. Even if that individual has left a manifesto detailing their every move, and why, the common and public belief is that there’s more to the story. Domestic violence, or mental illness, or peer pressuring from a toxic friend, or a fascinating link to previous trauma.

These are not answers, though, these are pure speculation that are as baseless as your entire essay. But, they’re easy.