The government should control the amount of violence in films and on television in order to reduce violent crimes in society. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this view?

It has been suggested that the government should control the amount of violence in films and on television in order to decrease the rate of violent crimes in society. It would certainly be easy to garner support for such a move, but solely adapting such a policy will do little to effect social change.

The question has often been raised as to what extent media violence actually influences behavior. One can readily recount incidences of a child or young person viewing some violent behavior in a movie or on television and then trying to reproduce that situation in real life. It is hard to estimate the amount of violence which can be traced back to television shows or movies but the existence of such incidences is undeniable. Logically, removing this violent content should directly reduce the incidence of such violence but this relationship between violent media content and violent behavior is not so simple.

While much has been recorded of young people imitating media violence, little has been directed to the influence of sad violence on those who are able to differentiate the imaginary situations in movies and on television from reality. If one were to find no similar relationship it could be immediately surmised that the most direct solution is increased supervision of young people, and not the modification of media content. The degree to which people are influenced by what they see in the media depends directly on how responsibly they are educated about the relationship of fiction and reality.

Watching comedies does not transform one into a comedian, and watching violent movies does not directly make one violent. Rather than taking crude half measures to repair complex social problems, more focus must be placed on the nature of interpersonal relationships, social responsibility and personal accountability.