Thursday, April 9, 2015

Letter to the Walking Dead

Since it has come to my attention that everyone is posting their letters here, I guess I'll jump on the bandwagon :)


Dear Mr. Darabont,

My husband loves your show. He had a tradition of watching the new episode on Sunday nights and one day I sat down next to him to see what it was all about (his show before this was Breaking Bad—I saw about five seconds and never wanted to see it again). He is studying to be a clinical psychologist and I study human development, so the part of both of us that is fascinated by human behavior in unusual circumstances was immediately addicted to the realism and candidness with which your show accurately reflects human response in adverse situations. Especially over time, the development of the characters rings true to human nature, and that is probably the best thing about it.

You are a brilliant writer. Your ability to communicate raw emotions is staggering and the realism with which it all comes together is the reason behind The Walking Dead’s success.

This semester I am taking a class on media and human/family development and one of the key subjects under discussion in our class has been graphic violence in the media and all that comes with it. I realize that for a long time the research showed conflicting results, but what stood out to me most was the overwhelming surge of data in recent years demonstrating the short term (and sometimes leading to long term) effects of violence in TV and video games.

Now, I realize there are plenty more graphic and violent shows out there which I have not seen (by choice) and I am no expert on the subject like some are, but what I have noticed is the effect TV violence has had on my life. From only watching an episode or two a week, the first season of the Walking Dead I was closing my eyes for substantial periods of time just to avoid the graphic images of blood spurting and mangling of body parts (I understand that the sound effects I still heard are what make movies with such content rated R). Sitting bored in a university chorale class, disturbing images I had glimpsed of characters being eaten alive randomly burst into my mind and gave me twinges of nausea. A couple of weeks ago I had a couple dreams involving zombies and my first real nightmare in years.

An obvious response to these assertions is for me to stop watching the show, and I have (but only with great sadness because I really want to see the rest of the series!!). One might point out the fact that I am abnormally sensitive to violence, and I am. But that didn’t used to be the case. I don’t believe I am abnormal, I believe the rest of the country is. I am this way on purpose. We have been so heavily exposed to graphic violence that it does not even merit a flinch anymore. After watching the Dark Knight with some friends in the theater, I was appalled to find them laughing about the “disappearing pencil trick” when I was feeling traumatized by the psychological horrors to which a family had just been subjected. After seeing the Walking Dead for myself I understood why there is such a huge fan base. At the same time, I can’t help being disappointed in our country for creating the demand for that kind of graphic imaging on screen. It damages children, it damages adults, and the worst part is we don’t even realize it is happening to us.

Countless of award-winning films—even violence-themed ones like The Return of the King—have been created without showing extensive explicit violent content. In fact, a large portion of the audience would have been eliminated by including such graphic visual material.

My husband is waiting on tenterhooks for the next season of the Walking Dead to come out in the fall. As is my best friend. And many, many others. But my hope is that changes can be made to make the Walking Dead a better form of entertainment for us. We watch in spite of violence, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could watch without that concern? Obviously, given the nature of such a show, it would be neither possible nor desirable to remove all violent content, but so much can be communicated through implication, is it really necessary to show a beloved character disemboweled in all its gory detail? The gore is not used to make a statement, only to provide shock value, and it takes more and more to do this to an increasingly desensitized public. I find it hard to believe that a man of your talent could not find a way to preserve the integrity of the show, while decreasing filming costs due to all that…ham, I understand? And making the show one that we can watch with our husbands, or boyfriends, or girlfriends, or anyone else, and look forward to the next season. Thank you for your time and for your contribution to engaging, thought-provoking, and all around entertaining media.

A Walking Dead Fan,

Laura

Sunday, April 5, 2015

General Conference

So I KNOW everyone is going to post about General Conference today... but how could we not?! It was such an awesome conference this month! I particularly loved the references to media that popped up in a few different places. One talk focused prominently on media use in church and how it distracts us from what is important, while another mentioned the valuable resources we have through media and how the way we use media will define us. I completely agree with this statement! I heard the sentiment in a quote somewhere (which I will now butcher) that we know our true character by the way we behave when no one is watching. I believe this is the crux of the media dilemma. So much of what we do is anonymous and unmonitored, and we define and create ourselves by how we use it. Happy Easter everyone!

General Women's Broadcast

Okay, I have to say that I LOVE the new General Women's Broadcast! I was SO excited when they opened it up to all female members of the church and made it so much more diverse. Probably one of my favorite parts, though, is the videos. The Church is really good at keeping up with technology and the media, and they have put out some of the most stunning, uplifting videos that are available online. Here's just one example of one of the stunning Bible videos, in honor of Easter:

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