For this weeks blog I’d like to pose the question does violence in music affect children? In Chapter 18, McQuail essentially says that cultivation theory is a hypothesis that says exposure to media causes an adoption of traits, characteristics and beliefs regarding the world. Basically, McQuail thinks that the media shapes the way people behave.
As you can see Kristin concentrated on the film aspect and Logan on the TV aspect of the cultivation theory; I am going to focus on the music side of the cultivation theory. So do you think that music in today’s society affects people’s behavior? I know in doing my research I came across a lot of stuff on pointing the finger at Marilyn Manson after the whole Columbine thing went down. It later came out that the 2 men were not even fans of Manson…however, Manson was interviewed about the subject and he gave some really good insight in a Rolling Stone article:
“When it comes down to it who’s to blame for the high school murders in Little, Colorado? We’re the people who sit back and tolerate children owning guns, and we’re the ones who tune in and watch the up-to-the-minute details of what they do with them. I think that the NRA is too powerful to take on, so most people choose Doom, The Basketball Diaries, or yours truly. In my work I examine the America we live in, and I’ve always tried to show people that the devil we blame our atrocities on is really just each one of us.”
So do you think that the parents are really the ones to blame? It’s easier to point the finger at someone else instead of taking responsibility for your own children…like Marilyn Manson didn’t raise those 2 kids to shoot anybody. But at the same time, producing music that has such intently violent songs about killing your friends and killing police and raping girls isn’t something that’s going to make our society any better.
An interesting article that I found was about a study that the American Psychological Association did and it found that even college aged students were influenced by what kinds of music they listened to.
http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/tool/articles/story/5935924/do_tool_dmc_cause_violence
The study played really violent music (Tool’s “Jerk Off” which includes the lyrics “I should play God and shoot you myself”) and after the people listened to violent music they were asked questions about completely non-violent items, like “rock” and “stick” and they responded with really violent answers about what they would like to do with those items. It sort of creeped me out just hearing a song made a person want to hit someone over the head with a rock. But when you think about today’s culture, like going to concerts for an example…have you ever been in a mosh pit? I mean how violent is listening to a song of someone screaming and everyone running around smashing into one another? It’s not my idea of a good time so I don’t understand why these, most of the time young males, find enjoyment from smashing their bodies together.
Another song that I always thought was creepy was Eminem’s “Stan” especially the part where the Eminem wannabe guy is calling Eminem and telling him how is girlfriend is tied up in the truck and how he didn’t slit her throat because he wants her to suffocate because that’s more suffering than easy one two to the jugular. But do you think that young boys who listen to Eminem think that what he saying is cool and want to emulate him or do you think that they know its just for enjoyment? Who can listen to these kinds of songs for pleasure and sing along in their cars like they are having a grand old time? When I listen to songs like these I makes me want to lock my doors and never go to Eminem concert.
So ultimately, do you guys think that people’s feelings and aggressions are at all influenced by the music that they listen to?
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7 comments:
All people are susceptible to environmental influences, media being only one of many. Both adults and children are going to be effected in some way by whatever media they consume, and the influence music has over people seems to impact one's mood the most. Since children are trying to apply the things they see or hear in media to their social behavioral blueprints, kids are certainly going to be taking the things from media and using it in their life.
It's important to acknowledge that the media isn't the only influence playing a role in how a child forms their identity or what values/attitudes they choose to adopt. On page 492, McQuail explains that "...other influences such as environment. Grobel (1998) noticed in his finding that children from high-aggressional environments (crime and war) and who were in a 'problematic emotional state' were much more likely to view and be attracted by aggressive violence than were others."
If you have a child who has issues (problematic emotional state) or is frequently or constantly exposed to an unhealthy living environment, then said child will probably be the one going to these Eminem concerts and shoving people around in a mosh pit.
For those of us who were in MSS 344 with Prof. Gourlie....we know all about how music can influence people. Why do you think so many people use music as a stress reliever? When you listen to music that has a good beat and is lively, you'll probably want to dance or at least hum along or tap your foot. The same is probably true for violent music; it might encourage aggressiveness and violence the same way that classical music might encourage taking a nap on the Quad in warm good weather.
Ultimatly, I believe music can influence listeners. Do what degree---I don't know. I want to believe that people are in control of their own mind and actions, but I can't shortchange subconscious cognition (in relation to music) or how one's environment makes an impact.
I think music is one aspect of the media that may affect the way a person feels or thinks mainly because that is the whole point of music. We listen to different geners depending on what type of mood we are in. If I'm having a great day I need something up-beat and if I had the worst day of my life, maybe I will opt for something a little more mellow but the same lessons apply to music as they do to film and television-people (like children) who aren't mature enough to handle and interpret controversial music should not be listening to it.
For example, when my cousins were in middle school my uncle had bought them Eminem's latest album. They then proceeded to blast it in the house-a little innapropriate. I told my uncle he was crazy for letting them listen to it but he said that he would rather know what they were listening to so that he could explain to them that it's just music. Otherwise they would listen to it with their friends and believe that the content should be taken serisouly. I understand what he is saying-kids are going to do what they want regardless of what parents say. They are influenced by everything around them but I don't think that they should be sheltered from what is going on around them. I believe that as long as they are old enough to understand that music should be listened to and not acted out, then it is okay for them to listen to it. However I dont think kids are truly able to understand the difference until they are almost adults.
It is hard to put people in general categories when it comes to media effects. I think everyone is effected differently depending on their morals, values and the way they were socialized...so I guess it is a kind of hit or miss situation. Some kids may act out and some won't. There's no definate way to tell.
-Carissa Alfino
Ok so music is a medium that reaches everyone, it can make us happy, sad, excited or emotional. But while music may influence the way we feel at a given moment, it seems unrealistic to suggest that it holds the potential to sway a person to the point of murder or to participate in such violence as occurred at Little Rock or VA Tec. I mean sure, you’re out skiing with your buddies and a little Tool might help you move a little faster and push a little harder, but it’s not going to send you on a total suicide mission. My feeling is, if a person is so easily swayed by outside influences that they are brought to the point of emotional overload by them, their probably going to end up doing something crazy anyway. Granted, kids often idolize their favorite musicians and movie stars. They might try to dress like them, or act like them, but wouldn’t you think there would be a lot more drugs, sex, and violence in our world if music influenced people as much as critics say? I mean think about the kind of music and lyrics we listen to these days! Every other song on mainstream radio is about banging hoes, slinging crack and popping caps yet you don’t see any of that going down around Quinnipiac. Is it just because we’re above that kind of thing around here? I doubt it, it seems more logical to suppose that real violence is a product of a person’s life experiences, their upbringing and their mental state.
I agree with what everyone has been saying—music is just one part of the media that people use as a getaway (as we learned in McQuail last week, we use the media as a source of diversion from our everyday life, page 425). However, listening to music cannot be the sole culprit of violent acts performed by children in our society. I truly believe that the family structure is the most important institution in a person’s life (as I have learned in many Sociology classes). Thus, I believe that a person’s family and the environment in which they were brought up in is the biggest influence in a person’s life. In Chapter 18, McQuail states that: “…any effect from media interacts with other social background influences and variable modes of socialization within families” (494). I also agree that many factors (in addition to the family) also play a role in a person’s life and the decisions he/she makes—school, peers, and the media. McQuail, too, says that: “Mass media are rarely the only source of social learning and their influence depends on other sources such as parents, friends, teachers, and so on” (493-494).
The question posed was ultimately, do we think that people’s feelings and aggressions are at all influenced by the music that they listen to? Yes, I do believe that people’s feelings are definitely influenced by the music they listen to. Like Carissa said, if you’re in a good mood, you’ll most likely want to listen to upbeat music, or if you’re in a sad mood, you’ll want to listen to more mellow music. So I do believe that music does affect your mood and how you feel (like Bridgette said we learned in Professor Gourlie’s MSS 344 class), but I do not think that music can have all fingers pointed at it for being the main cause of why children act violently. I do think that some songs can tone it down a bit in their lyrics--some of them are a bit much, but music is, essentially, a form of art and the artist uses his/her music as a form of their expression. I just hope that parents (like the example Carissa gave with her uncle and cousins) can inform their children that music is a form of personal expression, and they should not take all the lyrics that they hear literally. Instead of not talking about things with our children, we need to understand that they are exposed to many things that we cannot control, and therefore, we should educate them now as their minds are developing and forming with their own values and beliefs.
Violence in music definitely affects children. It may be on a more subconscious level; but there is an impact.
Music is able to cross many boundaries. Yes, I took Gourlie's crazy class last semester too, and he suggested that music has an energy to it. If you listen to old school Britney (haha, yes, I had to bring her up!) you may get a more positive vibe from it due to the background music and the tone of her voice, nevertheless her lyrics. Contrastingly, if you listen to hardcore gangster rap, you get a negative vibe from the intensity of the music and prose of the artist. Even if you do not understand the language, you get a sense of the mood of music.
Children do not always understand the language in the music they are exposed to. But, they will be able to pick up on the mood and the feelings of the artist. While growing and learning, children often mock things around them to make sense of their world, so if they are running around screaming more violent lyris because that's what their favourite musician does, it will ultimately have an impact.
McQuail does suggest that media does have an affect on children--while it may not be the sole influence to sway a child's behaviour, it is a contributing factor in intensifying a child's cognition. I agree. If a happy-go-lucky average child happens to listen to the latest T.I. song, he/she is not going to go corrupt and shoot up everyone on the block just like T.I. raps about. But, if a child who already has strong personality traits that tend to be aggressive, angry, intense, or sad, they will be more succeptible to being swayed by music that taps into those emotions and behaviours.
Having independent rating systems is definitely a good way for adults to judge what they allow the children in their lives be exposed to. Also, parents should know their kids the best, and they should be aware if their child has a tendency to be particularly moody or aggressive and should not allow outside influences (especially the media) tap into that side of their child. Music is not the only medium in which children are exposed to violence in an impactful way, but if we choose to accept that music has an energy and children are subconsciously affected by such energies, we should think twice about what we are exposing them to.
Just to add to this particular discussion, while I think it appears we have all reached an overall agreement on the issue, I feel Bridgette said it best within her opening paragraph. It is without question that the media, in this particular case, music, has an effect on our lives. Whether this occurs to a lesser, more immediate extent, in determining our general moods while we consume a given media, or on a much larger scale where our individual beliefs, values, and perceptions about the world around us may or may not be shaped, one would be naive to argue against even the most minimal indirect influence the media has on individuals. Having said this, it becomes exceedingly important that we realize that sources of media play only a small role in the overall socialization process. While in McQuail, Altheide and Snow contend that "'today all social institutions are media institutions,'" (500) we cannot turn a blind eye to the other social institutions (Family, the economy etc.) and the joint role they play in the cultivation process. In general, the socialization process is highly individualized given our very different backgrounds and upbringings - this of course lends itself to the difficulty in studying media effects models. We see an acknowledgment of this notion in McQuail's discussion of Bandura's Social Learning Theory: "Mass media are rarely the only source of social learning and their influence depends on other sources such as parents, friends, teachers and so on" (494). As is the case, it's of no surprise that a figure like Marilyn Manson is discontent with the scrutiny that recording artists like he, or Marshall Mathers receive in lieu of various school shootings and violent occurrences. It would seem these violent episodes are far from the norm in society (although the news and television will make it seem otherwise, an entirely separate discussion in and of itself) and depend heavily on the individual consuming different media. Regardless, whether it be music, film, or television, it would appear that too much of one kind can be harmful. As the text states, media socialization is a two headed beast; it can reinforce existing values and social realities, supporting other agents of socialization, or can act as a threat "to the values set by parents, educators, and other agents of social control" (294).
Truth be told, I've always taken the notions, or ideas within the media cultivation theory with a grain of salt - and largely due to the same reasons many of you have listed. As a huge fan of the recording industry, and music in general, I find it hard to believe that music can have as much of a behavorial effect as some studies suggest. Does it affect my mood? - yes. Is it safe to say that music, more specifically "violent" music can change the way we look at or feel about the world around us - possibly. As is almost always the case, the debate continues.
From personal experience, I believe that music does have a profound impact on an individual’s mood and attitude towards others. However, I don't believe that the industry can be singled out and blamed for someone acting outside of the social norms. Music, just like any other form of entertainment, helps individuals escape from their daily routine and relax while also having the ability to create excitement. For example, I played football in high school and we always listened to Slipknot, Rage Against the Machine and other music that got our adrenaline flowing. Football is a great game because it is a controlled atmosphere where you can release your anger on opponents. I would listen to the beat more than the lyrics in this situation however; I still get that same feeling when I hear the same songs today.
Music has a great influence on the listener and on page 493, McQuail explains the "social learning theory, which consists of four specific elements that occur in sequence: attention; retention; production; and motivation." This theory attempts to explain what the viewer does with the content that they consume. We, the viewer, direct our attention towards music that has relevance to our lives and we then tend to retain something that we have learnt and we store that information in the back of our mind. Then with the info that has taken from the music we use it in context with the situation we happen to be in. This I believe is done subconsciously because individuals listen to their favorite music on a daily basis with the same messages being repeated. Then depending on the outcome of our actions, we choose to continue down the same path with more or less motivation should that situation arise again.
The music that we listen to has a direct correlation with the lives that each one of us lead. The greatest music comes from deep inside the artist because it is much easier to relate to someone’s real feelings but I don’t believe that a listener is going to lash out because of a song they just listened to. Just like everything else in our lives we are taught behaviors and we learn through our interaction with others. Society as a whole is to blame not just one institution. Music may influence our feelings however it does not create the hatred that results in these outbreaks. In my opinion, the lyrics found in many songs just reinforce the thoughts and feelings of society, so even if artists were to eliminate the negative messages the same events would continue to occur because those ideas have been learned and retained.
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