The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsHas anyone noticed how much increase in violent TV, Movies and everyday culture
has become? What one constantly occupies in the mind becomes the norm. I hear more sports on the radio, see more on TV, I am at a point that it becomes difficult to find any entertainment sans violence on some level.
Orrex
(63,232 posts)lunatica
(53,410 posts)I don't mind violence on TV or movies if it's an integral part of the plot. I'm a big fan of Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead which both have a great deal of violence. But they also have a great deal of everything else, like good plots and great character development and good stories.
I've practically stopped watching any news because the insane polarization and racism is getting to be too depressing.
Manifestor_of_Light
(21,046 posts)l listen to classical music and jazz and old rock'n'roll (Yeah that makes me a real square--music with structure.)
I refuse to go to horror movies or violent movies. I have no interest in sports. I'm not going to watch violent media because I don't want the trauma of nightmares.
The arts are being dismissed as frivolous or extra. A society that doesn't want to pay for art, music, visual and performing arts is a brutal society.
Several symphony orchestras have failed in the last few years. The New York City Opera closed down recently.
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)In the past years, I've seen extremely gifted wonderful players and writers actually give up searching for a career in their chosen field because there's no "Room" for them...unless they will put up with playing or writing junk/crap/bullshit that's geared to the lowest of the lowest common denominator.
Most of them changed to a more normal (for this society) non-artistic job... Sigh..what a waste.
Manifestor_of_Light
(21,046 posts)I can't relate to kids who spend all their time playing video games or texting on their cell phones.
I am trying to wrap my mind around the all-encompassing media propaganda--celebrity worship of people who have done nothing creative or interesting. Sucking us into worrying about sports teams, or fictional peoples' problems in soap operas and other TV shows. I'm sure Noam Chomsky has said a lot about it. I admire famous people who have actually done something creative or interesting. Example: My avatar, rock star and Ph.D. astrophysicist.
The P.R. and advertising industry was invented by Sigmund Freud's nephew, Edward Bernays. He applied the subconscious desires and motivations his uncle discovered to use in advertising to make people buy stuff.
I took piano and violin lessons for many years, and was in school and community orchestras for many years. I was lucky enough to grow up in a major city and my family had season tickets to the symphony and opera for a while. I got to see great musicians of previous generations perform. I think they were truly putting out positive vibes, whether you think it's religious or not. I was always performing in orchestras because I loved playing the violin. I sang in a lot of church choirs, directed a few church choirs, and played the piano in a couple of Unitarian fellowships.
I've been told that I was "full of ego", or "Just trying to get attention" like putting out positive vibes through music. That was like a knife through my heart.
It seems to be a redneck complaint that "wanting to get attention" is bad. This also applies to "acting sick to get attention" without regard to the reality of illness.
I don't understand why people listen to hyper, thumpy rap or heavy metal or country or anything that has an angry, dissonant sound to it. To me it's very unsettling and I don't know how anybody could get any artistic value or meaning out of that kind of noise. To me scratching vinyl records is destructive, and using samples of other peoples' songs is not creative or composing. You better be able to put it down in a lead sheet with structure.
Suppose you get Guitar Player software. Why not get a guitar or piano, a book and a teacher, and learn to play a real instrument and get good at it??? People don't often learn to do things with their hands and brains in synchrony. Every generation thinks their kids' music is noise, but I think we finally got there.
This is why I don't have anybody to share my knowledge with that is young, or anything to talk to a lot of them about. Because I'm square. And I read real books. They or their parents are anti-intellectual. My boring bachelor's & doctorate degrees didn't get me any jobs, so I should have majored in what I wanted to. Art. It's not too late to start painting.
Believe me I could rant more but you get the idea. A very few people out there like classical or jazz, and few understand anything about opera. They put the words up in English now so you know what's happening. I can only stand Wagner in small doses, and the only opera I have seen that I really hated was Elektra by Richard Strauss. A bunch of crazy screaming Greek women.
840high
(17,196 posts)Locut0s
(6,154 posts)Agschmid
(28,749 posts)I'll be watching American Horror Story tonight, pretty violent show I feel I am somewhat desensitized now.
femmocrat
(28,394 posts)Well, not exactly. I do watch "Boardwalk Empire" which is very violent. It is on HBO though, so it's not regular programming.
When I watch TV, it's MSNBC or those dippy "talent" shows. All of those crime shows seem alike to me... I don't know one from the other.
Jamaal510
(10,893 posts)spike in First-Person Shooter games and how highly they've been selling. As a person who prefers RPGs and racing games, I don't fully understand the appeal of FPSers. I tried to get into Halo and Call of Duty, and it was way too much button-mashing in those games and having to remember what all the weapons do. I understand that for some, it supposedly unleashes stress and gives people something to shoot at just for the Hell of it, but to me it is a lot of unnecessary work involved in memorizing how all the weapons in the game function. At least with games like Mario and Pokemon, they are more friendly to casual gamers, and almost anybody can succeed at those games. With games like Call of Duty, beginners are going to have a hard time even when using a strategy guide...