Sweet Treat
The other day, I was watching a superhero program with my 8 and 9-year-old sons who really enjoy these kinds of movies, just like millions of other children.
It was a program where young children went to war, battling and killing the so-called bad guys, spilling the blood and guts of black beasts. At the end of the program a little girl was handed an axe by her surrogate super father, who asked her, “Who are we fighting?”
To which she replied, “The bad guys!”, and off to war they happily went.
As I watched my sons watch the program I had a vision of my children obliviously licking up violence as though it was something sweet to the eye.
When the show was done we had a conversation about consuming violence, because people have a BIG interest in it, from which a lot of entertainment media feeds. Though children are unknowingly influenced by an entropic feature of their human nature that finds pleasure in watching violence, they can learn to understand their craving for it just like they do another sweet medium called sugar.
Here's how our conversation/ lesson sort-of went.
Me: Did you guys like the program?
Boys: Oh ya Dad, it was really kool.
Me: So you guys enjoy watching violence?
Boys: No Dad, it's just a movie. (Said with a bit of guilt, as though they intuitively knew watching violence is not good but didn't know how superhero movies fit the criteria.)
Me: It's OK guys, most people like watching violence because it’s sweet to the eye.
Boys: (No comment yet, but I did hear the wheels begin to go squeeeeaaak in their little heads.)
Me: You guys like ice cream right?
Boys: Of course Dad. (As though my question was rhetorical.)
Me: What's in ice cream that makes it taste so good?
Boys: Probably sugar Dad.
Me: Is sugar good for you?
Boys: Nope, too much sugar is poison for the body, and you should control your intake of sugar even though it tastes good and you may want it all the time. (Said with a dash of geeeeze.)
Me: What is in superhero movies that makes them so good to watch?
Boys: Probably the fighting stuff, said with a touch of guilt, but it’s goooood.
Me: Sooo, you like the human struggle to balance the forces of good and bad as it is contextualized through the fighting themes of the superhero narrative?” (said with a tinge of sarcasm.)
Boys: Huh?
Me: What you mean then is that you like the punching, shooting, stuff blowing up, blood and death stuff, basically the violent aspect of the fighting theme you enjoy through the superhero stories.
Boys: I guess so Dad. (With heads turned down and their big eyes looking up, as the instinctive “but I want it” passive attack automatically kicks in to defend their joy of something that has come under threat.)
Me: Is “sweet” violent entertainment just in movies or is it elsewhere too?
Boys: (answer in the form of a question) It’s in video games and maybe sports games too?
Me: It is, and if violence was sugar and the program was like ice cream, and I took all the sugar out of the ice cream, would people be as interested in watching it?
Boys: Probably not Dad... Does this mean we can't watch superhero shows?
Me: Of course not, but, do you think that consuming too much violent programming can make our spirits and minds sick over time, kinda like how too much sugar can create diseases in our bodies?
Boys: Ya, probably, but how do we know if a person is getting sick? (said with hope that they aren't getting sick from too much “violent sugar”.)
Me: Weeell, what happens to people who eat too much sugar for too long?
Boys: At first they get hyper and run around a lot, maybe they get happy or angry and loud... after a while they might get a headache or even an upset stomach but most just get used to it as a normal thing to eat.
Me: The same kinda thing happens to people who consume too much violence.
The second century CE poet named Decimus Juvenal said, “Two things only the people anxiously desire — bread and circuses.” He would have found our conversation about sweet, violent entertainment apropos and disheartening at the same time, discovering that 2,000 years into the future, “bread and circuses” were still used to maintain the status quo.
To my sons, much like to any child, the desire for “bread and circus” or “junk food and violent programs” are not abnormal, after all growing up is an art which requires context. How else does a child learn to mould their appetites for things that may not be good for them? Trying to remove violent entertainment from our society would be analogous to trying to remove sugar, and let's face it, who wants that? Could there be a way to resensitize, to be more mindful of our consumption of the “sweet violent treats” in our entertainment, so we can enjoy them without getting sick?
These questions, and more, are what I explore in the art. Join the conversation—what do you think of our consumption of violence in our entertainment today, especially for our children?
