A filmmaker friend of mine once conducted an informal screen-writing workshop for a few friends of ours, myself included. Such workshops, large or small, formal or informal, are peppered with adages and general sweeping statements that, to an extent, reflect the general state of the cinematic industries of film and TV. The first and most important rule for the medium of visual storytelling was to “show, not tell”, to let the images speak for themselves. To let the images be part of the narrative, rather than just explanatory pictures that accompany a piece of script.
This stuck with me long after the workshops had ended. The most effective TV shows and movies do not just show, not tell. The most effective ones do both. That is why when programmers complain that violence is necessary for story telling, I feel that they are either poor storytellers or lying. Apart from purposeful documentaries covering specifically violent issues (that too, not just for the violence factor, but for the overriding humanity of those issues), there is no actual reason for abject violence to be shown on TV. There is a bit mo
As reported in the March issue of the journal Developmental Psychology, the study showed that both boys and girls who had watched a lot of violence on television have “a heightened risk of aggressive adult behavior including spouse abuse and criminal offenses, no matter how they act in childhood” . What is special about this new study is that the sample included hundreds of both males and females, and it was a long term study as the same participants were first interviewed between the ages of 6 to 9 and then again in their early 20’s. This tracking of children into adulthood is a crucial and rare element in the study of TV violence. According to Huesmann, televised violence “suggests to young children that aggression is appropriate in some situations, especially when it is used by charismatic heroes. It also erodes a natural aversion to violence” .
We live in a society where the most popular babysitter in the world is your television set. Parents should restrict viewing of violent TV and movies by young children and preteens as much as possible. Programmers and movie studios should make the alrea
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