America has become the most violent nation in the industrialized world with nearly 11,000 .
The many violent images seen in movies and on television on a daily basis, though not the only .
cause, are a strong contributing factor. There are those that feel the point-of-view from which the .
audience views the violence varies directly with the way the scene affects them. .
A film's perspective determines the audience's reaction. In "slasher" films, for example, the .
point of view shifts between the attacker and the victim. So the audience feels the terror of the victim .
and the lust of the victimizer. If the viewer shares the experience with the victim they feel helplessness, .
fear, and also the rage that comes with being attacked. However, when the viewer is allowed to share .
the experience of the attacker the perspective is different, they get the sense of power and being in .
control. In many sexual assault scenes the camera .
focuses on the victim's face, which puts the viewer in the position of the rapist. What is of concern is .
that many Americans want to identify with the powerful attacker. It can be argued whether or not this is .
a direct cause of imitative violence but it, with out a doubt, offers viewers the vicarious experience of .
violence related to sex. (Censorship, 1985) .
Television does not make people commit crimes, but it .
provides the ideas, social sanction, and often the instruction that encourages anti-social behavior .
according to Madeline Levine, psychologist. (Viewing Violence, 1996) Dr. Jib Fowles, a researcher .
from the University of Houston would disagree. He testified to the U.S. Congress that TV violence was .
a good way to relieve tension. Dr. Radecki strongly disagreed saying that "Fowles has never done a .
single psychological or aggression research study in his life.No aggression researcher alive today .
supports the long-disproved catharsis theory." (Censorship, 1985) One of hundreds of studies done on .
