The Myth of Media Violence: A Critical Introduction

Public hunger for violent entertainment has always existed with each invention of new media, from the printing press to the internet. The Myth of Media Violence examines the current and historical debates over one of the most widely discussed yet little understood issues of our time: the social and cultural effects of violence in film, television, and video games.

David Trend explains the need for media violence, and why, despite decades of activism against them, violent media outlets continue to grow and develop at a rapid pace. Engaging examples are drawn from a range of media, including disaster and horror movies, science fiction, film tie–in toys, crime shows, MTV, news, sports, and children s television programming, books, and video games. The book also investigates the forces encouraging social anxieties, why violence in media exists at all, and how society can deal with it

Introduction: The Media Violence Tower of Babble.

1. We Like to Watch: A Brief History of Media Violence.

What is Media Violence?.

A Cacophony of Voices.

2. Watching Doesn t Make Us Violent: Assessing the Research on Media Violence.

Media Violence in Historical Perspective.

Regulation Efforts.

Historical Continuities in Media Violence Debates.

Media Hysteria and the Culture of Fear.

The Media Hysteria Cycle.

The Win–Win Situation.

The Facts about Crime and Violence.

3. We Are Afraid: Media Violence and Society.

Identity and Fear.

Fear and Desire.

Gender and Race.

Crime and Politics.

The War on Terrorism.

4. We Can t Stop the Violence: The Uses and Importance of Media Violence.

Violence and Education.

Violence and Art.

Violence and News.

The Media Violence Industry.

The New Economics of Entertainment.

The Movie Business.

Disaster Movies.

Science Fiction.

Horror.

Beyond the Theater and into the Toy Store.

Television.

Critical Viewing.

Dramatic Programs.

Reality Television.

Music Television.

TV News.

Children s Programming.

Sports on TV.

5. But We Can Understand It: Beyond Polemics in the Media Violence Debate.

Publishing Violence.

Computer and Video Games.

The Desire for Media Violence.

The Aesthetics of Violence.

Narratives of Violence.

The Ethics of Media Violence.

Violence and Memory.

Responding to Media Violence.

Index

David Trend is Professor of Studio Art at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author or editor of a number of books, including Radical Democracy: Identity, Citizenship and the State (1995) and Reading Digital Culture (Blackwell, 2001).

Trend does a nice job examining the historical discussions of media violence and how research has become inseparable written well and is a pleasure to read.
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