Comments on: Gore, Sex, Violence: COOL! http://theblatantworld.wordpress.com/2008/02/07/gore-sex-violence-cool/ ...for those who don't live in a plastic bubble Sun, 08 Mar 2009 08:58:11 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: lhuff http://theblatantworld.wordpress.com/2008/02/07/gore-sex-violence-cool/#comment-15 lhuff Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:51:14 +0000 http://theblatantworld.wordpress.com/?p=20#comment-15 I thoroughly enjoyed your reminiscing (I actually giggled out loud several times!), but colormegray makes a valid point: you need to use the reminiscing--the narrative--to call attention to your argument. What--exactly--is your argument? Is your purpose clear? Before you write, spend some time pre-writing. Write out your thesis sentence. Make sure your thesis makes a CLAIM. Then, sketch out your main points and what evidence/narratives/details/sources you'll use to make each of your points. Doing so should help you tighten your focus. I thoroughly enjoyed your reminiscing (I actually giggled out loud several times!), but colormegray makes a valid point: you need to use the reminiscing–the narrative–to call attention to your argument. What–exactly–is your argument? Is your purpose clear?

Before you write, spend some time pre-writing. Write out your thesis sentence. Make sure your thesis makes a CLAIM. Then, sketch out your main points and what evidence/narratives/details/sources you’ll use to make each of your points. Doing so should help you tighten your focus.

]]> By: Jay http://theblatantworld.wordpress.com/2008/02/07/gore-sex-violence-cool/#comment-11 Jay Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:46:07 +0000 http://theblatantworld.wordpress.com/?p=20#comment-11 JMP had a post similar to yours in the fact that you both are blogging about the fact that our media is becoming consumed with explicit content. PG-13 movies often are worse than R-rated movies, perhaps simply because they are catering to teenage audiences who aren’t old enough to get into R-rated movies (as if that’s stopping them ). I had trouble understanding your point though—at the beginning you said that our generation enjoys violence & sex in movies so much because they were sheltered and now are rebelling. But then at the end you went on to say that you were glad that your parents tried to keep you sheltered. So is it best to shelter or not shelter the children of our generation? Will it lead them to rebellion or prolong their innocence? As for your other point—that our movies are saturated with bad content—I have to agree wholeheartedly. Movies like Halloween, The Hills Have Eyes and other “scary movies” have no decent plot, no good character development, and rely fully on displays of gore and sexual images to get their audiences. These things are not scary—simply disturbing—and the producers know it. The truth is that current audiences respond more to disturbing concepts than truly scary ones. A movie can be very frightening without a hint of blood—a psychological thriller if you will. There hasn’t been one of those in years. As for why our generation craves such content—the answer to me is not that we are bored, but that we want to do everything. Violence and lust has always been a part of man, but our culture in all its political correctness and “open mindedness” has embraced the taboo in order to express itself adequately. We worry too much that we are restricting “freedom” and we make everything available. ( Birth control to middle-schoolers, r-rated content in pg-13 movies, etc.) It’s a downward spiral and we as a whole nation seem unmotivated to put an end to it. We’re ready to ban baggy pants (I’ll link to the baggy pants controversy later if you care for me to) but its socially acceptable to watch the despicable. JMP had a post similar to yours in the fact that you both are blogging about the fact that our media is becoming consumed with explicit content. PG-13 movies often are worse than R-rated movies, perhaps simply because they are catering to teenage audiences who aren’t old enough to get into R-rated movies (as if that’s stopping them ).

I had trouble understanding your point though—at the beginning you said that our generation enjoys violence & sex in movies so much because they were sheltered and now are rebelling. But then at the end you went on to say that you were glad that your parents tried to keep you sheltered. So is it best to shelter or not shelter the children of our generation? Will it lead them to rebellion or prolong their innocence?

As for your other point—that our movies are saturated with bad content—I have to agree wholeheartedly. Movies like Halloween, The Hills Have Eyes and other “scary movies” have no decent plot, no good character development, and rely fully on displays of gore and sexual images to get their audiences. These things are not scary—simply disturbing—and the producers know it. The truth is that current audiences respond more to disturbing concepts than truly scary ones. A movie can be very frightening without a hint of blood—a psychological thriller if you will. There hasn’t been one of those in years.

As for why our generation craves such content—the answer to me is not that we are bored, but that we want to do everything. Violence and lust has always been a part of man, but our culture in all its political correctness and “open mindedness” has embraced the taboo in order to express itself adequately. We worry too much that we are restricting “freedom” and we make everything available. ( Birth control to middle-schoolers, r-rated content in pg-13 movies, etc.) It’s a downward spiral and we as a whole nation seem unmotivated to put an end to it. We’re ready to ban baggy pants (I’ll link to the baggy pants controversy later if you care for me to) but its socially acceptable to watch the despicable.

]]> By: colormegray http://theblatantworld.wordpress.com/2008/02/07/gore-sex-violence-cool/#comment-10 colormegray Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:25:44 +0000 http://theblatantworld.wordpress.com/?p=20#comment-10 I loved your title, something catchy always pulls the reader in and yours certainly did. I agree that America makes too many gory and provocative films so much that even people from other countries wince in horror. No wonder many nations get the wrong idea about our country (or do they?) Although your topic was interesting, there might have been a little too much reminiscing-try focusing on the now. I also appreciated that the reader could access multiple links so they could find out for themselves. What could have made your piece even stronger would be if you mentioned more about how the violence/sexuality affects our youth today. I loved your title, something catchy always pulls the reader in and yours certainly did. I agree that America makes too many gory and provocative films so much that even people from other countries wince in horror. No wonder many nations get the wrong idea about our country (or do they?) Although your topic was interesting, there might have been a little too much reminiscing-try focusing on the now. I also appreciated that the reader could access multiple links so they could find out for themselves. What could have made your piece even stronger would be if you mentioned more about how the violence/sexuality affects our youth today.

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