Customer Reviews

Mayhem: Violence As Public Entertainment

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Sissela Bok's "Mayhem" takes on the issue of violence in various media and the effects of that violence on the population. The issue is one that seems to be dominated by those for whom reason is not a priority, and Bok's considered and apparently well-researched book is a welcome voice of sanity. (This is not to say that she is the first to deal with the issue honestly and reasonably; naturally, others have done so. Bok, however, does seem to enjoy more exposure than many of the others, whose work has often been relegated to academic fora.)

Bok takes some time to get to what is really the fundamental point of her book and the point from which her theses spring--that violence in the media does have an effect on the population. It would be more accurate to state that she concludes that media depictions of violence have several effects. It is probably a sad commentary on the state of public debate that Bok must take extra care to state the modest nature of the conclusion. Media depictions of violence are not the only factors that lead to these negative consequences, she points out with stress, nor are we all influenced in the same ways. These points, which should be obvious even to those who would challenge Bok's theses and assumptions, seem to take force from Bok's arguments and diminish the power of the book. In other words, the need to deal with disingenuous counterarguments harms the overall result.

Ultimately, it may be that Bok is a little too careful, though she does suggest that censorship on some level might not be such a bad thing. Her arguments may be too restrained out of an effort to avoid the excesses that seem to dominate the popular debate. While Bok certainly avoids any appearance (to me, at least) of being a demagogue or hidebound ideologue, the result is not anything near a definitive treatment of the topic but instead more of a primer. The effort at objectivity is certainly wonderful, and the text is recommended for those who have not given the issue serious consideration. For those who have ruminated at length on this issue, "Mayhem" probably offers little new.

Violence is as American as apple pie. The book considers media violence, its impact, and problems of censorship. Romans feasted on violence. Communal violence was connected to sacrifice. Vicarious terror can be pleasurable. There is the matter of catharsis, a therapeutic good.

Heavy TV viewers, (therefore viewers of media violence), believe that the outside world is filled with threats. Middle class families have an inordinate fear of kidnapping. Children are kept in lockdown.

Numbing absorption in media violence may cause an inability to feel the pain of others. There is something the matter with learning not to feel a thing. Children need to develop their souls.

As stated, the book deals with problems of censorship. Parents, of course, may use the on and off button to control the television viewing of their children.

The author does an adequate job of dealing with the topics presented. The book is fairly academic, (but is free of jargon). There are both notes and an index.

Growing up in a community where violence was so rare I cannot remember reading, seeing or hearing violence until I was into my teens. Then as a mother of a pre teen who loved and still loves the role playing game of Dungeons and Dragons I was exposed to the extreme views on violence that some people have. For the record I support D&D games.

The author does an excellent job of reminding the reader that violence as entertainment goes back decades. The book also reminds me of Darwin's theory of the survival of the fittest, which for me has deep roots in violence in entertainment, when one looks at gladiators of old, to modern sports that draw millions each week end or nightly on tv channels.

What is of concern to the author as well as to many parents, is what role positive or negative does violent entertainment play in the life of a child whom we want to grow up to be a healthy, whole adult. Wish she had written more about this issue, since violence as entertainment covers a wide range of arenas with me. Gang violence is much like the gladiators of old. X Games which pits the best men and women in newer sports genre have an element of survival of the fittest. Even the Olympics from their beginning to now have survival of the best, as the goal.

But as the author writes, what has been lacking in recent decades is the sense of learning from failure, growing and maturing and becoming less in need of violence overall. It also for some reason also reminds me of modern warfare where instead of using humans to do the fighting we now have military sitting thousands of miles away pushing a button of some modern video game style consul to launch a missile that will kill and destroy. Thus the concern for making violence as entertainment even more negative.

Or video games that allow people to have 'fun' doing away with people in society that one really doesn't want around. But what do we do when someone spends so much time playing a game of vengeance that they then go to the next step?

What are the real consequences of 24/7 entertainment violence? Remember even the gladiators had days off.

I was extremely disappointed in this book, possibly because I expect a great deal from Sissela Bok. There is nothing in this book which could not be found in past issues of popular magazines.

Bok is amazingly uncritical and seems to have little familiarity with fifty years of research on this topic. She casually dismisses the idea that there is no common definition of violence, for example, without explaining that that argument is not generally about violence in real life (although many have argued that punching inflated bobo dolls is an odd example of violence), but that there is little consensus about what constitutes violence in the media, especially on television. When I teach courses in the media, I routinely ask students to identify specific instances of violence in television programming and the range of perceptions is incredible.

There is a lot on nonsense written on both sides of this argument. Unfortunately, Bok does nothing to clarify the issues or the data. I was hoping to be able to assign this book in my courses, but I won't bother.

It came right at the expected date after my order was placed; packaged neatly; book is neat with no/little writing, highlighting, etc. Overall, the book it fine and pages were not missing or anything!!