Violence on Television

Originally published January 12, 2001

The following excerpt is from the book, Glued To The Tube, by Cheryl Pawlowski, page 131.

Television over the past few decades has significantly altered its approach to how heroes resolved conflicts. Early heroes such as Superman and Roy Rogers rarely killed their enemies. Although the heroes may have thrown a punch or two, they frequently used superior intellect to outwit their foes. The bad guys were often portrayed as intellectually inferior. Such portrayals carried two important messages: brains win over brawn and power of any kind carries with it an inherent responsibility.

Such themes may appear innocently simplistic but are no less plausible than today's heroes who kill villains by the score. Any real-life "hero" who used TV's most popular techniques for conflict resolution would spend the rest of their days in a courtroom explaining why it was necessary to destroy millions of dollars in property and obliterate four dozen people to stop one bad guy. In a 1999 study of twenty action shows such as Hercules, Nightman (1997-1999), Crow: Stairway to Heaven, Xena: Warrior Princess, VIP (1998), and Stargate SG-1 (1999-), researchers S. Robert Lichter, Linda S. Lichter and Dan Amundson found an average of twenty-five violent scenes per hour. Some programs evaluated by the researchers had as many as fifty-one scenes per hour -- or more than one for every minute of programming. And most of these scenes were of what the researchers termed as "serious" violence -- those most likely to lead to death or serious injury.

Without reading the whole book, I can't comment on what Ms. Pawlowski's ultimate point is. The study she refers to, and others like it, are often used as support for the anti-television cause. The connection, it would appear, is that today's more violent shows are responsible for the increased violence in today's society.

I certainly won't argue the point that shows today are more graphically violent than they were even twenty years ago. But is this trend a case of life imitating art, or art imitating life? I don't think the answer is as clear-cut as some would have you believe.

Television is a business, and in today's increasingly competitive environment you need to grab the viewer's attention one way or another. A common way of doing this is simple escalation -– being more than the other shows out there. Take a look at the wave of game shows that appeared on the air in the wake of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Each new show tried to top the previous one. The same trend can be seen in the glut of "reality based" shows like Survivor.

With this obvious trend, it isn't too surprising that today's shows are more graphically violent than shows in the past.

What I think most people resent is the implication that, somehow, Roy Rogers and Superman are more valid "heroes" than Xena or Buffy. The implication, it seems, is that somehow the "superior intellect" message has been lost in favor of "force of arms".

This is a patently ridiculous claim. While it is true that Xena uses force to achieve her ends, there are many examples of her triumph through cunning and intelligence. How many times has she tricked Ares? When up against Najara, Xena ultimately defeated her through strategy. Gabrielle –- especially in her earlier adventures -– was encouraged to use her brains instead of brawn. Force of arms is also a factor in these victories, but Xena wins so consistently because, ultimately, she is smarter.

Do I mean to say that Xena has never endorsed violence as a way to solve problems? Not at all. But after thinking back over the years of adventures, I noticed something.

Xena's violence is almost always driven by righteous anger, and the knowledge that what she is fighting against is wrong. From the first episode when she protected Amphipolis, to the story arc where she stood up to the greed and power hoarding of Odin and the Valkyries, she has stood against those who would trample on the individual freedoms of others. She does not use her warrior skills for personal gain or glory, but in defense of the innocent.

Xena also encourages personal responsibility. She doesn’t blame her dark past on some scapegoat –- she accepts responsibility for what she was and works to repair that dark legacy. In episodes like The Reckoning and Locked Up & Tied Down she is willing to face legal charges brought against her for her crimes.

Violence is a serious problem in today's society -– I'm not going to deny that. I don't mean to make light of the senseless tragedies that have befallen communities like Columbine. But blaming the popular media for our cultural ills is an overly simplistic point of view -– after all, they are simply selling what we want to buy.

Indeed, it seems to me that Xena, rather than encouraging wanton violence, promotes personal responsibility and consideration for humanity. She demonstrates a responsible use for the violent urges that have been a part of our psyche for hundreds of thousands of years. Rather than deny what we are, Xena encourages us to use those drives to make our world a better place.