Unclean.....

After watching 300 I was reminded of something that my lecturer mentioned back when I was still doing my undergraduate studies; that societies are shaped through habits, rituals written and unwritten laws and values, and what better way to enforce values than using the various forms of mass media. The power of the media is so potent that the mass (or general public) may be socially conditioned or engineered by constant exposure of a concept.

300 is by no means the most violent movie I've ever watched but it is a prominent feature with rolling heads, detached arms and feet and an excessive amount of stabbing. Yet as I was watching it I saw some people grimaced over what was happening on the screen while some (including myself) just sat there and watched it like any other movie, I was not shocked or excited as some people may have done when I saw some heads flew, I said excited because some people do like to over react on some things (and I try to avoid watching movies with people with such reaction), I just watched it with no particular emotional thought and not because I know it's just a movie, in fact I do believe (with scientific and historical proof) wars in such period is that violent if not more, but perhaps more to the fact that I've been exposed to that amount media violence that it becomes normal.

What becomes my concern is when people personally witness such violence for the first time would they react the same way to it as they have reacted to media presented violence, with indifference, or would they react differently? Mind you that my concern is not about seeing the negative or positive aspect about desensitization but merely questioning whether desensitivity towards media presented violence translate to "real" violence.