Breaking Good and Coming Alive - Life after violent formulas of our culture reflected in TV shows

A couple weeks ago, I posted one of my new year's resolutions on Facebook to not watch two popular violent TV shows "The Walking Dead" and "Breaking Bad".

I decided a few months back that one of my new year's resolutions '13 was going to be to not watch Walking Dead or Breaking Bad. Newtown really made me more aware of how violent a culture we live in and it just doesn't feel right to watch shows that contribute to desensitizing us to violence. It's a great resolution because it also frees up time as opposed to using time like most resolutions :-).

One of my best friends, Jason Cabassi, who has a podcast on the Walking Dead and loves Breaking Bad, wrote this:

One of the reasons why I like Breaking Bad, by the way, is that the violence has a lasting impact on the characters. The show doesn't take violence lightly, like many others do. The characters almost always experience lasting guilt and pain as a result of violence, and when they don't, when they become desensitized to it (as Walter White has), it's a major theme of the show. I'm not saying people wanting a peaceful world should watch this show  But, I do think this show is smart and thoughtful about how it portrays violence and can, for example, give action movie junkies pause for thought.

 I see that about how violence has an impacting effect on the characters in both shows and I do think that it's bettter and I also agree with him about the desensitizing of Walter White to violence because it has a well developed explanation as well, a strong message about how someone could become desensitized to violence and therefore, the show doesn't take it lightly in that case.  I still, kind of like my friend Marshella commented on the post ["I totally agree! I find myself not being able to watch violent shows anymore - I actually hide behind my hands like it's a scary movie, and I have to say that I'm glad my instinct is to react like that now."] , don't like to watch the violence, but I think, if you're going to use violence as entertainment, it's better to make it as real as possible.  I don't like the war movies where people get shot or stabbed and just make a little uuf sound and fall dead.  I think that desensitizes more than if it were to show a death that mimicked what it's really like for someone to die.  So  both shows DO take it more seriously than other movies and shows that use violence as entertainment.  I wish that violence weren't a major entertainment value in general in TV shows and these are the two of the most popular shows on cable TV.  They also participate in the “really cool kills” phenomena where people get their throats slit or get stabbed through the eye (in which case the person didn't die and gave a vengenace speech afterwards which was kind of Tom and Jerry like [Reference my buddy Nathan's comment:  The US has experienced a drop violent crimes. I think it is because kids art watching Tom and Jerry and Looney Toons, where mutilated characters come back from the dead only to seek vengeance on their tormentors.
], or their heads exploded (and I'm not talking about Zombies which would be another discussion of wether violence against them counts or not, or counts as much).  I think using violence for entertainment, manipulates a violent instinct that is inside of us and doesn't really have any purpose except to shock us or to outdo other violent shows and therefore perpetuate the violent sort of competition.  Quentin Tarentino definitely wins the prize in this competition, which by the way watching Django Unchained at the end of last year was definitely an influence in my decision not to watch these shows. 

The other more broader message about violence that I don't like about the shows is that they both follow violent conflict formulas that exists in American culture.  Like I mentioned based on my long lost friend, except for Face book, Michele's comment [Just read a great essay in the book NurtureShock, which points out how kids who watch shows on PBS can be just as emotionally aggressive as kids who watch violent shows. One of the reasons is that so much of the show is about building conflict with little time spent on the actual resolution. Reading the essay really pin- pointed one of the aspects of tv shows that I dislike. Unlike a good read, the resolution may not happen for years with a series. Granted, novels don't place much time on the resolution either; however, when we read, we don't spend years watching and indulging in conflict. I can't say that it is simply the violence of the tv series that is the issue - rather a combination of constant conflict with violence.], both shows are in constant anticipation of a major violent showdown, a war (Rick's group vs. Deadwood, or Walter White versus Hank).  Their buildup is used to “get us excited” and keep us watching.  To me, this supports a formula in society where eventually you have to have a war in order resolve things.  War and violence, in my opinion, is not only the worst way to try to resolve problems but arguably is what causes problems in society, especially in today's age where war is sold and justified to the American people in order to support an out of control war for profit defense industry which, I'd go as far as to say, is ruling the world.  Which brings me to another formula in Breaking Bad that feeds into  the justification of violent conflict in our society.  The formula that creates US/Mexico division and categorizes Mexico as a wasteland or war zone and Mexicans as either Violent Narcos or poor people and creates this false fear of Mexico and its people.  All the characters from the US in Breaking Bad are very well developed, they are complex like real people, the mark of a very good show/movie, while nearly every scene in Mexico, on the other hand, is in either a desrt wasteland sometimes with the background of people in complete destitude who don't say anything, a drug lab, or a rich narco's house and nearly every character's development from Mexico can be summed up to evil, psycho, narco killer.  People who watch the show, don't even realize this because this false idea about Mexico is so ingrained in American culture that they just take it for granted.  In fact, it's so ingrained, that I wouldn't doubt it if the show's producers or some of them at least feel justified in not bothering to develop the characters from Mexico, don't see it as necessary because they themselves to certain extent think that's the way things really are.  And the popularity of the show further ingrains this damaging formula in US society that contributes to division.

I don't know if I can avoid being influenced by violent formulas in our society and I'm sure that violence in TV shows and movies isn't the number one contributor to the Newtown shooting for example.  I'd say, almost for sure, that that would've happened even if neither of these shows ever aired and, instead, Downton Abbey and Malcolm in the Middle were the two most popular cable shows.  But because these two top shows are based on violence as entertainment and reflect some of the deeply ingrained formulas in our society that create a violent culture, I figure by not watching them, I'll be doing my part in contributing a little less to this culture, and maybe have a little extra time to do something that contributes to my self development and society as a whole in a positive way.  Isn't that the spirit of a New Year's resolution?