Thursday, November 18, 2010
Brutality Sells.
This past weekend, at Arlington Texas, Manny Pacquiao dominated Antonio Margarito in a bloody, brutal but 1 sided fight. Pacquiao beat Margarito in a TKO fashion, with Margarito having 1 eye temporarily blinded due to the swelling and the other nearly closed up. But would you really pay to see it if it didn't have all that gore? Over 41,000 people payed to see 1 man beat the other in "fist fight" and millions more watched it on PPV. But pain and brutality sells. Another case in this is football, the most watched sport in America. Football was used in ww2 as a way to train new recruits. And that's exactly what it is; war without the guns, and death, but with the injuries and excitement. The injuries that are sustained while playing this sport are greater then most other sports and the most vulnerable part of the human body is constantly being hit. Football and Boxing constantly have hits to the head, something that occurs too many times in ones lifetime it will lead to severe consequences. Life expectancy of players that play these sports are much lower then someone who plays a less physical contact sport. (Soccer, Baseball, Basketball). And these players only stay in their sport for short periods of time due to the physical and mental toll. Yet we pay millions of dollars too these players to tear each other up for our "safe" entertainment. Humans have always been intrigued with the pain and suffering of others when themselves aren't in harms way. But is this entertainment really worth the pain these players go threw or do they get paid all that money to injure themselves. The NFL received a huge backlash when they recently increased the fine for helmet to helmet hits because people want to see that brutality. The only way that this will stop if the consumer demands for more regulations in the sports. What do you think, are humans too intrigued with pain and suffering?
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9 comments:
I do think that many people have a weird fasciation with death or injury. There are so many events, past and present, that show this. Romans with gladiator contests, public exectutions, even just "rubbernecking" to look at an accident that happened on the side of the road. But I just think this just one of the weird things about humans that's unexplainable. Though I don't think people get pleasure out of other people's injury/death. I think that people enjoy knowing that someone is worse off than themselves; they have someone they can pity. People may possibly get a feeling of superiority. Of course, people act differently when it comes to injury/death. And their reactions certainly change when the person harmed is someone they know or care about. Even though a lot of people are intrigued by these kind of things, this idea of interest in harm is usually glossed over in society.
Well, I'd hate to have to bring it up but, I think that any response to the question you posed would depend on whether you believe that man is a subject to nature or nurture. I personally believe that humans are innately repulsed by violence, but boxing is a sport meant to entertain an audience. The sport is about endurance and speed rather than watching others suffer. However, I do believe that in this modern society, violence has become so invasive to the point that seeing a communist dictator shot dead (CoD: Black OPS), or actively perverting our view of reality by interacting with gory and violent media has become commonplace and for some, quite entertaining. Nevertheless, I think that such repulsive forms of media can be found to be an expression of free speech and what not, and any ban on such material would act as step toward entirely curbing free speech.
I think that violence does sell, its a huge market today. As you stated with football, hockey, boxing, MMA, aand WWE people want to watch something different and out of the ordinary, and rough sports provides that. Its even present in video games and movies today. More people are going out and buying Call of Duty so they can blow peoples heads off. As a society we should turn this around, sports have been around of 100's of years and we cant change them but there is enough war in this world, we dont need to portrait is on a video game.
Television is all about how it can entertain it's viewers and like Max mentioned, WWE is a great example of why brutality sells. It's something that people want to see, not something boring and pointless. It's what we want. Same thing goes for video games. What do you see more: Teenagers buying sport games? Or teenagers buying a first person shooting game? Obviously the shooting became because overall, it provides more entertainment and value so once again, brutality sells.
Brutality sells because we like to see people other than ourselves get hurt. When we egg on fights and violent sports activities, we are egging on a way for us to watch others challenge their vulnerability. It makes us, the viewers, feel immortal. Kelly's right when she says that people may feel superior. We know that as viewers, we are not getting hurt and thus our level of concern is not always as high as it would be if we saw someone we cared about find themselves in the same situation. As far as the whole nature vs. nurture thing goes, psychological research has been done on children to prove that children are more likely to mimic violent behavior if it means that they are rewarded for doing so. Thus the very same may pertain to teenagers and adults. When you win a fight, you're showered with praise (from peers, not necessarily from authority figures) and most of the time, respect. We like that attention and it encourages us to continue acting violently. I am not saying that everyone does this, but I'm sure that everyone has felt the urge to want to fight someone. It's something that media has instilled into our everyday lives, and we forget the power of negotiation in those moments when our senses are heightened. It's a human weakness, to say the least.
As already pointed out multiple times, brutality appeals to the public because people enjoy that kind of thrill and excitement without the risk. I would not go as far as to say that humans are naturally inclined to violence, but the attraction is definitely there. When a fight breaks out at school, how many students do you see crowding around the fight? And how many do you see trying to stop it?
I don't see why one wouldn't be inclined to believe that humans are typically geared towards violence. Ignorant people often (at least, to the extent of my experiences) prefer violent ways to deal with situations over the more difficult (and thought provoking) option, diplomacy. Those who are more ignorant probably operate more on instinct than more "civilized" practices, such as talking it out instead of getting mad and shouting. Getting angry and being confrontational is a lot easier than being kind and understanding, and being patient with someone over something. Not to mention, violence and anger on the part of one person tends to incite anger and violence on the part of another.
I would also like to make sure that we all agree, violence is not just physical, but can also be emotional and psychological.
If the violence has no direct influence on the person, we find it entertaining. I admit, even when i played Call of Duty at my friend's house. I found it extremely entertaining and fun. It's harmless to us and we aren't hurting anyone. Same with watching horror movies. The death, the blood, the gore. People find this entertaining, but only because they aren't being hurt. I'm sure if you were the one being chased down by Michael Meyers you would not be entertained. xD
One of my half Filipino friend's didn't want to hang out the day of the Pacquiao vs Margarito fight. Even if it meant he was going to miss out on hanging with friends that he probably wouldn't be able to see for a really long time. After the fight, Facebook was being blown up with statuses about how Pacquiao won the fight.
I'm basically just supporting the fact that we enjoy violence and brutality as long as we aren't being harmed ourselves.
I believe that our society is maturing when it come to watching Boxing and other contact sports such as Mixed Martial Arts like the UFC or Strikeforce. I believe they are maturing because more and more people in the techniques of the sport because Boxing is going downhill there are no more good heavyweights and lighter weight classes people do not find them as fun to watch as the heavier classes like Joe Frazier. Since the UFC is growing huge it is billion dollar business, they sell t shirts, magazines, dvds, ppv, videogames, cable tv, action figures, employ thousands, hundreds of fighters are under contract with the UFC alone. This may be violent but it helps our economy a lot, people are being entertained alot, unlike boxing if you are getting punched in the face you can clinch up your opponent and them down to the ground and work submissions (such as chokes, locks) or move from position to position. Many people watch this because it revolutionizes "fighting" and it is big on technique and it is carrying into the boxing world. People are not just focused bloody fights they like to seee the talent, technique and skills. Boxing and MMA is a human chess match not a brutal fight.
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