Set the wayback machine to five years ago.

Tuesday, April 10, 2001

Set the wayback machine to five years ago. My son, who was two, was watching the My Little Ponies TV show. All of sudden he started crying and calling, &uot;Papa, Papa.&uot; I rushed down to see what was wrong, and found him cowering under a blanket on the sofa. On the TV a witch was attacking the Ponies and burning up their forest with her army of giant hornets. And then the show ended; it was a &uot;cliffhanger&uot; designed to keep viewers hooked until the next day. For a children’s show, it was way too intense. We turned off the TV and I don’t remember him watching that show again for a very long time. I was surprised a show called My Little Ponies, airing on the Disney Channel, would take that sort of approach to entertainment.

Last week, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft talked about violence in the media in a speech to newspaper editors. His focus was violent images in video and computer games and excessive coverage of school shootings, but his assessment of our society’s priorities when it comes to violence in the media can be applied to many different forms of entertainment. Ashcroft does not advocate undermining the right to freedom of expression in our constitution, but neither does he think we should do nothing about the problem. &uot;We live in a culture of violence,&uot; he said, &uot;and it’s going to take more than government to address it. Everyone has to have a role.&uot;

My respect for actors, directors and producers in Hollywood – and elsewhere – is undermined by their unwillingness to accept responsibility for the images of murder and mayhem portrayed in the movies, TV shows and games they create. With freedom of expression comes the responsibility to create products that will not harm people, especially children. They cannot talk about the power of art to inspire viewers in positive ways and then deny that art can also influence viewers in very negative ways. Pablo Picasso’s painting of the bombing of the city of Guernica provokes viewers to think about war in order to bring peace. But Leni Riefenstahl’s propaganda films contributed to the atrocities carried out by NAZI’s in Germany before and during WWII. The influence of art can run both ways.

But this isn’t just an issue for people in Hollywood to deal with. As the Attorney General pointed out, &uot;Everyone has to have a role.&uot; We parents need to do a better job of screening what our children view, especially the youngest and most impressionable. I’m not particularly happy with our decision to ban commercial television from our household. I don’t think all of those other shows are dependent on violence to entertain, but too many of them are, and I don’t have the time and energy to preview everything. PBS maintains standards that allow me to step away from total control and I can let children watch whatever kids’ shows they want to.

Movies and games are a different matter. Kids come home from school with news about &uot;cool movies&uot; they want to see and games they want to play, but which are inappropriate for kids their age. I know that each family is different, but I’m not sure that letting a seven-year-old see Enemy at the Gates would ever be a good idea. Games like Mortal Kombat aren’t healthy for anyone, let alone kids. What exactly are children learning from those sorts of things?

If we really want to do something about the culture of violence we live in, then we parents need to think twice before we let our kids view something that contains scenes of murder or mayhem. We need to pay attention when we take them to see films with violence, so that we’ll know when things have gone too far and they want to leave. We need to make sure that kids understand the difference between what they see on the small and big screen and how they interact with other kids and adults every day.

But we parents can’t do it alone. The creative minds in the entertainment industry need to accept responsibility for the effects their decisions have on society, and stop hiding behind the excuse that people wouldn’t pay to see it if they didn’t want to.

David Behling’s is a rural Albert Lea resident. His column appears Tuesdays.