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whiteflame55 said:
I suppose it depends on perspective, but I see this as a rather large question. Does anime/cartoons bring about violence? Does violence bring about a lust for it in anime/cartoons, or does the media's portrayal of violence do so? Is it all just one large, ceaseless cycle of violence generation and the creation of increasingly violent TV in general?
I'll start by saying that I don't buy into the mentality that video games, TV or movies cause people to become violent. Someone who is mentally unstable enough to go out and shoot up a school is not going to be dissuaded from it by showing more family-friendly entertainment. There's a lot more involved than what a person watches or plays in their mentality, and I believe that the way someone is raised plus their general mental state are far more key in global outbreaks of violence.
That being said, I think there is a factor of desensitization that does play a role in how these are perceived. Let's face it - if you've seen an intensely gory anime (see: Elfen Lied), the death and blood can eventually seem to become background noise as it's so constantly present. I'd say that there's a much clearer delineation between anime/cartoons and reality than there is between, say, the GTA series or Die Hard and reality, so it's probably a smaller part of the overall problem, but it's not something that should be ignored.
As for the other way around, I definitely feel that there's an increased interest in violence in anime as a result of a culture of violence that we're presented with. I'd say that violence just generally makes for interesting situations and more vivid entertainment, but I can't say whether that feeling is generated as a result of my own feelings on the matter or because of the influences around me. We live in a world that is full of violence, and we hear about it all the time. You can't turn on the news without seeing a violent story.
But I'm not sure if that's a bad thing. Sure, it cycles back to desensitization, but I think it allows for a lot of creativity. It's the violence in the world that spawns many of my best ideas for anime RPs, and I like the interplay it creates between characters. None of us like violence in the real world, but enjoying it in the fake can be soothing, and flexing our creative muscles is nothing to scoff at.
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