Can the media influence our attitudes and behaviors? A lot of young people today don’t think so. I spent a great deal of time writing the book Plugged-In Parenting to present the other side of the coin. I compiled “cause and effect” stories related to the power of entertainment, and I quoted several in the entertainment industry who candidly admit that their “art” does indeed have an effect on others.
For instance, I quoted screenwriter Mike White (School of Rock) from The New York Times as saying, “We [in the industry] know better than anyone the power films have to capture our thinking and inform our choices, for better or for worse,” I found a similar statement from screenwriter Joe Eszerhas (Basic Instinct) who told the Times that he now regrets that his films have influenced people to take up smoking: “We in Hollywood know the gun [of the influence of onscreen smoking] will go off, yet we hide behind a smoke screen of phrases like ‘creative freedom’ and ‘artistic expression.'”
Recently, a co-worker here at Focus on the Family sent me the link to the trailer for a film about bipolar disorder. Her sister Liz, who lives with bipolar disorder, is interviewed in the film. Well, one thing led to another, and I soon found myself reading a blog Liz wrote about the film The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
I contacted Liz, and she gave me permission to tell her story here.
She begins by sharing, “I’m a rape survivor and I generally avoid seeing movies with rape scenes.” Liz went on to say that although she knew Dragon Tattoo contained a rape scene, she “decided to tough it out.” Then she adds, “How bad could it be?” As it turns out, the answer was, in her own words, “Very bad.” Here’s Liz, from her blog, expressing the emotional onslaught she experienced:
It's a funny thing about trauma, the way the body remembers. I went through several stages of feeling when I saw that rape scene, and even writing about it now I can feel my body responding: my heart rate is up and my legs are shaky. In the theater, when it was happening, I started to feel so panicky. My muscles got tense and it was hard to breathe. Tears filled my eyes. I kept squeezing my toes together and reminding myself to breathe. I found it hard to focus on the rest of the film. I tried, but I kept hearing her screams and then I'd have to squeeze my fists and toes and breathe.
After the movie, the mental anguish continued:
As soon as the credits came up, I fled to the bathroom. I was overwhelmed with nausea but didn’t throw up. … I felt so angry too. … I was furious. I wanted to tear down the stalls and kill people. It was such a fierce anger. … By the time I got home, I was completely gone. Nothing was real, I wasn’t real, I wasn’t there. I sat staring into space for a really long time, but it wasn’t a long time because there was no such thing as time. My hands, when I looked at them, were freakish bony protuberances just sitting there on my lap. What were they? I knew there were things in front of me, but I couldn’t see them.
I tried to talk about what was going on, but it made me too sad. Then I started to get weepy. After all, after I was raped, my life went to hell. I blame it for everything. Nothing was ever the same because it brought on the illness. I can’t think of it separately. I lost my mind after that rape. I was a lost girl.
I’ve never met Liz, but I’ve written her name in my prayer journal so that I will remember to pray for her regularly.
Thank you, Liz, for giving me permission to tell your story here. It serves as a reminder that today’s entertainment demands an extra level of discernment. Who knows the depth to which media can affect us physically and emotionally?
And is it going too far out on a limb to conjecture that a film like Dragon Tattoo has also fueled some individuals’ demented and dark fantasies? Before his execution in 1989, convicted serial killer Ted Bundy admitted to Dr. James Dobson that his unconscionable sex crimes grew out of an addiction that began with dabbling in “soft porn” at the age of 12. Bundy also stated that the images that got him hooked are far less titillating than those that were then available on basic cable. (Now much worse!) How many impressionable Bundy-in-the-makings perversely utilized the Dragon rape scene as a “how to” lesson on sexual assault?
Quite frankly, we’ll never know. But that shouldn’t keep us culturally from asking the question. Still, getting the film industry as a whole to admit they’ve hurt people like Liz will be much harder than getting a few like White and Eszerhas to talk about smoking and some cause-and-effect generalities.
To those reading this blog: If you have been unexpectedly hurt or negatively influenced by a certain movie, TV program, song or video game, please feel free to share your experience here. Perhaps your story will help someone, as Liz’s story obviously will.
Recent Comments