Violent Thoughts - Daily Controversy #32
G’day, readers!
I’m Jack Cuison bringing you the Daily Controversy. Today I have a pretty heavy topic that has been weighing on my mind for a bit. So let’s dive in.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com.
The question is:
“Are books depicting violence and gore acceptable for Christian teens?”
Now let’s dig deeper into this topic and then I’ll share what I think.
The Dilemma
As Christians and upholders of God’s law, we’re not supposed to commit murder or condone violence. But, as teens, it’s becoming more difficult to avoid these themes in modern literature. We all know that whatever we fill our minds with—all the music, books, and people—becomes reflected through how we act. So if we constantly feed our minds content depicting murder, violence, and gore, it may eventually be reflected in our actions, which is the dilemma in today’s controversy.
Now, I don’t know about you guys, but one of my favorite genres is dystopian (I’m actually working on an article about dystopian novels…), and one of the main themes of this genre is violence. Take The Hunger Games for example: it’s a popular novel and movie series about a bunch of kids in an arena fighting to the death. That can’t be good for our minds, right? But there’s also the knowledge that it’s fiction and all just for our entertainment. Then again, the Romans also got entertainment from a giant death arena . . .
So does knowledge that it’s all fiction lighten the fact that we’re filling our brains with themes of violence and death?
What I Think
This may be unhelpful . . . but I can’t really decide at the moment. I think, yes, it’s all fiction. There is no actual death going on in these books. But then again, my brain treats it like actual death. That’s what adds to the emotional aspect of my reading experience. But I think an important thing to consider if you read these kinds of books is that the violence is wrong. Katniss from The Hunger Games killed lots, but she felt guilty about it for the most part, and it caused her trauma. The fact that she addressed the killing as wrong is a good thing because that idea will stay in your brain. As for books that enforce violence and depict it positively, I would consider avoiding those. So I guess it all comes down to how the story depicts the violence.
What Do You Think?
So, do you think books containing violence and gore are acceptable for Christians? Do you agree that it depends on the story or do you think all violence in books should be completely avoided? I’m interested to hear what y’all think so make sure to share your viewpoint on this topic in the comments section!
Happy arguing! :)
— Jack Cuison ❧
I agree Jack
ReplyDeleteInteresting how you posted this on Good Friday, a day when a Man, 2000 years ago, was violently and horrifically killed via death on a cross, the account of His death and Resurrection being read by thousands of Christians this day.
ReplyDeleteThe Bible has got plenty of graphic violence, but people still read it. Why? Because it frames violence the right way. It describes it, as opposed to prescribing it.
Yep!
DeleteThere's a difference between reading about violence versus glorifying it. I mean, the Hunger Games is about the inhumanity of people (children) being forced to kill other people. Most people in the books see the gravity of the situation and most people from the districts don't condone what's going on. A whole part of the trilogy is focused on getting the games to stop. The Hunger Games never really glorifies violence, it just describes it sometimes.
ReplyDeleteWhen death is part of the plot, there's going to be some violence involved. But when a book starts glorifying violence or going into graphic detail, describing things that don't have to be described to get the point across, that's when things start going too far, in my opinion. I'm writing a dystopian series with its fair share of deaths, but I've been told by one of my readers that I never describe anything too violently, which makes me glad. In the descriptive sense, it's mostly a tame series, because I don't always like reading or writing violence and I'm writing the kinds of stories I would have liked to read, had they been available to me when I got into the dystopian genre.
I don't feel that there's anything inherently wrong with reading violence, unless the message of the story is trying to glorify it and make it into a good thing, or violence is being praised. Violence as a topic isn't something that I choose to submerse myself in when I'm reading too often, but I don't really see a problem with reading it. Violence exists in our world and so it only makes sense that violence in novels (written by people who walk on this earth) seep into those stories. It's just a matter of discerning if the violence is being condoned or condemned, and then choosing accordingly whether to continue reading or not.
Well said!
DeleteInteresting topic. I just recently read a Greek Mythology book where Odysseus kills a bunch of men who wanted his wife and it's depicted as a good thing. What would you say about cases as this?
ReplyDeleteoh i love that book!
DeleteIt's called The Children's Homer. I think it was written in 1918.
DeleteI don't mind reading about violence, as long as the book is not claiming that violence is the answer to everything (or, as Maria said, glorifying it). I am perfectly fine with reading violence as long as it is depicted either as a terrible act that should not be committed or as necessary in order to defeat the greater evil (e.g. killing the bad guy to save the lives of innocent people). My favorite genre is also dystopian, which features a lot of violence, but I am usually pretty impressed at how the authors make it a significant part of the story but also don't glorify violence.
ReplyDelete