Anyone a fan of senseless, easy going, no brain comedies? I know I am! I can admit that I am a huge fan of shows such as Family Guy, South Park and Robot Chicken and I don't feel there is anything wrong with liking these shows. Most of the time all these shows do is provide a humourous perspective of something going on in the world and don't we all need a good laugh? With all the stresses we face in day-to-day life, do we really need to go straight home and watch shows about the economy on tv? If that's what tickles your fancy then by all mean, continue watching the Economy Channel (if there is one), but I know that for me, nothing relieves stress more than watching the antics of Peter Griffin, Eric Cartman or watching the mindless gaggle of Robot Chicken.
However, Robot Chicken is one show that I have a slight problem with. Yes, I know that the production of the show through action figures makes it super original, and yes Seth Green [1] is a man of many talents (voices Chris from Family Guy, played Mitch Miller on That 70's Show and created Robot Chicken). However, my problem with it is the amount of unnecessary violence that can sometimes occur on the show. Now, I am not someone who thinks that any portrayal of violence is a sin and the people responsible for it should be punished, that's not me. I just think that when I see 5 different skits in a row that feature nothing but the Robot Chicken characters punching, fighting, slicing, stabbing... etc., I think that's a little too much.
The reason I feel that this violence should be reduced and the Robot Chicken writers should focus more on word/situation comedy rather than, I guess you could call it "violence comedy", is because I know for a fact that not everyone has the ability to process something that is "right" from "wrong". A casual viewer without the processing ability might tune in to watch Robot Chicken and see scene after scene of action figure slaughter. Since this person doesn't understand that this type of behaviour is only used for comic effect, they might take the hint that "Oh, it's ok to start killing my co-workers!" [2] (see video). As a result of too many people not being able to tell what's "right" from "wrong" we will end up with more problems than those that would have occurred without the episode.
[2]
Any skeptics may say "Oh that's just silly, no one would actually take something as silly as a television show that seriously!". In my opinion, I think that the skeptics can be seen as ignorant. Take the Columbine Massacre for example [3] . The two young men responsible for the shootings were highly influenced by the video game "Doom". Yes, I am aware that this is a video game, not a television show, but they can be seen as parallels. As the two boys were stimulated by the excessive and graphic violent portrayed in the game, the two boys begin to forget that this type of violence should only be found in fiction. As a result of the influence the game had on the boys, they took it to the next level, and as a result, 15 people were killed and 24 more were injured. Those were 39 people that would not have been hurt or lost their lives if the game was less violent or ceased to exist altogether.
My point, being that Robot Chicken could be a little less violent, is valid. Seth Green has proven to us time after time that he can be funny without putting one at harm. How did he succeed on a fun loving show such as "That 70's Show?"? It was because he could be funny without having to become controversial. He has what it takes to write or create something that produces little to no harm and so I hope he can incorporate more of these types of sketches into his creations.
The point of this blog is not to put down Robot Chicken or the video game Doom. I am simply suggesting that people who cannot tell the difference between fiction and reality should become aware that what they are watching should never be replicated in the real world. If we all can leave make believe in our minds or on the television sets, we will be fine. However, until we ALL know the difference, it wouldn't hurt for the writers and creators to turn down the violence a notch.
[1] "Seth Green" IMDb.com. 23 February 2009.
[3] "Columbine High School massacre" Wikipedia. 24 February 2009. 24 February 2009
That was a very good read Dylan. I never knew that Doom, a game a played when I was younger caused the massacre. I agree with you on the pointless violence, there's times when you need to show violence (war and crime shows etc) but to show violence and killing for humor is not necessary. Especially when there is a good chance of a younger kid seeing and their parents laugh at someone being killed. They will grow up associating killing with being funny. Which it most definitely is not. Although I am not saying that we are going to have a generation of kids laughing when they see people dying but it could be toned down.
ReplyDeleteyou made a good point.
ReplyDeletethe unneccessary violence (that almost never helps to turn a bad joke into a good one) is something that discusts and bores me also.
don't get me wrong, i know this is targeted at an adult audience, but if i could have an edition without all that bone crushing and blood splattering i'd be more than comfy with robot chicken.