Gryphon
The One who has the Eyes
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2021
- Messages
- 681
- Points
- 133
I want people's opinions on this because I'm genuinely curious about this concept. I'm under the idea that fiction doesn't affect reality. As in I don't believe shit like playing violent video games somehow makes people more likely to go out and cause mass murders. Seeing movies that glorify violence or sex won't inherently change a person's mindset to be more likely to ignore or parade such concepts as something to be actively celebrated. If a person celebrates real life violence, they already had the predetermined mindset to do that, with or without fiction's hand in the matter
However, I do understand, and I believe the idea that fiction enhances reality. As in if someone where to commit murder, and they played violent games or watched violent movies, they would do it with or without the fiction's hand in the matter. If a murderer watched a violent movie, it was because they were already attracted to violence to begin with, and seeing the violent movie would only enhance that understanding of themselves. Same thing with sexual themes. If someone finds out they're gay because they saw Leonardo DiCaprio shirtless in one of the movies, they were already gay and seeing that only made them realize that fact. As in it enhanced they're gayness, and as funny as that sounds, I mean it.
I remember Noralities when she was talking about how fiction affects reality and in her talk about cancel culture, she brought up the movie "The Birth of a Nation" and how it basically put the triple K back into some sort of power after years of basically being dead. However, she failed to mention that it was 1915 and even with the triple K being basically dead, people were still very racist and the movie just took those people's personalities and enhanced them until they blew. Honestly, that video of hers is pretty garbage and she got into some massive controversy after that video and her trash isekai video, but that statement she made stuck in my mind.
Here's the video if anyone's wondering:
There's also this very specific points that I hear pop up time and time again, though thankfully this point seems to be dying as of late cause it was very dumb to begin with. We all should know the point that news broadcasters in the early 2000s constantly brought up. X murderer or criminal was a fan of Y violent movie/game. However, they fail to bring up the fact that X murderer had very obvious mental defects. The amount of times GTA was brought up in the news after a mass shooting still rings in my head cause it was pretty common to hear about in the early 2000s and even in the early 2010s.
This all kind of came to a head when a thread popped up on here talking about the differences of violence and sex in media, and how people can get their arms cut off in children's shows, but references to sex and sexuality is seen as taboo. Even in shows aimed to more of a teenage audience will skirt a line when it comes to sexuality, but not when it comes to breaking down a character both physically and mentally.
Take Steven Universe for example. The main villains are literally three different types of space Hitler. People die on screen, and though blood is never really used, the character's take massive physical damage to their bodies in a show that's target demographic is like 10-13 year olds. People literally get bisected in this show. But then pretty much everything about sexuality is metaphorical and shit with the whole fusion concept. According to sources I've heard, the reason Steven Universe ended like it did was because all future seasons were cancelled because of a gay wedding scene. This could be wrong, so take it with a grain of salt but I wouldn't be surprised if it were true.
People that would justify something like that would bring up that children shouldn't witness a scene where two characters of the same sex kissing. That's the excuse Disney used when Alex Hirsch tried to make the two cops gay. In the end he just had to make them incredible friends that support each other(but everyone watching the show knew what was going on between them). Disney didn't want there to be a gay couple, but gave the green light to several scenes that included blood, death, intent to kill, gruesome body and psychological horror, stalking, romance without consent, and Stan's entire existence.
However, I'm sorry to say this, but if a twelve year old kid sees two characters of the same sex kissing, and they feel like they want to kiss someone of the same sex, then that doesn't mean that the show changed them. That means they were already gay/bi to begin with and the show just awakened them to that fact. It's like those conservatives saying that being gay is a choice because they wanted to kiss their male/female coworkers but suppressed it. That's not them making a choice, that's them suppressing their sexuality, since as most people know your sexuality isn't a choice.
That's what I mean when I say fiction enhances reality. As someone who actively engages in debates against people, as well as someone who actively studies stuff like propaganda and their effects on people, I can say this with clear certainty. When someone makes propaganda, they don't make it to change people's minds. They make it to gather people with like minded ideas or to enhance the doubts and ideas hidden within people's minds.
This is a writing site, so this example will be even better. Why does an author write in a specific genre? Do they do it to attract people that don't like the genre? No, they write in it to attract people that already has an interest in the genre or to draw in people with a passing interest to the genre.
There is only one time fiction will actually affect reality, and that's for young children under the age of 10. It's why violence and sex shouldn't be exposed to them at such a young age cause it can distort their views on reality since being so young they don't even have a concept of reality yet. But once they reach their teens, people still treat teenagers as if their minds are fragile and can't handle the word penis and vagina or condom. Oh but they can watch as a kid's life gets turned upside when he learns his mother was a fourth space Hitler, and seeing his closest friends getting their bodies destroyed in an alien invasion with the threat of death and genocide hanging over them, breaking him mentally until the stress and pressure turns him into a literal monster. But if they say penis, oh my god think of the children.
This whole post was just me going on a long, pretty out of order rant about my opinions. For the people that got through this and understood what I said in this long post, what are y'alls opinions.
However, I do understand, and I believe the idea that fiction enhances reality. As in if someone where to commit murder, and they played violent games or watched violent movies, they would do it with or without the fiction's hand in the matter. If a murderer watched a violent movie, it was because they were already attracted to violence to begin with, and seeing the violent movie would only enhance that understanding of themselves. Same thing with sexual themes. If someone finds out they're gay because they saw Leonardo DiCaprio shirtless in one of the movies, they were already gay and seeing that only made them realize that fact. As in it enhanced they're gayness, and as funny as that sounds, I mean it.
I remember Noralities when she was talking about how fiction affects reality and in her talk about cancel culture, she brought up the movie "The Birth of a Nation" and how it basically put the triple K back into some sort of power after years of basically being dead. However, she failed to mention that it was 1915 and even with the triple K being basically dead, people were still very racist and the movie just took those people's personalities and enhanced them until they blew. Honestly, that video of hers is pretty garbage and she got into some massive controversy after that video and her trash isekai video, but that statement she made stuck in my mind.
Here's the video if anyone's wondering:
There's also this very specific points that I hear pop up time and time again, though thankfully this point seems to be dying as of late cause it was very dumb to begin with. We all should know the point that news broadcasters in the early 2000s constantly brought up. X murderer or criminal was a fan of Y violent movie/game. However, they fail to bring up the fact that X murderer had very obvious mental defects. The amount of times GTA was brought up in the news after a mass shooting still rings in my head cause it was pretty common to hear about in the early 2000s and even in the early 2010s.
This all kind of came to a head when a thread popped up on here talking about the differences of violence and sex in media, and how people can get their arms cut off in children's shows, but references to sex and sexuality is seen as taboo. Even in shows aimed to more of a teenage audience will skirt a line when it comes to sexuality, but not when it comes to breaking down a character both physically and mentally.
Take Steven Universe for example. The main villains are literally three different types of space Hitler. People die on screen, and though blood is never really used, the character's take massive physical damage to their bodies in a show that's target demographic is like 10-13 year olds. People literally get bisected in this show. But then pretty much everything about sexuality is metaphorical and shit with the whole fusion concept. According to sources I've heard, the reason Steven Universe ended like it did was because all future seasons were cancelled because of a gay wedding scene. This could be wrong, so take it with a grain of salt but I wouldn't be surprised if it were true.
People that would justify something like that would bring up that children shouldn't witness a scene where two characters of the same sex kissing. That's the excuse Disney used when Alex Hirsch tried to make the two cops gay. In the end he just had to make them incredible friends that support each other(but everyone watching the show knew what was going on between them). Disney didn't want there to be a gay couple, but gave the green light to several scenes that included blood, death, intent to kill, gruesome body and psychological horror, stalking, romance without consent, and Stan's entire existence.
However, I'm sorry to say this, but if a twelve year old kid sees two characters of the same sex kissing, and they feel like they want to kiss someone of the same sex, then that doesn't mean that the show changed them. That means they were already gay/bi to begin with and the show just awakened them to that fact. It's like those conservatives saying that being gay is a choice because they wanted to kiss their male/female coworkers but suppressed it. That's not them making a choice, that's them suppressing their sexuality, since as most people know your sexuality isn't a choice.
That's what I mean when I say fiction enhances reality. As someone who actively engages in debates against people, as well as someone who actively studies stuff like propaganda and their effects on people, I can say this with clear certainty. When someone makes propaganda, they don't make it to change people's minds. They make it to gather people with like minded ideas or to enhance the doubts and ideas hidden within people's minds.
This is a writing site, so this example will be even better. Why does an author write in a specific genre? Do they do it to attract people that don't like the genre? No, they write in it to attract people that already has an interest in the genre or to draw in people with a passing interest to the genre.
There is only one time fiction will actually affect reality, and that's for young children under the age of 10. It's why violence and sex shouldn't be exposed to them at such a young age cause it can distort their views on reality since being so young they don't even have a concept of reality yet. But once they reach their teens, people still treat teenagers as if their minds are fragile and can't handle the word penis and vagina or condom. Oh but they can watch as a kid's life gets turned upside when he learns his mother was a fourth space Hitler, and seeing his closest friends getting their bodies destroyed in an alien invasion with the threat of death and genocide hanging over them, breaking him mentally until the stress and pressure turns him into a literal monster. But if they say penis, oh my god think of the children.
This whole post was just me going on a long, pretty out of order rant about my opinions. For the people that got through this and understood what I said in this long post, what are y'alls opinions.