Effects of Entertainment Media

In 2011, in Brown v Entertainment Merchants Association, the US Supreme Court found a Californian law to violate the First Amendment. In a 7-2 vote, the Supreme Court rejected the state’s argument that violent video games qualified as obscenity. In entertainment media, items that qualify as obscenity have age access restrictions. Justice Antonin Scalia argued that there had been a long tradition of violent themes in books stating that "Grimm's Fairy Tales, for example, are grim indeed" (Hudson Jr, 2018). Justice Scalia's statement is vital because it re-opens the discussion on whether violent video games influence the increase in violent tendencies among children and teenagers. Since both video games and books qualify as entertainment media, it is vital to understand why society is willing to expose video games while excluding the former. The two articles present thorough understanding of the impacts of entertainment. Notably, the following articles will be vital towards the construction of an argument or theory towards understanding the paradox.

Article One

As technology continues to advance, the scientific community, the public, and the political class do not agree on the impact of violent video games on children and teenagers (Shao & Wang, 2019). Justice Scala’s ruling suggests that, by law, violent video games can be sold to children negating scientific evidence that show the association between the variables: violent video games exposure and violent tendencies behavior. According to Shao and Wang (2019), there is a significant correlation between exposure to violent video games and adolescent aggression. They found that normative beliefs about aggression affected exposure to video games and aggression among adolescents. The literature review section of Shao and Wang's work provides extensive reference material consisting of contemporary studies on the topic.

Studies that have utilized General Aggression Model (GAM) have established that the degree of exposure to violent video games leads to a direct increase in aggression. Related meta-analyses, longitudinal studies, event-related potential studies, and trials about juvenile delinquents have also established the relationship between aggressive behaviour and exposure to violent video games. Wang and Shao (2019) further list several studies which suggest that the influence of violent video games on aggressive tendencies is minor, further complicating the argument that violent video games are harmful to children. However, a bigger complication in the discussion is publication bias, limiting access to research articles with negative results.

Wang and Shao’ article is vital for the paper’s argument because it provides evidence that concludes the discussion on the impact of violent video games as a form of entertainment media. A key outcome of the study's finding was the aspect of cross-cultural consistency. Since the study assessed teenagers in China, Germany, United States, and Australia, the outcomes suggest that the impact of violent video games on adolescents' aggression is a global phenomenon. GAM results on the topic suggest video games cause children to acquire, repeat, and reinforce aggression-related knowledge structures such as attitudes, beliefs, and aggressive behavior scripts (Shao & Wang, 2019). Therefore, using these arguments, the current paper will argue against Justice Scala’s perception of the potential impact of violent video games and the dangers of associating them with children literature. The inclusive classification of books and video games as entertainment media will also scrutinize the debate. However, there is a need to determine why children are continually exposed to books with violent themes with limited constitutional restrictions: a privilege not shared by the video games industry. Article 2 in the next section explains why the effects of violent video games and violence-themed children literature are different and why Justice Scala’s sentiments could be potentially dangerous to current and future discussions on the topic.

Article Two