Is our perception of good and evil shaped by our films, books, and video games?
Every day we are taking in media from our surroundings. From media we choose to view to involuntary viewing- this being advertisements. Our perception of what is morally good and bad comes from many different places: parents, stories and friends. But one big factor is also films, books and video games.
Let’s use an example that most people know- Harry Potter, this covering all 3 genres (starting as a book, being made into a film and lastly also being a video game). But for the sake of this let’s say its a book. Harry is the protagonist, humble and you resonate with him as he is just an ordinary kid with extraordinary events happening to him. You learn from a young age harry is good. Voldemort is the direct opposite to harry, being the antagonist. He is a bad person and does bad things. None of the characters you empathise with and like are positive toward him so you do not aspire to be him. Consequently viewing all his actions as bad and learning certain morals.
In terms of video games the line is a lot more skewed. A young boy who plays fighting games the so called ‘good’ guy might use violence to achieve the ‘good’ outcome. This is where it gets confusing, he continues to act like his idol- using violence at school, wanting good outcomes but in turn, being perceived as a ‘bad kid’. His morals are there and does not have bad intentions but he was just influenced by cool mr muscle man. It’s sort of the mentality of monkey see monkey do. If you saw someone doing something repeatedly with a positive outcome you would presume that it’s good and okay to do.
This perfectly links to living in a city like London. Where violence and knife crime is on the rise.
Very interesting set of arguments. You’ve used great media examples and there are many in literature (see Crime & Punishment by Dostoyevsky for example! I think you could probably ramp this up by at the very least including some big name thinkers/philosophers’ arguments about good/evil eg, Aristotle, Nietzsche. You add in kknife crime at the end, good, but it is a bit throwaway. Your last line ought perhaps to be the first.. Are there really links from video games to knife crime? If there are then maybe quote someone. You need to evidence arguments. Also you might include the number of knife crimes or the percentage increase… use official stats. The Ben Kinsella Trust is a good resource. Overall: well done!! Interesting, although i think it would have been an added bonus if you’d tied to link this (in your standfirst say) to a health crisis in London. Ask me when you next see me if you need a tip on how to do this. Nicola