Ropella

Do You Know What Your Family is Watching?

Author: Robbie Ropella  Posted 1 year, 2 months, 2 weeks, 1 day, 14 hours, 51 minutes ago.   ShareThis Article

Robbie shares her thoughts…
Pat and I just recently went to the movie, Hunger Games. There had been so much hype about it in the media, I felt it might make for a fun date night. Boy, was I wrong. After watching the movie, Pat and I were completely deflated on a couple of fronts. 1) I’m not really sure why people would be drawn to a movie that promoted nothing of value. The movie depicts a society where citizens willingly give up their children (as young as 12) to fight a vicious battle to the death, for the entertainment of others - much like young gladiators out in the woods. This is not a society I would find entertaining or one I think kids should be fanaticizing about. Yet our society seems fascinated by this (based on book sales and movie ticket sales).  So, shouldn’t we find that fact in itself disturbing?

Not trying to date myself here, but back in my day, the number of randomly violent sitcoms and movies that we watched was pretty low, and never did I hear of kids walking into a school and killing others. Oh sure there was an occasional fist fight in my high school where someone was suspended,  but nothing like the violence we see demonstrated today.  Back then, my top pick of TV shows included Happy Days, Charlie’s Angels, Love Boat, and Fantasy Island.  These were shows where the good guys almost always won.  Today we have Law and Order, Criminal Minds, Revenge, Spartacus, and Dexter just to name a few.  I can’t help but think of the old saying, “garbage in - garbage out.”  As we fixate on TV sitcoms and movies that trivialize the taking of human life, I can’t help but believe this is having a very negative impact on our society as a whole.

Pat responds…
Like Robbie, I will be dating myself here - but I was there for the very first home video game “PONG.” Never in my wildest imaginations, did I think my grandkids would be exposed to video games that would promote stealing, killing, rape, and the bloody dismemberment of human beings. 

The bottom line is, as parents and grandparents, we have to be involved in what is going on in today’s violence-crazed culture.  Please, invest the time to read up on the games and shows your family is watching, and make sure you have an open dialogue with your kids as to what others might be trying to “sell” them.  Robbie was a little over protective with our boys, but I have to say they were great kids and are now wonderful adults and fathers.