    
Solomonjones
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Solomonjones
Post Number: 109
Registered: 02-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 | | Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 03:27 pm: | |
Yukio -
I agree with your argument. And I also agree that I would be exaggerating if I tried to blame all our problems on pop culture. Fortunately, that's not what I'm doing. What I am saying is that ghetto fiction mirrors the attitude in pop culture that says whatever you do is fine as long as it feels good, looks good or sounds good. That's literally what pop culture is -- whatever is popular.
The second prong of my argument is that we are all responsible for what we do. If, in our art, we glorify negative behaviors such as violence, drug dealing, drug use and illicit sex, then we are saying those behaviors are okay. Is ghetto fiction the only vehicle through which these behaviors are glorified? Of course not. As you rightfully point out, violence and illicit sex is also glorified in movies and video games. And you are absolutely right when you say that such games legitimize hate. I would go even further, though. I would say that video games and other forms of entertainment that glorify negativity legitimize those behaviors by reducing them to the level of a game.
That brings me to ABM, who is dead-on when he says that not only does art imitate life. Life imitates art. Exactly!
That's why it's laughable to me that anyone can say with a straight face that the glorification of negative behaviors in ghetto fiction, video games or movies has no affect on our attitudes toward those behaviors. |