Research Blog Post

http://www.parentstv.org/ptc/facts/mediafacts.asp .This website shows a list of statistics about the correlation between a child’s aggressive tendencies and watching violent and sexual shows on television. A parent watchdog group that rates television shows and movies as “family-friendly” and whether or not children should be watching them posted the statistics. This link connects to the themes of the book through the fact that Jimmy and Crake were not supervised in their television watching, which has a possibility of affecting why Jimmy thinks violent things are fun Also, this would explain possibly why Crake was effected by violent television and playing violent video games when it came time to build his “Children of Crake”. He may have seen what violence does to a society, to either animals or each other, so he would have created a people that did not feel anger towards each other and only ate plants. Additionally, in terms of sexual content, in Oryx and Crake, it was very easy for teenaged Jimmy and Crake to access pornography and this casual presentation of pornography may have influenced Jimmy’s later perception of women, especially when it comes to flashbacks about his sexual encounters as Snowman.

Felson, Richard B. "Mass Media Effects on Violent Behavior." Annual Review of Sociology 22 1996): 103-

28. ABI/INFORM Complete; ABI/INFORM Global; ProQuest Research Library; ProQuest Social

Science Journals. 7 Apr. 2012

The article listed above asserts that its main premise is to discuss whether violence in television increases violence in the “real world”. While previous studies have claimed to make viable conclusions in favor of the fact that violence in media causes violence in daily lives, however these conclusions are debatable due to the differences in testing groups and other factors. While there are some conclusions in terms of violence and correlating activities that occurred in the television program, they seem to affect mainly those who have a predisposition to violence and the result does not last for an extended period. As a result, it appears through the presentation of the article, that there was no strong conclusion for or against the question of violence in digital form creating violence in reality.

This appears to contradict the premise in Oryx and Crake, due to Jimmy’s reactions to violent activities as being “beautiful” and “cute”, and his parents not paying attention to his preferences in entertainment. However, it changes my personal reading of the book, as I will now attempt to notice factors that might pressure violence out of Jimmy or Snowman and how aggressively they interact with the world around them due to the digital desensitizing to violence, such as Snowman’s urge to bludgeon a pigoon to death (Atwood 150).

My personal thoughts on the paper is that it appears to be relatively accurate and thorough in its investigation, and the conclusions that are promoted seem to fall within the range of my own personal perceptions of humans, such as people who are not prone to violence will not instantly change their actions to focus on violence just because of a show or film, due to the negative emotions associated with it. However, this may not be the case when very young children are exposed to the level of violence typically experienced by teenagers and adults. I believe that there are just too many outside factors when it comes to trying to find a connection between what is going on in a television screen and what is happening inside a person’s mind while watching it.

Jenkins,Holman W.,,Jr. "Pornography, Main Street to Wall Street." Policy Review.105 (2001): 3-11.

ABI/INFORM Complete; ABI/INFORM Global; ProQuest Education Journals; ProQuest

Military Collection; ProQuest Research Library. 9 Apr. 2012 .

                This article also seems to discuss the preposterousness of the fact that sex in media does not lead to a proliferation of sex in everyday lives. However, the article does propose a reason as to why there is an increasing amount of it, which is due to the target audiences of the 18-49 demographic, who apparently appreciate that sort of entertainment. Additionally, the increasing availability of porn has led to the increase of “porn addicts” and divorces due to one partner not approving of the others porn watching. The article also discusses the lack of control over the industry and the many quiet but powerful players that appreciate the porn industry.

                This changes my perspective on Oryx and Crake as Atwood could be using the book as a vehicle to warn society about many things, and perhaps the proliferation of pornography could be one of them. This would also explain Jimmy’s questioning of Oryx, while appearing to have a motive that is purely curious and concerned for his friend, he may also be getting another form of a pornography “fix” as he and Crake would watch it with Crake’s uncles card, which shows the lack of control when it comes to accessing the material. I do agree with the premise that pornography may not create more underage sex and things like that, however I do believe that pornography may create unrealistic expectations for people in their personal lives and perhaps tear marriages apart. This aspect of the visualization of sex would definitely have a negative impact on people and their lives and there is a distinct correlation between the two.