Critical Response Violent Media Is Good for Kids

In Gerad Jones article “Violent Media is Good for Kids” Jones argues that violent media can very well have positive impact on young people. He simply does this by opening up with his own childhood story of how he was taught by his parents and teachers that all violence was wrong. We then find out that he became shy and lonely because he was not able to express himself properly due to hiding his fears and desires. It wasn’t until his mother was convinced by one of her students to let her son read comic books did he let go of his fears. “I had a fantasy self: unafraid of his desires” (Jones 36). Jones speaks of his favorite comic books such as the hulk and how he could relate.

He claims this did not make him a violent child but helped him escape his own emotional trap and eventually led to his career job. However, Gerad Jones does not only give his own story as proof; he also mentions many more reasons violent media is helpful for young people. Take his own son for example. “I have watched my son living the same story, transforming into a Bloodthirsty dinosaur to embolden himself for the plunge into preschool” (Jones 37). He later describes reading Tarzan to his son to help him get over his fear of climbing a tree. What better way would you get a kid to climb trees, than to read about a hero that climbs trees all the time?

Kids get lost in the story of the hero and the action keeps it entertaining. Jones has done research on the matter himself and found children use violent stories to meet their emotional and developmental needs. I believe adults do the same thing, not just with violent stories, but any book/story that sucks them and interest them. He argues that superhero stories help kids identify the conflicts between inner self and the public self that they become familiar in early stages of socialization. Rage is something that cannot be avoided. It’s a human emotion that adults as well as kids experience.

Instead of forcing a child to trap that rage, Jones insists for them to release it through toy guns, bloody videogames, playground karate etc. He believes it allows them to master the control of their rage. Even though Jones spends a lot of time arguing that violent media is good for kids he does admit that it has inspired some children to grow into real life violence.

He then states that for the hundreds it’s helped, there may be one-person violent media has had a negative impact on. The fact is that there are going to be some people with mental problems in this world and we can’t avoid it. “Violent media could help far more people and hurt far less if we learn to use it well (Jones 39)”. Whether you agree with Jones or not, he makes a very well written argument with valid reasoning and solid facts.