ABSTRACT
For decades, parents and politicians alike have expressed concern about the role that media plays in violence. Does viewing violence on TV or at the theater, reading a violent graphic novel, or playing a video game that simulates violence or murder result in children and young adults who are more violent or aggressive than their peers who do not engage in such activities? Or do children and youth know the difference between media and simulated violence and real life? As one young man said, “I know the difference between a real man and a TV man” (Brozo, Walter, & Placker, 2002, p. 530), but is that the case for most children and youth? In this chapter, we hope to explore what is known, and what questions remain, about the role that the visual, communicative, and performing arts play in violence. While most of the evidence presented here-evidence used to make our general arguments-comes from the United States and Canada, the border is virtually nonexistent so far as transfer of the media are concerned. As such, this chapter has implications for the world.
