Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Nudity and Violence
In American (U.S.) society, we have odd standards with regard to sex and violence. It is okay to show someone getting murdered on prime time TV, or to show gruesome bodies in a crime scene or on a morgue table. But showing a breast is considered highly offensive and harmful for children. A TV station can get fined for allowing a brief glimpse of uncensored bare flesh on the air, but no one fines the same station for showing murders and blasted open bodies on an almost nightly basis.
What do you think about this? What does it say about modern society? What is your attitude, as Buddhists, towards these discrepant standards? And towards the things we censor?
What do you think about this? What does it say about modern society? What is your attitude, as Buddhists, towards these discrepant standards? And towards the things we censor?
0
Comments
As for graphic violence on TV, I watch a lot of true crime shows. Not much is shown. Could you give instances? The most I've seen is a pool of blood. I don't see organs hanging out or bits of tissue on the walls. And I've put body organs (large colon to be precise) so my tolerance is a bit higher. Let me know what you mean by this.
I think gratuitous violence and gratuitous nudity are both potentially problematic, from a Buddhist point of view. But in our society, we seem to have a higher acceptance of graphic violence, and rather stricter standards (on network TV) with regard to nudity, for whatever reasons.
Palzang (not a nudist)
(really)
But the images and enactments nowadays are actually very realistic. Having lived for years in Asia, sometimes in very poor areas, I have seen many dead bodies. When I first saw them up close, sometimes in ghastly conditions, I was surprised at how "unreal" they appeared. They looked just like movie gore. And then I realized that that meant the images in movies are actually very realistic.
So, the realism is a factor. Not the same as the artfully suggested murders in old movies, or the clumsy, bloodless ones in early Westerns. And that may put the images on par with "real" nudity.
Very good point! But one thing I also thought of you will have to check your email for as I can't post it here. LOL!
For example....Shower gel commercial....
In the UK, you'll always get a nubile curvacious wench, (nobody who ever looks like me....) or a lean toned muscular Adonis - but shots will concentrate on the upper back, shoulders, and the relevant person's hand lathering and smoothing soap on said shoulder and upper arm...
In France, shots are full frontal, upper body, and even hip shots are not uncommon....It's far more accepted here.... So you get a glimpse of a young, smooth-skinned amply-endowed woman, or the steel-smooth sculpted abdomen of a bronzed male....
STOP IT, all of you!! You gt the gist - !!
Anyway....!
Dove skin care advertisements purport to be breaking new ground by using "normal" every-day women in their commercials, as opposed to the above, but even then, they are pushing the boundaries gradually.... Their amateur models, are still interviewed, auditioned, vettedand selected for image acceptability. (I know. A friend of mine was approached, and rejected....She believes because of a fairly prominent caesarian scar, though of course, this is pure hypothesis....)....there is still a modicum of selection involved, it's not like they just grab someone off the street and go...."Hey! Come and be in OUR commercial - !!"
My point is (because I don't want to take it so far off-topic that we forget the original point of gratuituous violence and such...)
The images projected to us are carefully selected and we are subject to so much conditioning by the Media in general - be it through documentaries, real-life dramas, entertainment and commercials....Whether they are bound by strict rules of conduct and acceptability or not, in one way or another, they'll get the message through....
They feed us what they want to feed us.... and it all goes in...it all lodges, it all has an effect.....
I would have to say you are wrong about that, Pal. I am not uptight about sex and I'm an American! I have no problem with sex when:
The lights are off.
Everyone has showered.
My partner is dressed up in my mother's clothing.
There is no talking or making of sounds.
Exchange of bodily fluids is kept to a bare minimum.
The act is never discussed.
We repent of our pleausre with hours of prayer and self-flaggelation.
You see? I'm totally cool and open minded about sex.
As for the violence thing - you may have a point with that.
-bf
Yeah... somebody get that woman a cold shower.
-bf
Honestly, I think that the US has such a hard time with sex and nudity because our country is run by Christians.
You speak of nudity but it is only of specimens that represent virility/youth. Showing nude shots of real people would probably not sell soap. The flip side is the ability to fly all kinds of violence on the television...and people don't lift an eyebrow....because they reject the realism portrayed...reject death.
I remember my son was looking through an art book I have. This one was on the human figure and they were detailing chests - men and womens.
He saw some drawn tits...
"That's inappropriate."
"What is?"
"This, Dad."
"No, it's not. They're just breasts."
"Breasts are inappropriate."
"Ummm... no... no they're not. Half of the animals in the world have 'em. Your mother has them - does that make them or her inappropriate? We're humans. That how we were made. They're really no different from legs or arms or teeth. It's just part of our body."
He doesn't say anything about how "inappropriate" they are - maybe he's not worrying about them anymore.
-bf
Just big flaps of fat with a spot on the end.
I hear ya, sister.
-bf
Maybe a new campaign is needed... "Boobies, Not Bullets"?
newboobist?
Sas :buck:
-bf
I'm really sorry about this....
Two days without their vitamins and they go off on a tangent at the drop of the soap....
mention boobies and shower gel and ker-boing!!
'Behind the bikeshed' humour...!!
We've found the level......!!
Yes! Or how about "Boobie = Good. Bullets = Bad".
That's simple enough for most people, isn't it?
Fed - I took my vitamins. I am just always this immature. Maybe it's the raw goats milk?
ker-boing?!?!?!?
what the hell is that supposed to mean!?!?!?!?
-bf
BF, Your initials are also kind of disconcerting.
Especially when they follow a kerr-boing.
Pray tell.
That way we can come up with all sorts of noises for things.
-bf
Sometimes I actually mistype and write "bfd" instead of just "bf".
But, come to think of it, "bfd" pretty much describes me
-bf
Or this?
BOOBIES? :cheer:
BULLETS? :nonono:
Or this?
MAKE BOOBIES.
NOT BULLETS.
Okay, back on topic...
From a Buddhist point of view, what do you think about enactments of killing being such an important part of modern entertainment?
I'm not sure there is a single, monolithic "Buddhist view," so I'm asking more for your personal opinions as Buddhist practitioners.
I can see a number of different ways to regard the prevalence of death and killing on our TV programs and in our movies and games. Whenever we see these things, we can use the occasion, for instance, to reflect on impermanence and death. (I don't personally do that as a practice, but I could see a Buddhist justification or at least use of these things as "practice opportunities.") And I know a Tibetan lama who just loves Westerns, enjoying them while also integrating all of the images, no matter how jarring, with his recognition of clear light.
But I can also see how regular exposure to violence and death can have a negative karmic impact, either habituating us to violence, normalizing it, and/or desensitizing viewers to death. It seems to me it depends in part on the context in which these things are shown, but also on the condition of the person receiving them. Not all are equipped to receive them skillfully or without harm.
Best wishes,
Balder
P.S. Brigid, I just saw your post. I'm with ya. Boobies, yaaay! Bullets, booooo!
I love the make boobies, not bullets slogan. I would support that cause!
Maybe the sub-slogan could be
More buns
Less guns
On the airwaves!
Oooohhh!! That's goood! Doesn't just have to be on the airwaves either. Could be everywhere.
NUDIST BUDDHISTS UNITE!
NUDIST BUDDHIST UNTIE! lol!
Back on topic, there's also the emotional element of the impact of violent death or crime on survivors and bystanders that's portrayed on crime shows on TV. There's an element of empathic/sympathetic voyeurism going on. Violent "art" imitating violent life/society. Getting caught up in the drama.
On the other hand, Nudity is a natural thing, everyone has seen a set of boobs, but not everyone will be witness to a murder, so if nudity must be shown for educational standards then let it be.
Just my opinion, I rarely watch television anymore anyways.
With love,
Wes.
I think that most people have odd views concerning nudity, i mean a breast is part of the human body and on its own is not arousing unless made so. I could look upon a completely naked person without feeling aroused, as long as they didnt do anything arousing lol.
people are afraid of it, and someone like me who has seen everything everywhere.. and i am talking about pornography here.. ( don't worry i gave it up month's ago) little shocks me in that area and i dont find such silly things to be arousing..
children mostly teenagers find anything that can even be considered slightly arousing.. to completely drive em sex mad.. maybe more open mindedness of this situation or maybe more eduacation would help this..
of course the america porn industry is absolutely huge.. the highest earner on the internet and worth billions of dollars.. and its addictive, damaging, and can really hurt you
Violence is romantisced a lot.. a hell of a lot.. and its probs why you get drunk fights so much its unfortunate but its why a lot of people go to war or join the army.. they have a deceptive view of violence and want to have the power to hurt people. without knowing what that power really is or how it effects you.
So am I a bad person because of this? Not really. I am one of the nicest people you could meet. So what if my favorite show is about as non-christian and racey as you could be. I watch it anyway. I have spent too much time in a very sheltered Christian environment at school where sex is something to have a finger wagged at. It is kind of fun at night watching something completely opposite of what I am taught every day.
I think personally that America is way too uptight about sex. I feel this is what causes many problems in our society.
Palzang
Nudity and violence can come in many different flavors. I did martial arts for many years. I never thought of it as fighting or violence - I always looked at it as an art - and that I was trying to be an artist in a way.
Nudity... the human figure... as long as it isn't something that demeans a person, traps a person, makes a victim out of a person, I have no problem with nudity. I love a well sculpted human figure.
I think part of it is how we view it and how it is presented.
I have more of a problem with watching The Exorcist and going to bed than I do watching jugs on the telly.
-bf