I'm going to come right out and say it: I hate Elfen Lied.
This has very little bearing on my actual discussion question, so bear with me here.
Elfen Lied is latin for "Elfen Lay" or "Elfen Song." Sounds pretty innocuous, right? Well, it isn't. At all. In the first thirty seconds of the first episode, at least three people died in ridiculously graphic fashions. I mean heads and limbs ripped off graphic. This continued for nearly 5 minutes. All told, at least 2 dozen graphic deaths must have been shown or hinted at in the first five minutes of this anime. All of this death-dealing was done by a nude young woman in her late teens or early twenties via telekinesis or some such. The blood and nudity didn't bother me so much as my reaction, or rather, lack thereof. I barely even blinked. Thinking back on this, I have become increasingly convinced that this was not a healthy reaction for me. I should have at least stopped watching the show earlier than I did (I watched a good 10 or 15 minutes of a 30 minute show). I recently read an article linked to this site in a different thread that said that GOW 3 will have an innovative physics mechanic called the Zipper that will allow realistic portrayal of organ loss from your enemies. I don't object to this because the brutality in that series is one of it's major selling points. But I do wonder if perhaps people are becoming desensitized to violence and disturbing images in general. I want to know your opinion. Are people, in your experience, becoming less likely to react to offensive material? And if so, is this a good or bad thing?
I myself am entirely divided on this issue. Not the first part, I think we can safely say that it's true that people are becoming desensitized to a certain extent, but I don't know if it's a good or bad thing, or if those terms should even be applied. On the one hand, censorship is wrong and if I let other people decide what is appropriate for me to see, then that is what is going on. But as we become desensitized, crime goes up, violent and sexual crime in particular, because people see it so much that they don't feel that it really matters if they do it too. So I'm torn. Is it better to let everyone see whatever and deal with the consequences when they come up, or is it better to nip this in the bud? I truly don't know.
This has very little bearing on my actual discussion question, so bear with me here.
Elfen Lied is latin for "Elfen Lay" or "Elfen Song." Sounds pretty innocuous, right? Well, it isn't. At all. In the first thirty seconds of the first episode, at least three people died in ridiculously graphic fashions. I mean heads and limbs ripped off graphic. This continued for nearly 5 minutes. All told, at least 2 dozen graphic deaths must have been shown or hinted at in the first five minutes of this anime. All of this death-dealing was done by a nude young woman in her late teens or early twenties via telekinesis or some such. The blood and nudity didn't bother me so much as my reaction, or rather, lack thereof. I barely even blinked. Thinking back on this, I have become increasingly convinced that this was not a healthy reaction for me. I should have at least stopped watching the show earlier than I did (I watched a good 10 or 15 minutes of a 30 minute show). I recently read an article linked to this site in a different thread that said that GOW 3 will have an innovative physics mechanic called the Zipper that will allow realistic portrayal of organ loss from your enemies. I don't object to this because the brutality in that series is one of it's major selling points. But I do wonder if perhaps people are becoming desensitized to violence and disturbing images in general. I want to know your opinion. Are people, in your experience, becoming less likely to react to offensive material? And if so, is this a good or bad thing?
I myself am entirely divided on this issue. Not the first part, I think we can safely say that it's true that people are becoming desensitized to a certain extent, but I don't know if it's a good or bad thing, or if those terms should even be applied. On the one hand, censorship is wrong and if I let other people decide what is appropriate for me to see, then that is what is going on. But as we become desensitized, crime goes up, violent and sexual crime in particular, because people see it so much that they don't feel that it really matters if they do it too. So I'm torn. Is it better to let everyone see whatever and deal with the consequences when they come up, or is it better to nip this in the bud? I truly don't know.
