The movie 300 opened this weekend and it, like most works of art, is as much a mirror of the viewers opinions as the producers. What is not up for debate is the violence portrayed, and while not particularly gruesome it is still graphic, pervasive and, for some viewers, comical.

The group I went with took offense to people laughing at lopped legs and skewered sternums but entered into a discussion of violent media.

Its a concern of countless politicians, parents, priests and professors, what are works like 300 doing to our children? There is a larger and more difficult question to ask, what does violence say about us?

A wise woman once said that violent media is not a cause of violent culture but a symptom of it, purveyors of guts and gore are only giving a bloodthirsty populace what it wants, not creating markets but catering to them, as it were.

What are people being taught so that their natural reaction to slaughter, is laughter, not horror and what conditions is the current generation all being raised in so that we tolerate torture in primetime?

Think of it this way, would a desert culture with few plants value gardening?

Would a vegetarian culture spend a lot of time inventing new and interesting ways to marinate? Of course not, a culture produces what it values.

Think about your first reaction to a misbehaving child; it is a safe bet that it is not to blame the child but to search out the derelict parent.

That is not to say that we everyone is going to react to the same stimuli as everyone else. Good parents have produced rotten children and vice versa.

From what was stated above, apologies are made for some profoundly disturbed individuals. A culture is a way to understand individuals not to excuse them.

It is a safe assumption that people with more violent tendencies will be more attracted to violent media in much the same way that politically minded people watch C-SPAN and people who like to cook watch the food channel, its kind of a chicken and egg type of situation with one reinforcing the other.

As far as people being inspired by violence goes, I am not really sure how I feel about that. Instinct tells me that people will get ideas or inspiration in much the same way that someone will watch Hitch to get lines to use on a significant other. The predisposition is already present, but the creative part is just left to the

professionals.

A cineplex full of murder, war and hate is not isolated to a few rotten teenagers in dark rooms. It indicates a larger issue that cannot be confronted with regulation or petitions.

The issue requires fundamental social change and until society is ready to confront the monster within, it cannot confront the monster on the screen.

For every finger pointed, three point right back. Art is simply a mirror for the violent society we live in and we cannot blame the artist for giving his patron what he asks for.

For the root of violent media, we must first look at the violence in society.

Columnist: Grady Rose - 03/15/07