Violence and depictions of abuse in the doll world?

I'm sorry I can't please 50 different people with how I word my posts, it's a little impossible to say something that can't possibly be interpreted differently by other people. I am merely stating that if my neighbor is doing something irritating and I feel like killing him just to make him stop, I'm going to just do it on Ragnarok instead of landing myself in jail by doing it in real life. This is how normal people react to their violent tendencies, blowing off steam somewhere else and thus eliminating the need to be violent afterward. This is why violent art needs to exist to some degree.

No. I said once it's getting into the realm of torture it's no longer blowing off steam. When one gets into more complicated things like that, the motives need to be better examined, there's a higher chance that it wasn't just a whim, and it's possibly more personal to the creator.

 

Usagi, are you speaking from personal experience alone? Because I personally don't feel the need to kill anyone.

 

Think back on your entire life and tell me you've never been so irritated with someone that you wished they would just die. Again, this feels like a personal attack more than debating. And I thought these personal attacks were against the rules.

 

Nono, I need to ask because.. I honestly don't understand.

I have personally never felt like that, so I don't understand.

I've been angry, but never enough so to want to kill someone - maybe smack their head, though.

 

Darky is not attacking you Usagi. I agree that I would like a better understanding at what point you are trying to make. Because your examples are confusing .

 

I sort of agree with you, although I would argue that violence in a backstory can be valid if it is an essential part of what motivates the character's actions in present day. Again, the key word is "essential." Violence can be an integral part of a storyline. When it's purely gratuitous is when it bothers me. And I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in that opinion.

Since I've been old enough to comprehend what death is? No. I've wished people would go far far away, but that's about it.

 

She is not attacking you, she is merely pointing out the flaws of your argument. This is a debate, and that means anything you say is up for refutation. And personal emotions will not hold out very well in a debate, just so you know. Personally your posts have almost no logical backing as I see it.

On topic, I believe that the fascination stems from taboo, as many said here.

 

Ok, take me for example. I was teased, picked on, tormented by others my entire life. To this day I still am to some degree. Lots of times I want to just kill the person who is doing it, but instead of actually acting out that feeling and going to jail, I take that anger and frustation out on say a video game character, or a box.

We know right from wrong, we're letting off steam. Some people HAVE gone and killed that other person, but I think it's safe to agree most let that steam go on something that actually doesn't harm another living being.

 

I agree with this, which seems contrary to everything I've been saying, so allow me to explain I've so far been addressing violence as a PLOT DEVICE and nothing else, and the reasons it may be included in a specific fictional story. That's actually a different process than analyzing the results of specific fictional acts of violence from the point of view of the viewer.

I also get irked when people respond to, say, a fictional attempted rape with "she deserved it." No, no fictional character deserves it any more than a real person does. The same rules of morality that apply to real humans apply to fake ones (unless, I suppose, you explicitly created a world for that--but I'm in the mind of the viewer here), so it's not "right" in the fictional world either.

But yeah, I do think there are different methods of analysis needed for "violence as a plot device" and "how the violence is viewed." For the plot, it's valid, but as a viewer, it's not something I necessarily want to see, because I'm going to respond with a similar horror as I would to a real-life violent event.

(I guess I'm a bit inconsistent with the last point, because as something of a military historian, I spend a lot of time reading and watching movies about wars in Asia and that only sometimes bothers me. Maybe because I'm being expressly academic?)

 

Perhaps I can help clarify. From what I gather, Usagi665 is saying that for some people having a violent outlet could help them keep their real violent urges under wraps. I guess you could say it's like punching a cushion instead of your little brother. I didn't take her statement to mean violent video games provent real violence, just that in the case of the one fictional person she used as an example, they may be able to turn their violent urges toward the game rather than the neighbour. I didn't read it as 'everyone is a potential murderer.' I'm going to venture that some people may have been rubbed the wrong way by misreading Usagi665's very first comment, and now are misinterpreting the rest of what she has to say. It may look like blanket statements, but read carefully I'm pretty sure they are not meant as such.

~Lady Lenore~: You may wish to reread this post http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1841023&postcount=11 before stating that Usagi665 has 'no logical backing' to her assertions.

 

Ok, I've read through the thread so now can comment on this (going back a little bit, sorry)

In my opinion, one needs to be a much more talented writer/photographer/artist etc. to make the more mundane aspects of life riveting. It's just much easier to make something dramatic and do things with broader sweeps.

 

This is exactly what I'm saying. I hardly think Rynn and I are alone in this sentiment.

 

Fair enough. C: I just wanted to ask because it's not something I know of myself, despite being in many situations where I imagine that I could possibly feel like that.

 

You are saying that you transfer your anger from that person and take it out on an object. But say you did not have anything to transfer those feelings towards you wouldn't unstead take them out on said person? I think that's where a previous point got confusing for me.

 

Exactly. I guess I tend to view doll photostories, fanfic, and the like more as the response of an audience to the entertainment influences around them rather than the creation of an entertainer. Most of these people are doing what they do for fun, rather than attempting to start a career or make a specific artistic statement.

 

Actually, I hold it in and go somewhere to scream or take it out on myself.

 

Do photostories which show rape in a romantic way make people desensitised to hearing about rape? I mean does it take a scary, unwanted thing and 'sugarcoat' it? I'd like to hear people's opinions on this.


Rynn07- I respect your honesty about how pressures have lead you to have unsavoury thoughts. It's not really an easy thing to admit, especially in an environment like this where there's a certain amount of peer pressure to conform to being a good doll owner and a 'good person'.

 

Not just that, but honestly there are a lot of people who don't really care about reading photostories about mundane life. We live mundane life, fiction is (quite often) about escaping, not reading about what you're already doing.

 

I see. I'm not going to comment since I think this is getting a bit personal. I was just using what you said as an example and I didn't really mean to direct it soely at you. I'm sorry if it seemed that way.