Action Man... The Greatest Hero of Them All?

The other day as I was sitting happily in my room browsing Facebook, my younger brother and his friend ran in with toy guns shouting: "WE'RE GONNA SHOOT YOU" as they left feeling pleased with their efforts, I sat there and wondered how our culture got to this stage?

Young boys, it seems, love to pretend to be soldiers/cowboys/whatever else they can think of that would carry a gun. Even as they grow up, boys begin to play violent video games such as 'Call of Duty' with the games being set in World War II and even the Cold War. But what are we teaching our kids by allowing this image to be considered acceptable?

Most people should remember 'Action Man', the 'tough', 'fierce' doll for boys. This doll was an icon in the 1970's, admittedly not many people play with them now, but they represented a lifestyle that little boys wanted to be a part of. But this brings me right  back to trying to find out why boys want to pretend to be these types of people, when in real life, these people can potentially be violent and aggressive. I read this quote online and tell me if you agree with it or not:

"The only misuse of guns 

comes in environments where there 

are drugs, alcohol, bad parents, 

and undisciplined children."

-Ted Nugent

Does that statement ring true? The following statistic only depicts the statistics of gun crime in England and Wales, it doesn't mention any use of alcohol or drugs...

• In England and Wales violence against the person (37%) and robbery offences (26%) accounted for almost two-thirds of all firearm offences recorded by the police in 2010/11.

These perpetrators could be anyone, we have no idea of their background, family life, or even if they took drugs on a regular basis. But I don't want to wander too much into gun crime, what I want to know is if we know of facts like the one above, why do we still give our children toy guns as presents? Why do we just sit back and watch them run round imaging that they can shoot and kill things? Can we even break this cultural norm? Perhaps instead of breaking the norm, we just need to teach our children where imagination stops and reality begins. 

Children learn to behave by watching people around them and by observing characters in movies, video games and television. Does this mean we have to constantly control the environment that our kids grow up in? Somebody once said to me that they would not allow their child to watch Disney films until their child was at least 5. Since when did Disney become something that a parent didn't feel comfortable allowing their child to watch? Is that an extreme case of controlling a child's environment? 

Already three generations have grown up with the slapstick comedy cartoon 'Tom and Jerry' the violent cat and mouse. Can 'Tom and Jerry' be accused of creating violent behaviour in some children? Well if we follow what the scientific studies tell us, then yes, the cartoon could account for some children being aggressive. 

Please comment and tell me your thoughts on this latest blog.

Socially Acceptable... Since When?

It seems now that just about everyone is familiar with the summer hit by Robin Thicke, T.I and Pharrell Williams. And it's true. 'Blurred Lines' was this summer's anthem. You could hear it just about anywhere; clubs, restaurants, shops, radios, music channels. So why was it such a huge hit? The catchy lyrics and the energetic beat went hand in hand making this song loved by most. But when you actually dig a little deeper, this song has a dark underlying meaning. To put it bluntly, the song seems to revolve around the idea of rape. All you have to do is look at the lyrics more closely and realise that half the things they are singing about are linked very closely to serious rape cases.

"I know you want it,

You're a good girl"

"Do it like it hurt,

Like it hurt"

"I'll give you something bit enough

to tear you ass in two"

Many rape victims have heard these lines. So why is it acceptable for artists like Robin Thicke to incorporate this into his music? And when I say acceptable I don't mean that everyone likes the lyrics, I mean that in society today we have almost come to accept this vulgar nature of certain men to be a cultural norm. I myself have younger siblings who enjoy singing along to 'Blurred Lines', they don't understand the meaning behind it, and nor should they, but we allow these songs to be played everywhere and so often that of course children will pick up on them. 

It seems now that parodies of 'Blurred Lines' have started to rise on YouTube. One of the most successful parodies, known as 'Defined Lines' has received over two and a half million views on YouTube. When you watch the video its fairly obvious as to why it will of been a huge success with many feminists.

Robin Thicke was certainly not the first male artist to have songs like this, but he won't be the last either. Example number two; 50 cent, an american rapper most famous for his song 'Candy Shop', the chorus line of this song being:

"I'll let you lick the lollipop
Go 'head girl, don't you stop
Keep going till you hit the spot"

We may not be able to control what the radios deem acceptable to play in the middle of the afternoon, but we can control what our children witness on the television. Music videos today have become a style of soft porn. Tinie Tempah's recent release 'Trampoline' is just one of the hundreds of music videos that sexually exploit a woman's body image. They show these slim girls with larger breasts than the average woman, parading around in next to nothing.

Music videos have been banned in the past for having inappropriate content, so why aren't half naked women seen as "inappropriate content"? Eminem had his music video for 'Just Lose It' banned from the american satellite channel 'Black Entertainment TV' because it showed his parody of the unfortunate situation that Michael Jackson found himself in regarding child molestation. Was that a justified reason for banning the video? 

I myself wonder what shifted over time for this to happen, doesn't anyone miss the days when you could see this on your television;

Footloose Music Video

Please comment and tell me what you thought of this post and any comments that you may have on the matter.