Influences

The picture that you may or may not be able to see above (depending on if I get it to work right) is a drawing that I worked on today. Now it’s been a while since my last post and I do apologise for that, but I wanted to do something really good. And when I got the idea to do this drawing, I also got the idea to write about this.

Now, last night I was terribly bored and didn’t know what to draw. So, I went onto Google and typed in “things to draw” and selected “I’m Feeling Lucky” with a slight nervousness. I didn’t want to get some lewd suggestive thing. What I got, to my delight, was a website full of drawing prompts. I scrolled through them and came across one that struck my interest: a baby smoking. So I did a little thinking and the drawing started to form in my mind. I soon discovered I sucked at drawing babies. My first attempt made it look demonic. However I kept on going and I’m somewhat happy with the results.

Anyway, there’s a message along with this one. Now, as most of everyone will know, there is a lot out there on the Internet, on television, in video games that people shouldn’t be allowed to see until they’re a certain age; that’s why movies are rated, to protect the innocent minds. And there’s nothing wrong with not letting your kids see or play some stuff until they are that age; in fact, I think it’s the right thing to do.

But what I don’t agree with is the whole notion that you’re going to become a violent person, or get into bad habits, or get depressed, or grow up with a negative body image from these television shows, these games, heavy music. Sure, they don’t exactly help, especially not with things like body image. But are they to blame? No. Is the fast food place to blame for getting fat? No. Who is to blame? Us.

Before you get angry and stop reading, hear me out. We complain we’re getting to be an obese country and all that, but who are the ones that are making it that way? Us, the people. Is it the media? Well, if we totally went by the media, I think we all would have stopped eating at McDonalds years ago when Supersize Me came out. I mean, it was enough to make me feel sick. But I’ll admit, I still eat the stuff way more than I should. Why? Because I want it, because I like it. Not because of their ads (in fact, the current one they’re running…I find it to be horridly annoying and always feel like turning the TV off) and I’d still eat the stuff if they raised their prices. And I’m pretty sure that there’s more than just one of me.

As for something like a video game making us violent…no, I don’t believe that. If there are some people that start to act out after playing something like that, then it generally means the urge has always been there and would have come out sooner or later. Some crimes are done for greed, some are done in the heat of the moment and some are done purely because someone thought it would be “fun” to do. This has happened for years and years, long before any game system was even invented. Who can we blame the wars on, if its games and movies making us violent? There is no one to blame because that sort of thing wasn’t out then. It kind of puts things in perspective, doesn’t it?

It’s my belief that yes, while some games, movies, tv shows, songs…the list is endless…can influence us, but it’s never the main cause for it. It’s not the full reason why. Take myself for example – I don’t give a damn about the media, I hate fashion magazines, I don’t care about any slim celebrity…yet I’ve had body image issues for years and years. Who do I blame for that? My mind…and people around me.

We seem to place a lot of blame in these external sources, yet I feel that we’re overlooking one very important thing…we do what we’re taught. As a kid, I was bullied because I was different. That’s why I have body image issues. Not because I saw some ad about how we’ve got to be skinny. An abuser most likely followed the pattern of that from their parents, or their brother, or their uncle, or grandparents…kids are impressionable and will follow along with what they’re taught. You can’t deny that.

We blame a game for kids getting into fights, but do we blame the people that glass each other outside the pubs? Generally not. When we hear a kid swear, do we generally think of, “oh, someone in their family swears”? No, we don’t, we think of what television show they could have heard that from – Family Guy, perhaps?

I believe we need to be more mindful of how we, as humans, behave, than how people are behaving in some game, because we could be the problem. Not some made up content.