His article includes this little gem:
One of the most infamous examples was the torture and murder of James Bulger in 1993. For his killers, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, were said to be enthusiasts of the macabre horror film Child’s Play 3 about the murderous doll Chucky who comes to life.What he fails to mention, of course, is that there is no evidence that Venables and Thompson ever saw Child's Play 3; that this was just an unsubstantiated claim made by the sensationalist gutter press such as the very newspaper his article appears in.
I hope Martin Barker chimes in and tears this guy a new one...
4 comments:
It truly is disturbing how tabloid lies assume the standing of truth as history passes.
This 'Professor' should be ashamed of himself...
It is strange that a professor would make such an idiotic claim. As is, it reads like he is hinting towards causality, which is just silly without any context. And, as you mention, God knows whether they ever actually saw the film. But even if they had seen chucky 3, it wouldn't prove a thing without a deeper analysis.
I think it depends on the type of Professor he is, it is exactly how Barker explained in Ill-Effects, many professors claim they know a lot on the media subject, however their major is in Psychology, Pediatricians and so on...
They will always continue to claim such things as "Media Professionals change opinion on Media Violence".
It happened similarly in 1994 the Sun posted "MEDIA ACADEMICS PERFORM U-TURN ON MEDIA VIOLENCE" 'This of course ladies and Gentlemen, is HORESHIT, isn't it!"
It would be great to hear more on what you think of these Moral Panics as I am currently writing my Dissertations on the Bulger case and Child's PLay 3 'Morality, Monsters and Moral Panics!'
If you haven't read them already I would recommend looking at Barker's The Video Nasties; John Martin's The Seduction of the Gullible; Kerekes and Slater's See No Evil and Kate Egan's Trash or Treasure.
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