Violent Media Helps to Control Children's Negative Emotions

Gerard Jones is the author of numerous controversial comic-books, which became the main theme of discussions among parents. Jones is a person, whose outlook differs from many parents, as he claims that violence has a positive effect on children and their feelings. Being a parent himself, Jones allows his child to have access to media that others might call violent and impropriate. In his writing “Violent Media is Good for Kids”, the author analyzed all the media children are exposed to, including video games and comics, and concluded that there was no violent threat towards children's mental state (Jones 2000). On the contrary, Jones provides evidence that violent media is good for children as due to its developmental function they learn to understand and control their emotions and become active participants of social life.

Generally, the article gives an interesting and useful perspective not only for ordinary readers but also for parents who want to have a better understanding of their children’s needs. It begins with the author’s narration about his childhood and life without violence, as everything was controlled by his parents. As a consequence, Jones was alone and passive, without friends, as they were believed to have a negative impact on his life. The parents “built a wall between me and the crudest elements of American pop culture. Then the Incredible Hulk smashed through it” (Jones 2000). Since that moment, the life of the author has changed. Marvel Comics, especially the Hulk, taught Jones how to deal with rage being a normal part of his young life. Comics also assisted him to find new friends and initially perceive his subconscious desire to write and become a comics author.

Along with a psychologist Melanie Moore, he started the research and found out that a lot of children have problems with the demonstration of emotion and communication, as they are incapable of suppressing or releasing negative distresses (Jones 2000). Based on this assumption, every element of pop-culture or different kinds of media that can be distinguished as violent and impropriate have its developmental function. The article contains the arguments and supporting ideas illustrated with the help of real examples of Jones’ practice, which are impressive and essential for understanding how children’s perception is working. These examples demonstrate that Jones’ theory is credible, and violent media have a positive impact on the development of children becoming the means of their negative emotion control.