One
of America’s, along with other nations, most popular cultures is to sit back
and watch either movies or television programs that are meant to entertain. As
a matter of fact, almost everyone out there, with access to a television or
through the evolution of technology have accounts with online streaming
companies such as HULU or Netflix, has a favorite show that they enjoy watching
on such mediums. With that being said, shows and movies have ranged with
various genres and content. Their primary focus is to entertain us regardless
of the content, and that’s where controversies on whether the content is too obscene or graphic and should be aired or not arise. Certain content such as
violence, action, and terror is produced and integrated in media to entertain
audiences. It is being allowed on television because it has no problem getting
an approval from the Federal Communications Commission. Furthermore, in
particular to torture, television shows such as ”Breaking Bad” and “American Horror
Story” both mediate torturous scenes that take on levels of entertainment while
glorifying the cruel behavior.
“Breaking
Bad” is a show full of violence, death, drugs, and life changing experiences
that the main characters encounter. Walter White, a chemistry teacher who has
been diagnosed with terminal cancer, befriends drug addict Jessie Pinkman in
this critically acclaimed television program. Walter White now dying of cancer decides
to ultimately brew up drugs and sell them with Jessie Pinkman in order to financially
help out his family after he dies. Although the show is praised, violence that
is considered torturous is glorified for the purpose of amusement. In the pilot
episode of the show, Jessie Pinkman runs away from fearsome drug dealers Emilio
and Krazy 8 and happens to trip and fall onto a rock in the New Mexico desert.
The collision with the rock caused Jessie to pass out, giving advantage to the
drug dealers after him. Although Jessie is knocked out cold, they can not
resist to kick him with immense power on the side of his body. Apart from this
scene, there are several instances where Jessie is brutally kicked, punched, or
stomped on. The merciless people responsible for this behavior inflict this
damage on Jessie to prove a point or get what they want, which in this case is
drugs or drug money. Given that the show is fictional along with the
characters, torturous acts are still displayed to demonstrate the circumstances
in a world of drugs and entertain fans of the program.
“American Horror Story”, I have to
admit is my all-time favorite show. Although I consider it to be amazing and
entertaining, it has an abundance of scenes where pain is inflicted on
characters. “American Horror Story” is a dark and twisted supernatural drama
that explores humankind’s unsetting capacity for evil. The word "Horror" in the title
says it all. A particular season where torture is abundant is in season three which
tells the story of modern day witches in the city of New Orleans. In the
season, the young witches come across a racist immortal lady that was buried
underneath the ground for over a century. The reason she was buried was due to
her dark and cruel behavior with African American slaves. The witches’ leader,
Fiona Good, employs the lady as a maid to maintain their home/school as a
second chance for her to redeem herself. The show flashes back to the maid’s
early life in the nineteenth century, where she owned several slaves and
treated them terribly. The maid had a chamber of horrors in which she kept most
of her “bad” slaves there. Occasionally, she would cut their fingers or certain
body parts, break their bones, and slice open their bodies in order to acquire
organs and blood for her “special” facials.
She absolutely hated African
Americans and lived to torture them for pleasure and amusement. Overall, the
season demonstrates various scenes of cruel punishment. Most of the scenes regard racism and pain inflicted on African Americans. Moreover, the show is
expected to show the dark nature of humanity which includes torture, fear, and pain. Because the show is so popular and people have expectations of cruel scenes, it further proves that torture has earned a foothold in entertainment.
In
summation, both television shows are hits and are appraised in society,
however, they glorify the wicked behaviors of humanity. By showing scenes of
torture or the infliction of pain on another human being, it creates this
normalization for the behavior and allowing for it to be done. Fans may see it as
entertainment, but the reality is they are favoring torture thus adding onto
its popularization in today’s media.
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Every time I would encounter a
scene in a movie or television show displaying torture, I would cringe and
thank god I was not in that terrible situation. The gruesome scenes would make
me sick and just bring a surge of discomfort. After finishing the movie or television
program, the scenes of torture would eventually leave my mind and fade away. Through
time, I never really pondered on the concept of torture or fully analyzed it,
until taking Humanities Core. Especially for winter quarter, torture is emphasized in the
course and it is conceptualized by various authors and debates. Torture, to my
knowledge and interpretation, is damage that is inflicted on a subject for
means of acquiring specific information or for cruel punishment.
Various
authors such as Alan Dershowitz, Elaine Scarry, J.M. Coetzee, and more all
discuss torture and give their critical interpretations while arguing if it is
necessary or not. Focusing on Alan Dershowitz and Elaine Scarry, they soon formed
a debate on torture and its ethicality due to one agreeing and the other disagreeing. Dershowitz approved torture if one was warranted and Scarry completely disapproved of it mainly because it is unethical.
Initially, Alan
Dershowitz establishes in his essay Tortured Reasoning an ultimatum on what
is commonly portrayed in popular culture, The Ticking Time Bomb Scenario.
In
that scenario, the “protagonist” faces the ultimatum of torturing his subject
in return for receiving intelligence that will potentially save the city or
civilians whom are in danger. The information is usually a location of a bomb
or weapon of mass destruction that will be used in a given time frame. Alan
Dershowitz implicitly justifies that torture in this sake as necessary for the
purpose of heroism. Through this justification, Dershowitz becomes a
situationalist or consequentialist. A
situationalist is a person who justifies torture depending on the
circumstances. Dershowitz does not want torture to be the new norm, however,
accepts torture if the “protagonist” is licensed with what he conceptualizes, a
“torture warrant” from a judge or U.S. official. The warrant would grant him
legitimacy to torture his subject without being held accountable after the
issue is resolved.
Elaine
Scarry, on the other hand, begs to differ. She critiques Alan Dershowitz
directly in her writing, “Five Errors in the Reasoning of Alan Dershowitz”.
Scarry believes that torture is unnecessary regardless of the situation. Through
this belief, she falls under the category of an absolutist. An absolutist is a
person who is against torture and believes that it should not be practiced
under any circumstances. Moreover, Scarry especially critiques the Ticking Time
Bomb Scenario. According to her, it is often described as highly improbable
because knowledge is imperfect and the torturer is suddenly granted the
omniscience to know that the subject has the crucial information on the
whereabouts of the bombs. Why can’t the torturer instead know where the bomb is
or how does he know if the information is accurate? Additionally, torture
warrants are unnecessary since the protagonist might now have enough time to
obtain one given the little time they have to save the city. The Ticking Time
Bomb scenario is thus superficial and should not be used as an excuse to subjugate
another human being for information.
After
reading both accounts on the issue, I fall more under being an absolutist and
considering the virtues and ethics if it does occur. To put it out there, torture
should not be done because it is cruel against humanity. We forget that
everyone is human, regardless of their actions or thoughts. They are
individuals who have the right not to be tortured. It is not ethical to harm
someone and basically dehumanize them based on their actions. The torturer
should acknowledge that one’s actions define them; what you do you will become.
Consider virtues and what the right thing to do is.
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