In just three minutes, the following viral video features every violent death that occurs in the original Star Wars trilogy – and it’s a huge number. Yet in all the debate about violent entertainment and the damage it does, or doesn’t do, I don’t think anyone ever beat up on George Lucas’ beloved Star Wars?franchise. That contradiction got me thinking.
What are we really talking about when we talk about violence in media? Clearly, as the video tally demonstrates, the Star Wars movies are very violent. But it’s not so objectionable, at least not to most people in the mainstream. Why is that?
In ‘Star Wars,’ nobody really bleeds. People die, but it feels like the violence doesn’t count.
Why do I, as a parent, find Star Wars far less disturbing than other films where far less killing is depicted (yet they’re movies I think of as very violent)? The answer, it seems to me, comes down to two words: blood and spaceships.
In Star Wars, nobody really bleeds and the characters travel in spaceships – in a galaxy far, far away. People die, but it’s all so unreal, that it feels like the violence doesn’t count in most people’s minds. Or to put a finer point on it: That can’t happen to us, or to those we love, so it doesn’t count.
When we object to depictions of violence, are we really just talking about violence that could realistically happen to us? And if we had a broader sense of who was included in “us,” are there forms of entertainment which might suddenly be more disturbing?
Others can, and will, debate the issue if excessive violence in mass media. And personally, even my broadest, most inclusive sense of “us” doesn’t include Wookies or storm troopers, so Star Wars doesn’t worry me.
Still, what we can think of as the “Star Wars Effect” remains something to keep in mind. It’s a way of thinking about who we consider to be part of “us,” and it may help us take notice of how much we care when violence happens to “them” (defined as others that don’t fit into your concept of “us”).
Here’s the video, which features extremely NSFW (not safe for work) music:
Listed for many years in Newsweek as one of America’s “50 Most Influential Rabbis” and recognized as one of our nation’s leading “Preachers and Teachers,” by Beliefnet.com, Rabbi Brad Hirschfield serves as the President of Clal–The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, a training institute, think tank, and resource center nurturing religious and intellectual pluralism within the Jewish community, and the wider world, preparing people to meet the biggest challenges we face in our increasingly polarized world.
An ordained Orthodox rabbi who studied for his PhD and taught at The Jewish Theological Seminary, he has also taught the University of Pennsylvania, where he directs an ongoing seminar, and American Jewish University. Rabbi Brad regularly teaches and consults for the US Army and United States Department of Defense, religious organizations — Jewish and Christian — including United Seminary (Methodist), Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (Modern Orthodox) Luther Seminary (Lutheran), and The Jewish Theological Seminary (Conservative) — civic organizations including No Labels, Odyssey Impact, and The Aspen Institute, numerous Jewish Federations, and a variety of communal and family foundations.
Hirschfield is the author and editor of numerous books, including You Don’t Have To Be Wrong For Me To Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism, writes a column for Religion News Service, and appears regularly on TV and radio in outlets ranging from The Washington Post to Fox News Channel. He is also the founder of the Stand and See Fellowship, which brings hundreds of Christian religious leaders to Israel, preparing them to address the increasing polarization around Middle East issues — and really all currently polarizing issues at home and abroad — with six words, “It’s more complicated than we know.”