Violence in Popular Culture
The revenge motivation for violence can be seen in many films and novels, but one of the most clear-cut examples of this motivation -- as well as one of the most violent -- are Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films. In this two-part movie, a former assassin (Uma Thurman) tracks down her former boss and her remaining colleagues, killing each of them one by one because they had tried to kill her some years prior. She also gains a daughter through her dispatching of her former boss and lover, but she does not need to kill him to accomplish this. Nor does she have any real reason to kill the other female assassins with whom she used to work; had she simply dropped out of sight, she would not have been in any danger. Yet the character's motivation throughout the film is nothing more -- or less -- then a desire for absolute and utter vengeance against the man who tried to take her life. This film shows how powerful a force the desire for revenge can be.
Violence can also occur ritualistically, as is seen among the cultures on Papua New Guinea (Stewart & Strathern 2002). A different sort of ritualistic violence occurs in Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, which though wildly inaccurate in many of its details is quite pointedly correct in describing the self-inflicted pain that the albino monk working on behalf of an ultra-religious sect endures (Brown 2003). Such violence direct inwards can often be a signal of individual issues with violence, and this is certainly the case with this character in both the novel and film versions of Brown's story. This violence is of a type somewhat different than those explored in Violence: theory and Ethnography, but its roots are largely the same -- indoctrination in violent beliefs and a perception of harm, both physical and metaphysical, for refraining from certain acts of violence themselves -- drive many people's behavior.
A third...
"Qualitative studies, particularly ethnographic research, can explain in great detail the nuances of African-American family life and the parental activities and behaviors that may account for youth outcomes" (Burton, Allison, & Obeidallah, 1996; Jarrett, 1995). The results of the study indicated that the presence of uncles in the lives of African-American male youth identified as at risk, fostered successful transitions into young adulthood, positive adolescent development, and the informal social
More than one example would support the author's ability to make generalizations about gender related power struggles within the community. Stack conducted a formal quantitative study in Appendix A (Stack, p. 130) to support that conclusions that were drawn in the qualitative portion of her survey. The statistics that she found through a study of 200 AFDC case studies supported the assumption that the families she portrayed did represent typical
Gun Violence in America There are raging political debates about gun control in America. Most poor urban cities are characterized by gun violence always attributed to gang violence. These gangs always comprise of young adults and juvenile males. Increased cases of highly organized mass killings have orchestrated gun laws, even as the scenarios become rare. Reports released by researchers indicate that gun murders in the U.S. totals to 7,000 using firearms.
Figure 1 portrays three of the scenes 20/20 presented March 15, 2010. Figure 1: Heather, Rachel, and Unnamed Girl in 20/20 Program (adapted from Stossel, 2010). Statement of the Problem For any individual, the death of a family member, friend, parent or sibling may often be overwhelming. For adolescents, the death of person close to them may prove much more traumatic as it can disrupt adolescent development. Diana Mahoney (2008), with the
126). Although there are an increasing number of elderly in the United States today with many more expected in the future, the study of elder abuse is of fairly recent origin. During the last three decades of the 20th century, following the "discovery" of child abuse and domestic violence, scholars and professionals started taking an active interest in the subject of elder abuse. This increased attention from the academic
Terrorism Intelligence, counterterrorism and protection, and subjects for investigation appear to be relevant, interesting and worthy of detailed examination. The research traditions allowed in mainstream educational systems provide different avenues of approach to examine these ideas. The purpose of this paper is to examine the ideas of terrorism through the lenses of the five research conditions: narrative, grounded theory, phenomenology, case study and ethnography. Additionally, I will propose three different topics
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now