Somebody notify the CRTC and the FCC - network television is showing pornography during prime time! I am not talking about nudity or sexual content, of course; I am talking about the pornography of violence.
Last night, I watched a show called Criminal Minds, a show about FBI criminal profilers. The episode included an undercover police officer who was bound to a chair in a basement by a mass murderer. Before leaving the captive, the murderer sliced the victim with a knife, in order to attract rats to feed on the police man. Needless to say, there were a number of shots of the captive swarming with rats and reacting with fear.
There was something disturbing about the episode. I am not talking about the actual cinematography-- although that was disturbing enough -- but rather the casual way in which the violence was injected into the story. There was nothing implied, nothing hinted at. Instead, the producers showed the assault in all its gruesome glory.
It was as if they believe the audience expected to see gore. Perhaps they are right. I used to enjoy the CSI franchise of shows, but lately it seems as if the shows feel they have to stretch the boundaries of good taste even further than they have in the past with graphic murder and autopsy scenes. I suspect they feel pressured to push harder to keep audiences engaged.
And that could be a real problem. What will happen when audiences are no longer sated with off-screen violence or implied gore? What will happen, when two minutes of graphic assaults no longer satisfy our lust for hard-core pain?
