Your kids are safe with Beavis and Butthead

[robinturner]

Today I was in the library again, browsing the film and TV section to see if I could find any books on Buffy, Xena and the like. The only book I could find was Bite Me, which is full of entertaining trivia but has nothing useful for my course, but I did pick up an interesting-looking book called The Case For Television Violence. This starts by debunking the story that a boy set fire to his home after being influenced by Beavis and Butthead.

The author, the oddly-named Jib Fowles, points out that:

1. the boy's family did not receive cable TV, and thus there was no Beavis and Butthead in the home;
2. the trailer park where they lived had no cable TV, so it was unlikely that our little arsonist had been watching it with his friends;
3. the child had a history of playing with matches going back several years.

Stories like this are almost urban legends. Once in a while, someone does something bad. He or she claims to have been influenced by a film, television programme or, more occasionally, music lyrics (from_ashes - you'd better find a good lawyer!). Sometimes, it is not even the person committing the crime who makes this kind of Chewbacca defence, but their lawyer, or, as in this case, parent. Sometimes, I suspect, the offending film is not even mentioned in court, but parallels are drawn by the media after the event. Moral panic is raised. Later, and in smaller print, we sometimes find out the facts. The kid had been playing with matches without encouragement from Beavis and Butthead. The cannibal serial killer had never seen Silence of the Lambs. The shotgun-wielding maniac was fond of black trenchcoats before The Matrix was ever made.

I am waiting for a "Troy defence". "Your honour, my client was a normal seventeen-year-old boy until this film made him hide inside a giant wooden horse before massacring an entire city."

Comments

Examination of Xena as Nietzsche's "Uberbabe"

[(Anonymous)]

At least it might galvanize the youngsters! (http://whoosh.org/issue68/danbrook1.html)

Re: Examination of Xena as Nietzsche's "Uberbabe"

[solri.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that was a fun read. I'm not sure whether to use it though, partly because the language would be difficult for my students (in ways that are not immediately apparent) but also because it kind of peters out towards the end. "The timeless metaphysical battle between good and evil will forever play itself out in Xena's immortal soul" isn't much of a conclusion. You're right that some kind of Nietzscean angle would be good to take, though.

Come to think of it, I feel the urge to write something myself along these lines. Maybe "The Death of Tragedy: Nietzsche meets the Uberchicks" ;-)