The TV fetish for violence

These dramas, series or box sets, whatever you want to call them, are immensely popular. People, including myself, stay up to all hours watching episodes and almost putting their lives on hold for days or weeks at a time, such is their addictive power.


I’ve been guilty of this in the past but refuse to do it now as it is all too time consuming. I’ve deliberately avoided Game of Thrones as it doesn’t attract me. Sopranos similarly. I have been following the Walking Dead for several years now, but the violence level in this has been ratcheted up pretty recently. I have started to lose interest in the characters as the whole series is dragging on.


I was surprised to see Mary Kenny mention Breaking Bad in the Irish Catholic paper a while back, saying there was a moral lesson in it. I have talked to friends that say Breaking Bad is up there with the best of these series.

Without doubt though the majority of these series are morally dubious and at best ambivalent. The likes of the Sopranos seem to specialise in misery, betrayal, murder, brutish violence , depersonalised sex. Many of the characters are in therapy or on drugs.


But, these series are generally very well made. They are very slick. The dialogue and drama in the likes of the Sopranos is realistic and appeals. You are witnessing moral and personal disintegration, but so slickly done that it is rendered voyeuristic entertainment. The technical side of the show, the show’s writers, the research, dialogue, accents, music, lighting, choice of actors, background scenery are all next to perfect but the end result is completely devoid of soul and there is a feel-bad empty aftertaste. In short this won’t make you feel good about life or humanity, but it might make you feel a little better in that your own personal disintegration may not be at the level of Tony Soprano just yet.