Next Scientia lecture looks at violence in mass media

Next Scientia lecture looks at violence in mass media

Why are visual representations of violence often subject to greater public scrutiny and moral contempt than off-screen acts of individual and group violence? Why are some representations of violence considered socially acceptable while others are not? What role do aesthetics and genre conventions play in differentiating categories of violent imagery?

Kirsten Ostherr, assistant professor of English, will examine the answers in the next Scientia lecture, titled “Violence in the Mass Media,” at 4 p.m. Jan. 18 in McMurtry Auditorium, Anne and Charles Duncan Hall.

In this lecture, Ostherr will address current mass media representations of violence in relation to the history of attempts to restrict — and at times promote — the distribution of violent imagery to the American public. By focusing on the regulation of violent content in popular media, both in Hollywood film and commercial broadcast television, Ostherr will provide an overview of the changing definitions of violence in different contexts and historical periods and will attempt to explain the central role of violence in American entertainment.

A member of the Rice faculty since 2002, Ostherr focuses her studies in the areas of U.S. and world cinema, film theory, cultural studies, documentary and educational film, censorship, film and political movements, new media and public health.

This year’s Scientia series is examining the nature and origins of violent conflict, not only in modern-day warfare and throughout human history but in its evolutionary roots within other animal species. By examining a spectrum extending from the appearance of violence in images to the occurrence of competition versus cooperation in experimental gaming and bargaining experiments, lecturers are examining the causes and possible purposes of violent behavior as well as what might be done to contain violence in the future.

Scientia is an institute of Rice University faculty founded in 1981 by the mathematician and historian of science Salomon Bochner. Scientia provides an opportunity for scholarly discussion across disciplinary boundaries; its members and fellows come from a wide range of academic disciplines.

For more information on Scientia, visit <www.ruf.rice.edu/~scientia/>.