Dylan is my twelve year old brother, when I took this photo he told me to wait till he got to a good part into his game and the more he played the bigger the guns got. The sounds from his room just got louder and louder not only with the massacre going on in the game but with the loud action movie playing in the background. His room is filled with action figures and superheroes holding guns and swords. It seems like over time as he grew up the guns and video games and action figures just kept getting bigger and bigger. In his room it is surrounded with sports posters and wrestling posters on the other walls. When asked if he ever played with babies or watched shows like Hannah Montana his response was, "the more people I shoot in the head in this game the more guns and choices I get." Almost answering like he never heard my question and his mind was in zombie mode. The images of masculinity lingering in his room all depicted that same aspect of what being a man is, being built, tough, scary, and loaded with weapons. I took this picture because at twelve years old my brother knows about more guns and how to change the bullets than any adult I know and his moods almost are aggression towards the game. Technology especially in the high action games is showing young men how to go about solving their issues with violence. Isolated alone in his room my brother's ideal of fun is killing his virtual friends for laughs and random strangers just to show them who are the man. But what is a real MAN and what is real FUN?
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The angle in which this picture was taken shows the back of a boy playing a video game on a computer screen. It is easy to see that this individual is into video technology. It shows a chair that appears comfortable from the way he is sitting in a slumped position. He is very involved in his game and seems to lack outside socialization on a regular basis. The objects in the room also include a television and a DVD or VCR player which could also indicate a person that spends a lot of time alone. Although there are athletic posters on the wall, it is doubtful that this individual is involved in much physical activity and most likely uses the technology in his room to watch these sports. This person appears to sit in front of this computer screen a lot and has a modern pull out keyboard which allows him the comfort of sitting in his chair with ease. From the looks of the clothes hanging out of his dresser drawers, he most likely does not spend much time cleaning his room as his focus appears to be fully on his games.
It is extremely shocking to know that violence is so emphasized at such young ages for boys. To think that people making these games are wanting to gear these horrible scenes to such young audiences is terrifying. I feel that it is obvious that this young boy loves his video games. It could be a sense of escape for him from other things, or it could mean that these games are what he is good at. So in a sense he is feeling accomplished when he "kills" another character, which is also unsettling. These games seem to only get worse as years go on and I hate to see what they will come out with next and how it will affect young boys.
In this picture, to me the boy in this case, represents how males are exposed to technology at a young age. I notice how the boy is focused primarily on the computer screen and yet the television is on and it seems a movie is playing. All of the posters on the wall of sport teams tell me that the child is interested in sports. All of these things are, in today's society, are related to manhood and how boys are raised. It is almost upsetting how the game the child is playing, the objective is to kill people. That fact that violence is exposed to young children in today's society almost tells me that the game makers are trying to train these young kids to do things like this when they grow up, and that is very sad.
Action figures and video games today are such a poor influence on young boys. They show many as hyper masculine: excessively violent, and impossibly muscular. It is normal for boys to like sports, but the size of professional athletes is unrealistic and can give young boys the impression that they need to be that big inorder to succeed, which is not the case. I like how she shows the action movie playing in the background, and includes that fact that he is almost "zombie-like" while playing the game. These games really do play such a huge role in socializing boys.
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