Ultimate Fighter
a post by Calvin
I have found myself watching ultimate fighter whenever I see it is on, as opposed to watching anything else on TV. It is definitely more entertaining that watching any other sport, except maybe hockey. My wife has also found herself strapped to the television wound up in a ball of tension moving and throwing punches along with the fighters. Now I like it and she likes it, but she also hates it. She says it makes her feel violent and want to, and sometimes actually, throw punches at me after watching a fight. I think it’s worth taking a few punches in the arm to keep the channel on the fight and off of Oprah or Martha.
Is it too violent? Well, where do you draw the line? It is more violent then boxing, well maybe not. It is more aggressive then boxing and less then wrestling these days. on the one hand, the violence is contained. By that I mean that it is in a controlled environment, but violence is still violence it could be argued. It is no worse than watching a show like CSI where the murders are graphically reenacted in the solving of the gruesome crimes committed.
I have found myself watching ultimate fighter whenever I see it is on, as opposed to watching anything else on TV. It is definitely more entertaining that watching any other sport, except maybe hockey. My wife has also found herself strapped to the television wound up in a ball of tension moving and throwing punches along with the fighters. Now I like it and she likes it, but she also hates it. She says it makes her feel violent and want to, and sometimes actually, throw punches at me after watching a fight. I think it’s worth taking a few punches in the arm to keep the channel on the fight and off of Oprah or Martha.
Is it too violent? Well, where do you draw the line? It is more violent then boxing, well maybe not. It is more aggressive then boxing and less then wrestling these days. on the one hand, the violence is contained. By that I mean that it is in a controlled environment, but violence is still violence it could be argued. It is no worse than watching a show like CSI where the murders are graphically reenacted in the solving of the gruesome crimes committed.
posted by blair at 2/05/2006 11:50:00 p.m.
2 Comments:
The context for violence makes all the difference. So a show like Ultimate Fighter, the violence is the core attraction. It's what it's about.
CSI is extremely violent -- but shows a context for it. The look into psychology and societal pressures, and the strengths and weaknesses of legal justice, all affect how the violence is seen.
Here's a question: with CSI, do you cheer for the rapist or violent offender? You are drawn to it, like a car-crash, but you probably don't cheer for the offender. Compare that answer to your sentiment in Ultimate Fighter.
I was thinking about this recently, as a friend was talking about various first-person video games, with chain-saws etc. As he was relishing in the graphic violence - finding it all very funny, because so over-the-top - I found myself drawn to these words: "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is honorable - if there is any virtue or anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things."
(By the way, I often hang out in a different room when my wife is watching CSI... our consciences draw lines in different places.)
I'm not sure that because the is contained makes it any better. You could argue that there is some sort of cathartic value to watching but I'm not sure that you could do so without straining. Catharsis would require a release of on the viewers part and it seems with UF you may become more violent, at least more tense. CSI may be cathartic in the sense that we realize that we are evil as individuals, that we could act out on that evil but that there are forces of order and good that stand in the way of that. We identify with the plodding methodology of order while we expunge our need to act out.
I wonder what draws the Ultimate fighters themselves? What is there motivation?
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