Human society is a constantly changing entity, going through metamorphosis after metamorphosis. Yet one of the constants that has remained for well over the last 2500 years has been the reaction to the new, or the different. This kneejerk reaction to new, unusual or things undesirable to the maintenance of the status quo often takes the form not of an outright denial or open opposition, but instead with the charge that the thing in question is corrupting the youth. This presentation contains a number of, but certainly not all, the things that have at one time been considered corrupting influences upon the youth of society, arranged chronologically.
The first thing that the viewer should notice as they progress through the image is that the older items are not what we today would consider corrupting influences. These are things that are either accepted, appreciated as the foundations of our society, or even cherished. And there lies the crux of the argument presented in this presentation: as time passes, the things that are often charged as being responsible for corrupting our children gradually grow more accepted and eventually cease being controversial. These societal destroyers then become integrated cultural artifacts that in turn shape our future developments.
The Prezi begins with a painting of Socrates about to drink the hemlock in 399 B.C. after being sentenced to death for, as it so happens, corrupting the youth. The image of Socrates before his death holds a remarkable power. He is considered by many a foundation of western culture, a consummate philosopher. The death of Plato's teacher creates a significant amount of indignation and anger at the seemingly meaningless death of a great mind. Most importantly, our modern mind does not conceive of Socrates as a destructive influence, but rather a constructive one. The same could be said of the next image, that of Jesus. We do not think of Jesus as a corruptor of the youth, but by the Jews he was considered such. Now he is a central figure in major religions and a paragon of morality. The image of Jesus on the cross provokes many different reactions from people depending on their background, but generally it provokes a sadness, outrage or frustration.
Following this is an image of Mark Twain, considered one of America's most talented authors and a cornerstone of our early culture, but during his lifetime his writings, particularly Huckleberry Finn, were considered to have negative influences on youths. The painting itself gives off an air of respectability and a kind of pride in our history, giving an idea of how our society now regards this formerly destructive influence. Next comes a picture of a group of Germans, some wearing Nazi uniforms, preparing to burn books and various papers. Hitler and the Nazi party had decreed that many books were "un-German" and would corrupt their younger readers, and consequently had to be destroyed. The picture draws upon the entire gamut of reactions drawn out by Nazi imagery, and in particular the smile of the man in the middle seems deranged and fundamentally disturbing. This also further ties in with Twain, the author, and hopefully gives his inclusion more resonance.
After this the sequence changes to music, which has for much of the 20th century been considered a strongly destructive influence in our culture by some. During the 1920s Jazz and other African American music was considered highly destructive by many due to its distinct difference from more traditional music and its promulgation during the economic upswing that also encouraged more extravagant and controversial. Skipping ahead, Elvis further threatened the traditional establishment and was hated by parents for bringing Africa American music and dance elements to youth. His performances were labeled obscene and his music often was not allowed to be played on the radio. These two different musicians, Elvis and Louis Armstrong, are now considered strong and hardly controversial cultural icons that many will draw firm affinity with and be able to appreciate their significance. Seeing such a seemingly harmless figure as Louis Armstrong among the corruptors of youth should be a shock, and while the image lacks an overall appeal of its own, he context in which it is placed should evoke surprise at his inclusion. The Elvis picture depicts the cultural icon being escorted by police, looking surprised. Seeing a figure that resonates in our society as much as Elvis under duress and in the context of a corrupter of the youth causes a frustration with the people who branded him as such in addition to feeling how silly the idea of something we now consider a classic being so controversial. The next picture originates from the South after the infamous "We're bigger than Jesus" comment by John Lennon. This was met with violence and record burning, and we see here a youth, encouraged by those around him, tossing an album on the fire. We see what is to us a classic piece of culture being tossed with a smile onto the pyre. It feels senseless and frustrating in the level of naivete and overreaction present to what we now consider very tame.
Finally we reach the two most controversial images: MTV's Beavis and Butthead and video games. Both have been heralded as damaging to youth and are still considered so by many, although MTV in its earlier iterations less so. The great irony of Beavis and Butthead being in that it was a satire of the corruption of youth. The image provokes its own kind of nostalgia, pleasure at past entertainment if applicable to the audience, and through the more cartoony nature seem less threatening.The video games picture is designed to feel ridiculous. No credible research has ever supported the claim, but here it is on national news. It is an ultimate example of the argument, a current example of the same knee jerk reactions present in the past images. The viewer should feel frustrated over how the media and society jump so quickly to latch on to these beliefs.
Overall, the presentation is designed to provoke the audience to think about our tendency to label things that are new or different as corruptors of the youth and be more hesitant to subscribe to that kind of ideology in the future. A kind of sympathy and an acceptability through association are created for the later, more controversial elements that are still producing controversy, hopefully allaying any hate or dislike of the elements that is present in order to create a more objective view. The overreactions to new things that we now consider classics and harmless are designed to cause an overall sense of the absurdity of lashing out at new things in this way, which will hopefully make viewers hesitate the next time they are invited to jump on a bandwagon to hate something that is new and "corrupting the youth." This is not the most emotional presentation, but it is my hope that in conjunction with logic the images are able to create an adequate emotional affect.
http://www.chronolect.com Accessed 3/29/2011
http://www.ushmm.org/ Accessed 3/29/2011
http://minaburrows.blogspot.com Accessed 3/29/2011
http://directv.gatemediavisual.com Accessed 4/4/2011
http://www.chronolect.com/ Accessed 4/4/2011
http://madamepickwickartblog.com/ Accessed 3/29/2011
http://www.helloagaingirls.com Accessed 3/29/2011
http://www.ushmm.org/ Accessed 3/29/2011
http://minaburrows.blogspot.com Accessed 3/29/2011
http://directv.gatemediavisual.com Accessed 4/4/2011
http://www.chronolect.com/ Accessed 4/4/2011
http://madamepickwickartblog.com/ Accessed 3/29/2011
http://www.helloagaingirls.com Accessed 3/29/2011
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