The Supremes Issue First Amendment Ruling on Video Games

This morning's Washington Post has an article about a decision that was handed down yesterday in the case of Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association.

According to Robert Barnes of the Post, the Supreme Court struck down a law that fined California video game retailers who sold violent video games to minors. "Video games deserve the same constitutional protections as books and movies..." Antonin Scalia wrote the majority opinion "that like protected books, plays, and movies that preceded them, video games communicate ideas--and even social messages" that are guarded by the First Amendment... No doubt a state possesses legitimate power to protect children from harm, but that does not include a free floating power to restrict the ideas to which children are exposed."

So how does this relate to our reading of the Hunger Games? Are violent video games the moral equivalent of violent novels? Should a government be deciding what it's children read or how they play? To what extent does our government have an obligation to protect us from ourselves? What role should parents play in the selection of the entertainment that is consumed by their children?

For a link to the full Post article, see the resource section below entitled Readings on Adolescent Literature

Link to full Post article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-strikes-calif-law-banning-sale-of-violent-video-games-to-minors/2011/06/26/AGwtxenH_story.html

Concerns

Mary Coutts mentioned concerns that were brought up in faculty emails about the graphic violence in Hunger Games. Yes, it's there, and yes, I too think that the ubiquitous blitzkrieg of violence in all forms of media these days can desensitize anyone, not just kids. That is, however, the beauty of our all-school read: we aren't letting them read it alone, in isolation. Don't underestimate our students. As you hear them talk about movies and video games, you will hear "That was way cool!", and then the subject is dropped. When they talk about real-life tragedies, they are more likely to say "That was horrible," and the looks on their faces show that they wonder how the world could be so awful. We will use Hunger Games to educate them, to explain how such things can happen and what one can do to prevent them. The "graphic novel" aspect of the book is just a venue that will draw them into reading it. The rest is in our hands.

Welcome to our blog

Several of our colleagues have started an interesting dialog about the book selected for this year's Upper School Read at Severn. The book, Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, is part of a trilogy. The Hunger Games is a dystopian novel about a annual game sponsored by the Capitol. The game begins with a lottery that selects the children who will compete in a duel that pits twenty four adolescents against one another. Each year, only one player survives. The show is fully televised and is viewed widely back at home.

As we convene in the fall, we will look for connections between The Hunger Games and novels such as Lord of the Flies and Brave New World. English faculty may be reading Most Dangerous Game, The Lottery and other short stories that tie in with our Upper School Read book. Plans are still being made as to how we will observe the day -- these are just preliminary thoughts.

This blog has been created for Severn School faculty to share their thoughts as they formulate their reactions to the book.