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By Joe Martin
 The effect of films and computer games is a controversial topic. Their subject matter has been debated more than any other of recent years, yet close examination reveals that the problem lies not with the products, but those who denounce them.
Take the BBC’s decision to broadcast Jerry Springer: The Opera in 2005. Blasphemous to the extreme and culminating in a display of Ku Klux Klansmen, the production quickly found itself condemned by a vast religious uproar from the Christian right. Phones rang themselves off the switchboard as 55,000 complaints poured in, while outside the BBC offices, the organisation Christian Voice led street protests and proclaimed their intentions to bring blasphemy charges against the corporation to all who’d listen. Scan Google and you’ll still find a myriad of petitions, websites and campaigns ranging from demands for an apology to thinly veiled threats against everyone at the BBC from the Commissioner to the cleaning staff.
Yet for all the controversy surrounding such satires, it seems we have overlooked the origins of their literary predecessors. HG Wells’ infamous novel War of the Worlds (1898) was written in response to both fears surrounding the reunification and militarization of Germany and the speculation of life on Mars which began a decade earlier. Through an exaggerated and fantastical medium, its story tells not only of the threats against our civilization, but describes in detail the breakdown of society and the state of the human psyche at that time. Some may rebuke the comparison, but modern parodies of everyday culture such as Jerry Springer: the Opera and Family Guy are doing just that.
It’s true that mainstream and interactive media are generally more graphic than novels. But let’s not forget such examples as Thomas Harris’ Hannibal Lecter trilogy. In depth descriptions of the consummation of body parts and the impaling of retinas can be found throughout. Yet blame for acts of modern mutilation are placed firmly upon the films rather than the source material itself. With this in mind, surely in the absence of television, films and other electronic entertainment, books would become more graphically intense as a last substitute for escapism? Or perhaps it would be best if the world returned to gladiatorial combat as a way of fulfilling our inner sadists?
Indeed, Adolf Hitler’s rise to power was aided not by Jeremy Kyle or the white vests of Bruce Willis, but by his autobiography, Mein Keimpf. Had technology been what it is today then the shelves of Weimer Germany would undoubtedly have bulged with copies of “Holocaust Simulator 1934 Editionâ€. However, in the absence of such mediums we would do well to remember that potentially the greatest evil of our time was able to gain mass support through the pages of a mere book.
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