An ironic observation involving Mortal Kombat

[Graham Mitchell]

If the mods think this thread will be better suited for the Arcade Alley forum I wouldn't be opposed to moving it, I just figured that since MK was such a huge cultural phenomenon that the Classic Gaming forum was more appropriate.

Anyway, as part of one of my residency rotations I took a trip to the Edelman's Children's Court in Los Angeles. It's the courthouse that deals with children in LA County who are in the dependent system (ie--foster kids, DCFS reports, etc.) The courthouse was built in the mid 90's, and was designed to be very kid-friendly. As such, there is a department called "Shelter Care" where the kids can hang out while they await their hearings. (Parents and kids are told to arrive at the courthouse at 8:30 am and wait until their case is called, so there's a lot of waiting involved.) Anyway, in this area there are lots of activities for the kids to do, and one such distraction is several coin-op cabinets and pinball machines on free play. Of interest to me was a Millipede machine which looked great on the outside but the monitor had seen better days, and a Mortal Kombat machine, with the blood on.

I found this a bit strange to be put in a county children's facility where 7-year-olds can walk up to the cabinet and rip out hearts, pull out spines, etc. It's one thing if it's in a public place and you have to pay to play it, but I felt this was a bit different. I have no problem with MK, I just felt it was an inappropriate setting for it. Little kids were also watching the Matrix, and I caught the scene where Keanu wakes up in the pod and his skin is oozing off. Nice.

The county doesn't really monitor the content of the entertainment they provide in their facilities. On the inpatient psych ward they're always showing intense, loud action movies or flicks with graphic sex. It makes the patients act up sometimes if they're particularly psychotic.

Anyway, I thought this was interesting.

[NayusDante]

I definitely understand what you're saying. In response, I think that it's time for the government to make a unified decision on this sort of thing. Are they going to allow violence and adult content to be provided freely in these places, or are they going to adopt a moral code? Or, rather, is this merely a reflection of American culture in our government?

Government works best when it steps back from any particular morality and acts impartially (in theory). I find it interesting to look at the past of game legislation, compared to the lack of legislation on the movie industry, and then to see mature content from both fields embraced at such a facility.

Granted, I feel that The Matrix is a culturally and artistically significant film, worthy of recognition by government archives, etc. However, kids are likely to miss the deeper themes and only learn bad habits from the action scenes.

As for psych wards, I don't think it's as much of an issue. If someone is mentally unstable, do they have any less right to view modern cinema? Keeping them calm like vegetables can't be a good thing, so an action film now and again is valuable stimulation.

[Superman]

Well, it is in LA so maybe the game isn't viewed as violence, but as survival techniques. :p

You're right though, it seems odd to have Mortal Kombat in the children's center. Of course, if this was when the game was first released there would be a massive uproar. It appears that this is another dulling of the senses to violence issues.

[Graham Mitchell]

As for psych wards, I don't think it's as much of an issue. If someone is mentally unstable, do they have any less right to view modern cinema? Keeping them calm like vegetables can't be a good thing, so an action film now and again is valuable stimulation.

Says the guy who doesn't get woken up at 2am to administer injections when a patient attempts to give his roommate a handjob! ;)

Seriously, though, it's kind of a complicated issue, but in the end the county really does shoot themselves in the foot by showing this material on the wards.

At any given time, I'd venture that around 95% or more of patient in an LA County psych ward are there involuntarily, ie-on a 5150, 14-day hold or 30-day hold. They can be held for any combination of three reasons: 1)they are a danger to themselves (ie-suicidal), 2)they are a danger to others (homicidal or hypersexual), or 3) they are too disorganized to come up with a reasonable plan for food, clothing, or shelter.

Now, because it costs around $1200 a day to keep somebody in the hospital involuntarily, the county wants people discharged as soon as possible. In order to be discharged, patients must not meet any of the 3 above mentioned criteria for 24-hours, and not have received any emergency medication in 24 hours.

I'm pretty sure that if they stopped showing some of those movies, average lengths of stay would decline somewhat.

One night they showed fatal attraction and one of the female patients kept sneaking into the male rooms, thus requiring IM meds. After showing the incredible Hulk, 2 guys got in a fist fight and went into restraints. Hell, I've even had somebody incorporate the Empire Strikes Back into their delusions. I really do notice a correlation when they show some of these films.

I don't care what patients watch when they are mentally stable, but a lot of these people have the cognitive ability of a 9-year-old. Some of this has to do with mental illness, but a lot of it has to do with the fact that in LA County, I'd guess that at least half of all psych cases are substance-induced, and heavy substance abuse is highly associated with permanent cognitive deficits. When we do neuropsych testing we often find that our patients cannot think abstractly (which means they cannot glean any message from books or films that is not given at face value--so if they see violence they hone in on that) and they often cannot even tell a lie from the truth (which means it's possible they would interpret violence as an answer to a problem if it is demonstrated effectively to them). This fact also means a lot of our patients are easily hustled on the streets, and a lot of the younger females get duped into prostitution because they are overly trusting of strange men.

Anyway, when they're out there and taking their meds, they can watch Caligula for all I care. But I figure when they're living on County's dime and County can control some of this content, why shouldn't they? Just my opinion, but I'm biased because I think this would just result in me getting more sleep!

[skaar]

Cheap arcade machine to keep the kids busy! Either that or it's rented from a vendor and someone thought it would be funny to put that machine in on the rotation.

Also, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest should be taken out of the DVD player.

[otoko]

Also, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest should be taken out of the DVD player.

Nah, it teaches a valuable lesson!

[skaar]

Nah, it teaches a valuable lesson!

Baseball is bad news.