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TV too gory, pornographic

Elissa LawrenceNews Corp Australia

GRAPHIC surgical procedures, autopsies and murder scenes shown on prime-time television have become so explicit they are "pornographic", an academic says.

The so-called "scalpel soaps" such as CSI, House, Bodies, Criminal Minds and Nip/Tuck are the latest TV trend to saturate the market.

Karen Brooks, senior lecturer in Australian and Cultural Studies at the University of the Sunshine Coast, said the shows had to continually "up the ante" to maintain shock value.

"It really is pornographic, in that we are invited to gaze at the human body and what is taboo and forbidden," Dr Brooks said.

"We're fascinated with that which we can't see. We're looking at bodies literally cut open and displayed. It exposes aspects of the body we don't normally see, and we can't look away.

"These shows leave no bone unturned so to speak, and invite us to gaze not just at the body, but inside it as well.

"They dissect the mystery of the human body, literally and metaphorically, and titillate and stimulate.

"Every week they seem to up the ante. We are becoming more and more de-sensitised to it. It's shock value, because that's what rates.

"We just won't accept what we used to accept five or 10 years ago, with the camera turning away politely as the scalpel cuts."

AustraliaSCAN analyst David Chalke, whose organisation monitors social change, said the shock tactics of television producers were simply the latest trend.

"It all comes in waves. We've had the reality shows, the home improvement shows. Now it's increasing shock value with these shows. They all wash through in about five years," he said.

"In the '90s we had the introduction of the DVD player and the internet. We had a shortage of time and so many other things to do with your time.

"People ask themselves if there is anything worth watching on TV tonight. If there isn't, there are lots of other ways people can entertain themselves.

"So these shows have to keep coming up with something to get that must-watch factor.

"Shows like CSI have been running a long time now.

"There's not a lot of character development left, so they are really left running on story and visual effects.

"It's almost mandatory that they have some shock value to get talked about."

Dr Brooks said the line between fantasy and reality had become blurred.

"We tend to decry violence when it is clearly fiction, but seem to accept it when it is documentary," she said.

"A lot of these producers are blurring these lines with shows like CSI and House.

"They are persuading us that what we are watching is as close to reality as we are going to get without being in an operating room. At what point do we draw the line?"

Dr Brooks said the internet allowed widespread access to previously privileged medical information.

"Now we can go into places we were never invited before, and the television is inviting us to go on that journey with them, too."

Courier Mail