The American Mind

Loving killers, rapists, and evil people

William Hillman

(6/2018) Barry is HBO’s latest series in which the main character is written to be an endearing and very likable killer. Really, you cannot help but like this guy. The problem is, Barry is a hitman, a cold-blooded killer, but so lovable.

Barry is the latest in a long line of TV shows that tries to normalize criminals. These shows take horrendous dregs of society and paint them as average, good people with a small propensity for violence, - a "disorder". Some other notable HBO shows that also try to normalize crime and violence are The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones, Westworld, etc.

In this show, the character Barry is a very likeable guy just trying to become an actor who is struggling with the same problems we all do. At times he is depicted as a real gentleman. When his new girlfriend invites him up to her apartment on the first date, he refuses and explains, "I just wanted to make sure you got home safe". All he longs for is to make friends outside of the thug world where he works. But played down in the show is Barry’s body count, which includes his longtime best friend (who had a wife and 3 young kids and who’s friendship with Barry predates his time as a hitman), and the girlfriend of another companion. The violence of the killing is played down. In most scenes, a gunshot is all we hear.

There is definitely a pattern in many of the HBO shows were violent and deviant behavior is just another aspect of an otherwise normal person. Anyone could be Barry. So, he kills people - big deal, we all have our issues. It would be rude not to invite him into our house and sit him at our dinner table. Who are we to judge?

I wonder how HBO would portray Gary Heidnik? Most of the show would be Gary talking with neighbors, helping a stranger change a tire, and debating with his friends in the barber shop whether the Eagles would ever win a Super Bowl. For the most part Gary was a nice guy. You just have to overlook the fact that he tortured and raped ten women, killing two of them, while holding them prisoner in a pit in his basement.

HBO has also come under fire for its use of rape and violence against women. The worst offender is the series Game of Thrones, which has depicted the brutal murder of children, violent rape scenes, even a woman executed via rape.

Why is there so much sexual violence against women in HBO’s shows?

At the Television Critics Association press meeting HBO’s programming president, Casey Bloys, said that the sexual violence in shows such as Game of Thrones, which has long been criticized for its rape scenes, falls under a larger umbrella of violence in the show that is "not just specific to women". He cited castration as one example of a violent act toward men portrayed on Game of Thrones.

Westworld showrunner Lisa Joy, when asked about the excessive violence in that show, said, "we really endeavored for it to not be about the fetishization of those acts. It is about exploring the crime and establishing the crime. And the torment of the characters within the story. And exploring the stories, hopefully, with dignity and depth."

As The Christian Science Monitor's, Molly Driscoll writes:

"While some observers say there may be value in the moral wrestling or self-examination prompted by these portrayals, that's not why filmmakers or TV execs make them. This is a business, and controversy draws attention, especially in social media."" [Sociologist Junhow] Wei says TV shows in particular depict violent acts – or shocking choices by heroes – in an effort to stand out in a crowded marketplace. "If you have more … dark shows with complex and morally ambiguous characters, that maybe is one way to cause more conversation," Wei says.

But do we really need to have that conversation? Does society need more "morally ambiguous characters"? What ever happened to the good guys and gals winning in the end? Where are the TV role models who, under the most difficult circumstances, make the correct moral decisions?

But Molly Driscoll is right, violence sells because it stimulates. And like any stimulation, we quickly become desensitized to it. The level of stimulation needs to keep increasing in order to keep our attention. My children do not think that John Wayne’s The Shooter is violent. Their idea of violence is blood and gore with massive carnage as depicted on the video games marketed to young boys.

Violence in the media does have an effect on society. Criminologist Jacqueline Helfgott points out, "There have been over 1000 studies on the effects of TV and film violence over the past 40 years. Research on the influence of TV violence on aggression has consistently shown that TV violence increases aggression and social anxiety, cultivates a "mean view" of the world, and negatively impacts real-world behavior."

Other research has found that exposure to media violence can desensitize people to violence in the real world and that, for some people, watching violence in the media becomes enjoyable and does not result in the anxious arousal that would be expected from seeing such imagery. – from American Psychological Association’s Television and Video Violence

Back to the main topic. As the media desensitizes us to violence in programing and entertainment, it becomes very easy for the viewers to dismiss the fact that Barry is a killer – a murder.

In the final scene of the series, Barry pleads with his friend’s girlfriend, Detectives Moss. She has figured out that Barry is responsible for a string of killings. He cries to her that he is no longer that person, that he has changed. "Don’t you see, I’m just like you". Moss responds, "you are not like me – you are a murderer". The viewers might not get it, but Detective Moss gets it, Barry is nothing more than a murder. In the next scene, off camera, Berry kills Moss.