Westworld: A Collaborative Class Blog

Gone are the days of “Leave It To Beaver” and “I Dream of Jeannie”. Today's television shows are becoming more and more explicit. "Westworld" is one of the shows that pushes the definition of decency in television. Episode 1 of “Westworld” comes out with guns blazing when it comes to explicit language and situations. Within six minutes of the episode a sheriff uses the words "murderous son of a bitch" and every few minutes after that there is more explicit language and situations. Explicit language and situations that are alluded to, talked about, or shown within this episode include but are not limited to: use of profanities, rape, prostitution, murder, nudity, physical violence toward women, necrophilia, disrespecting a corpse, sex, and scalping.Two reasons why this language and these situations are included in “Westworld” may be for shock or possibly because our society has grown insensitive to it. If it's intended purpose is to shock the audience that may be because our society does not find this acceptable in real life but instead may enjoy the unpredictability of these types of situations and language as an escape from their regular lives. On the other hand, if these are included because our society has grown insensitive to previously taboo topics, this could lead to big problems. For example, if our society has grown insensitive towards indecency, they may feel that they cannot change these things in real life because that is just the way things are, whereas, if they were sensitive to these issues, they may decide to work toward changing things. Also, if society is too insensitive towards these indecencies, people may feel that it is okay to do these things themselves. Either way, this kind of mentality hinders the betterment of society and could eventually halt improvement altogether.