Betsy

**And Shakespeare is too intense for young kids, or at least my young
kids. But when they're older, I would read Shakespeare with my kids.
Books and even some tv shows and movies are more comfortable for me
because I can sit and pause the reading or pause the movie and
discuss what is immoral with my kids. I can say this person is acting
wrong and these were the consequences of their behavior.**

I remember a discussion (in the '70's!) that said that in the
Shakespearean histories and tragedies care was taken to introduce the
victim characters as sympathetic people before killing them. The
comparison made at that time was that in Baretta (a show about a street
cop) characters just popped up on the screen, often with no dialog, and
were mown down unceremoniously. The implication was that without
showing the victims of violence as sympathetic humans the viewer would
feel less empathy and become more callous. What do you think? Are
there more and less moral ways to depict violence and death?

Betsy