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The cultural representation of violence presents a reciprocal argument, which categorizes violence as an aesthetic medium that connotes "pleasure" and subsequently, the death of affect. The reciprocal argument is whether or not violence in mediums of popular culture, e.g. films, novels, promotes death of affect in regards to contemporary society, or whether or not films and novels are "mere" representations of cultural violence that exists in lieu of mediums that are considered to be "desensitizing?" From a postmodern perspective, according to Celeste Olalquiaga in Megalopolis, "the struggle is over the body - its fragmentation and disappearance - it is only fitting that the body be the arena in which all stakes are claimed" (17). Thus, the central issue that serves to bind representations of violence is the "detached" nature in which the body is displayed, including: (1) the lack of character identification, and (2) the contextual manner in which the violence is executed, e.g. humor.
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