A universal substitution of concepts or the Overton window in action

The theory of American political scientist Joseph Overton, which explains how, with large-scale and uncontrolled use of the media by society, any idea can be turned from unthinkable into not just accepted in society, but the only norm.

To be convinced of the workability of this theory, it is enough to look at modern Europe, where in a couple of decades, pederasty and lesbianism have become the absolute norm, and now all conditions are being created for perverts to receive a privileged position in society.

As the analysis of modern mass culture shows, the organizers of such innovations do not intend to stop there. Now there are new topics that are going through the first stages of the Overton window, passing successfully and relatively invisibly to the whole society. They make their way into people's minds like a snake from the bushes. This is noticeable in modern films and cartoons aimed at the mass audience, in some news headlines of news agencies and newspapers, many of which can already be called international or global. Let's try to identify in specific examples what exactly they are trying to legalize in the public mind.

PROSTITUTION

This profession is not in vain called the oldest, and yes, it was legalized in Europe and even in Tsarist Russia for a long time. But the image of a prostitute has never been sung, romanticized, or even idealized in culture. Never before has the image of a prostitute been the image of "Cinderella", as in the film "Pretty Woman", which is already considered almost a classic.

If earlier the problem of prostitution was raised in works of literature or cinema, then the prostitute was usually shown as a victim of circumstances, the result of the depravity of the system. In our time, the image of a voluntary prostitute is already being romanticized and humanized in cinema. The woman who chose this profession for herself. They become the main characters of films and TV series.

Foreign - "Pretty Woman", "The Client List", "Secret Diary of a Call Girl", "Red Shoe Diaries", "Young & Beautiful"; domestic - "Damned Paradise", "The Pit", "Shadows of the Past" and others. Moreover, we have named only those films where the prostitute is the main character. And if we expand the list to those pictures where they play a secondary, but positive role, then one article will not be enough for this list, we can only mention those that are known to almost every Russian, at least from posters: "Capercaillie", "Karpov", "Love Blossoms in Spring", "Open up, police!".

Former porn actresses Pamela Anderson, Sasha Grey are becoming extremely popular, acting in ordinary films, coming to Russia on official visits, selling their books in Russia.

For example, the Russian agency Interfax reported on March 6 about a new erotic novel by Sasha Grey, published in Russia by Eksmo publishing house. Earlier, the NTV channel enthusiastically commented on Sasha Grey's participation in a rally from Vladivostok to Moscow, and Channel One invited her to the "Evening Urgant" program. The transformation of a porn actress into a brand and, in fact, the promotion of pornography by leading Russian publications is something that seemed unthinkable not so long ago, but has already become a reality today. The next step is the legalization of prostitution at the legislative level.

RAPE

Remember how often rapes were mentioned in films of the 50s? Or in the works of the 19th or 18th century? Maybe in painting?

No one says that this did not happen, but it had no place in literature, painting or cinema. Now the topic of rape is raised in films, books, and not only as a crime, but even as a kind of game, praise for the beauty of a woman, a manifestation of love on the part of a man. The term "rape culture" has already come to us from the English language, that is, the culture of a society where rape is the norm, although it is officially punishable by law.

Today, sexual violence is actively romanticized in cinema, in books, in music, in mass culture in general. In today's popular works about vampires, you can often find scenes in which a monster bites its victim. The paradox is that the monster itself is increasingly a positive character, and the victim enjoys the violence.

The latest mass breakthrough in this topic was the famous book, and after it the film "50 Shades of Gray", which has already gained immense popularity thanks to a large-scale advertising campaign in the media. The film, like the books, tells about the relationship between a young girl and a sadist. The girl, for the sake of love for a man, allows him to mock her, but then realizes that she likes it herself. Despite numerous protests from religious and public organizations, the film was shown in Russia on the big screen.

CANNIBALISM

Cannibalism is still only going through the first stages, squeezing into the window of "radical" even in Europe, but today we can already observe how this topic slowly comes out of the shadows.

First, in 1981, Thomas Harris wrote a novel about an intellectual - Dr. Lecter. A man of amazing subtle mind, with a love for classical music, a wonderful understanding of psychology and a difficult fate... only this hero had one drawback - he ate people. Moreover, he ate just as intelligently, creating culinary masterpieces from the meat of his victims and feeding these dishes to his numerous friends and guests.

The novel was filmed, followed by new books, films, plays. Dr. Hannibal Lecter became part of American culture, winning one of the most recognizable images of a maniac. At the same time, there were already positive notes in his image. He did not eat his friends or those he respected, those who caused obvious dislike in him and the viewer got to his table. That is why Lecter was like "Robin Hood" killing villains, hypocrites, perverts and eating them.

Over time, the cannibal Hannibal developed a childhood trauma in books, as well as a love for a young FBI employee, Clarice Starling. In the film adaptations, the ending for Lecter was not the most disastrous, although not particularly pleasant: Lecter was deprived of his arm and rejected by Clarissa. But in the original novels, he got everything he wanted - money, a woman and a carefree and happy life. Now the topic of Doctor Lecter has resumed. The TV series "Hannibal" of 2013 was released, which is very successful, and the image of Lecter has undergone minor changes.

Now, among his victims, there are those who just got in the wrong time and in the wrong place. If the former "hero" killed only the unwanted, then the modern one calmly deals with ordinary girls, only to prove something to his opponents in the dispute. The new Lecter has become smarter and more successful than his predecessor, stronger than his enemies, and, according to the authors, the finale of the series will be similar to the end of the book, which means that this film hero is now also waiting for a happy ending.

And in April 2015, filming will begin on a romantic melodrama about cannibals, starring Keanu Reeves and Jim Carrey. According to the plot of the film, one of the cannibals falls in love with his potential victim. With the help of such plots, Hollywood is preparing the ground for a tolerant attitude in society towards the problem of cannibalism.

The same topic should include the dominance of zombies on the screen, who recently can be quite positive characters even in children's cartoons, for example, Monster High. If earlier in subcultures zombies were only what the hero of some next video game shot at, now even zombie parades are held in all cities of the world, including even in Russia. What may seem to someone an innocent fun and foolishness is quite global in nature and is a stage in the promotion of the Overton Window in the legalization of cannibalism.

Shops with human meat have been opened in the UK. Of course, not real, but very well disguised as human meat. Despite the outrage in society, these stores (and this is a network) continue to operate.

In mass culture, information occasions are regularly created that indirectly popularize cannibalism as the norm. In the winter of 1999, in Madrid, with wide publicity in the media, a performance by an artist from Mexico with the performance "Zhe-Latina" was held. The essence of the action was to eat a naked human figure, similar to the author himself and made of jelly. The figure was in a coffin made of cream cake. The "artist" himself, in the nude, cut off pieces and treated the guests.

In 2011, Dutch TV presenters ate pieces of each other's meat on the air of their TV show.

In February of this year, the actor who played Christian Gray in the already mentioned film "50 Shades of Gray" ate a piece of cake made in the form of himself.

INCEST

In such "developed" countries as Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands, incest is no longer prohibited by law. The same is being prepared for all others who want to join the "civilized society".

Incest is promoted mainly through literature and cinema. For example, in the Canadian television series "The Borgias", a large storyline is devoted to the love between Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia - blood brother and sister, real historical figures, whose personal life was overgrown with a huge number of wild rumors, even by their contemporaries. Cesare was credited with raping prisoners and seducing other people's wives, and Lucrezia - with affairs with her own father and brother. Whether this is true, we will never know, but the authors of the film, as well as the authors of fiction books about the life of Lucrezia Borgia, turn rumors of incest in the Borgia family into the story of Romeo and Juliet. In general, it should be noted that filming films dedicated to famous people with sexual deviations is already a trend today, which is essentially a mechanism for legalizing such phenomena in the life of society.

In most cases, incest is romanticized as forbidden love. For example, the book "Close. Beyond the permissible" written in Russia about intimate relations between brother and sister, has the following romantic annotation:

"Love... A strange word that characterizes a variety of feelings and emotions. We cannot live without love. Without our "soul mate". To be not whole. But what if this "half" is already the dearest person to you? What to do when the love that happened to you is "wrong" for everyone? To retreat? Or fight for it until the last? After all, they love not for something, but in spite of..."

Less romantic, but much more famous is the series of novels "Game of Thrones" or "Game of Thrones" by George Martin, which were filmed and have a huge number of fans. Among the large number of storylines and characters, it is difficult not to single out some of the brightest characters in the books - Cersei and Jaime Lannister. These are twins - sister and brother, who have been in an intimate relationship for many years. They have a large number of healthy and beautiful children (which can be regarded as a deliberate lie by the authors, since in most cases incest leads to pathologies of offspring), whose parents' sin is betrayed only by their golden hair color.

Today, the topic of incest can be found in children's and teenage literature. The author of children's fantasy books Lisa Jane Smith, who wrote the filmed children's sagas "Secret Circle" and "The Vampire Diaries", introduced a couple of twins into the latter, whose behavior can be interpreted quite unequivocally:

"Only these two - Shinichi and Misao were holding hands and sometimes even caressed each other. Elena was able to see this when they approached the hostel. Never in her life had Elena seen a brother and sister behave like that..."

You can also recall the book for children "Tell me, Little Red Riding Hood" by the author Beate Theresa Hanika. It directly tells about a grandfather-pedophile who has lust for his own granddaughter. The book is positioned as a publication that should inspire children to tell the truth if something is wrong in the family. But in fact, the story is shown in such a way that the main character simply does not like what is happening, and therefore it is a problem. The logical chain is simple - if she liked it, there would be nothing wrong with it.

From the latest innovations, a series that is being filmed based on the plot of the immortal novel by L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace". The British film company, which decided to screen the Russian classic, added erotic scenes to the script, one of which will be with the participation of Natasha Rostova and her brother. The scriptwriters are sure that in his novel Leo Tolstoy hinted at their sexual relationship. The Russian film studio Lenfilm provided 190 costumes for filming.

This is how alien ideas of a new anti-human worldview are visually brought to us through the media and public opinion. It seems crazy and incredible, but until recently they were jailed for sodomy, and now in Europe they are jailing those who oppose homosexual marriages.

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO STOP THE MOVEMENT OF FORBIDDEN TOPICS THROUGH THE OVERTON WINDOWS?

Consciously understand and analyze all the ideas and attitudes presented to us through books, the media and cinema. Develop in yourself and in your friends, relatives, children the skills of such analysis. To disseminate as much as possible an adequate view of such phenomena and to take an active part in the struggle for morality.

Conduct your own investigations, publish their results, apply to the court or prosecutor's office. A war has been declared against morality, the traditional family and social norms. Only the active opposition of everyone can stop this process and reverse it. published 

Author: Elizaveta Efremova