The Horror of Media

     A short story by Mark Galarrita called "There Are Three Children Jumping Over a Can Outside a Bodega" is about the exploitation of people for media content. The story starts off very tame with three boys playing a simple game outside of a bodega when a man approaches and shoves a camera in their face. What happened next shows the horror of media.

    Taking place in Queens New York, three "Brown boys" are playing outside a bodega when a well-dressed man approaches while recording them. The boys have been told by their mothers, "Beware these men, the mothers said, they come for our lives. And they will not stop until they have your soul." (Galarrita). These boys have been taught from a very early age that men like the one recording them are monsters. When the man tries to engage the boys use unnatural powers to kill the man in a violent way symbolizing violence as resistance or as a way to reclaim power from the man. They did not want to be recorded so instead of communicating that they didn't want that they immediately resort to violence. The story also portrays the man as being the dominant figure in the beginning, but while the man is being melted by the boys it shows the power dynamic switch to benefit them because they have control over the man and the camera.

    The story wraps up with the boys returning to their game, before being called home by their mothers. The easygoing nature of the boys after the attack suggests that they are used to these occurrences because they happen a lot or they also see it happening to others. 


Work Cited

   Galarrita, Mark. “There are Three Children Jumping Over a Can Outside a Bodega.” Nightmare Magazine, no. 139, Apr. 2024, www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/there-are-three-children- jumping-over-a-can-outside-a-bodega/.

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