Legal and Ethical Issues (Final Question)

DEBATE: Audiences are passive and easily influenced by the media they consume. 

How far do you agree or disagree with this statement?

or are they active, and interpret media as they wish?

subjective, depends on the mental state of the person.

depends on the consumption, changes your outlook on life.

depends on the theme of the media, the type and genre. 

Examples and case studies:

The Hungerford Massacre

1987 Michael Robert Ryan fatally shot sixteen people in Hungerford, England. Press reports stated he was obsessed with the film First Blood and may have been influenced by it. 

Jamie Bulger case, two 10 year old boys said to have been influenced by the horror film Childs Play 3.

The Columbine Massacre in 1999 - a high school shooting influenced by POV shooter game Doom.

The 2012 shooting of people in a cinema queue in Aurora, Colorado  by a gunman influenced by The Dark Knight Rises. 

Theories:

Hypodermic Needle Theory

• Theorises that audiences are essentially passive, and will readily absorb messages relayed to them by the media
• This means that, after watching a violent horror film, or playing a violent POV shooter, audience members will be negatively influenced.
• This presupposes that audiences are passive (unable to reject media messages) rather than active (they are able to make sense of media messages through personal and social contexts)

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

• Banned in the UK from 1975 until 1999, as part of the 'video nasties' campaign, in part spearheaded by Mary Whitehouse
• During this era - and especially through he 1980's - films were often banned. Sometimes this would be due to their title alone ('Chainsaw'), with members of the BBFC trawling through lists of new releases

• Some people argue that as a result of increasingly violent media, audiences are becoming desensitised - that is, numbed by the effects of this exposure.
• The remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) featured an array of hewn body parts, graphic bloodshed and horrific gore - but neither the censors nor audiences batted an eyelid. 

Psycho (1960)

• Earlier audiences might be considered naive by comparison 
• For example, many audience members traumatised by Psycho when it first came out - though the then notorious shower scene is tame by today's standards. Main actress Janet Leigh was terrified of showering after filming wrapped, and took to taking baths instead. 

Moral Panic and Folk Devils

• 1972, Stanley Cohen developed the moral panic theory. This encompassed ideas of folk devils in society.
• Moral panic happens when "a condition, episode, person or group of people emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests."
• His research was based on the mods and rockers in the 1960's, but have since been applied to the media. 

The Stages of Moral Panic

• Someone, something or a group are defined as a threat to social norms or community interests
• The threat is then depicted in a simple and recognisable symbol/form by the media
• The portrayal of this symbol rouses public concern 
• There is a response from authorities and policy makers
• The moral panic over the issue results in social changes within the community

• VHS is introduced, audiences can now rewind and rewatch segments of film
• The Jamie Bulger case in the UK focused public attention on screen violence
• Mary Whitehouse spearheads a campaign against screen violence; she gains wide support
• BBFC stars to censor films or ban them outright; certification becomes stricter
• Fewer people are able to consume violent films

THEORIES FOR QUESTION 8

• Hypodermic Needle Theory
• Cohen (Moral Panics)
• Desensitisation
• Anderson (Media Violence on youth)
• Mulvey (Male Gaze)
• Gauntlett (Media effects is outdated - counterargument)
• Media Effects

Mulvey and The Gaze

• Visual pleasure and narrative cinema was an essay written by Laura Mulvey, coining the term 'male gaze'
• In film, the male gaze occurs when the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual man. A scene may focus on the curves of a woman's body, putting you the viewer in the eyes of a male.
• Specific conventions where curves are highlighted: slow motion, deliberate camera movements and cut aways 
• Theory suggests the male gaze denies women human identity, to the status of objects
• Statistic: 16% of media creators are female 
• Mulvey says woman are essential in film but often they have no real importance and secondary to the male.
• Hegemonic - ruling or dominant in a political or social content

Visual pleasure

Mulvey states that the role of a female character in a narrative has two functions

1. As an erotic object for the characters in sight

2. As an erotic object for the audience within the cinema to view

Mulvey also discussed the term Scopophilia: 'love of watching'

Female Objectification

Objectification is related to the gaze.
The persons gazed at are objectified, treated as an object whose sole value is to be enjoyed or possessed by voyeur.
Objectified characters are devalued and their humanity removed.

Patriarchal Society

Men dictate the rules
Mulvey argued we live in a patriarchal society in which men set the majority of the rules and construct and represent the ideal visions, roles and male dominance over woman.
The worry is a passive audience will be influenced by this representation of reality and copy it and it will actually become reality.. if it hasn't already. 

Anderson (Media Violence and Youth)

Craig Anderson's study says exposure to Media Violence increases the likelihood of aggressive violent behaviour in young people.
The study was based on research carried out on the effects of media violence in TV, Film, Music and Video Games.
The study says two of the main ways aggressive or violent behaviour is seen in young people: (desensitisation, imitation of violent behaviour)

The study says that the degree to which media affects aggression and violence in young people can depend on other factors such as their social environment, parents supervision etc)

No one is immune to the effects of media violence

The 1999 Columbine Massacre is an example where media violence was linked directly to the behaviour of those who committed the murders.


David Gauntlett Media Effects Model

10 Wrong things with the model

• The effects model tackles social problems 'backwards'
• The effects model treats children as inadequate 
• Assumptions within the effects model are characterised by barely-concealed conservative ideology 
• The effects model inadequately defines its own objects of study
• The effect model is often based on artificial studies
• The effects model is often based on studies with misapplied methodology
• The effects model is selective in its criticisms of media depictions of violence
• The effects model assumes superiority to the masses
• The effects model make no attempt to understand meanings of the media
• The effects model is not grounded in theory