In discussing how children and young adults are being effected by this media, they have been considered susceptible to the harmful media of cinema and radio that contains violence, pornography and improper language, creating a moral panic proving that every ounce of child life has been corrupted, making these kids less innocent than they appeared to be before this media was aired. A strong influence would be through music and how it has encouraged young kids to take drugs and create violence. Popular music artists today like 50 cent and Eminem have created a bad role model for kids growing up in the same sort of conditions like they did, making them aspire and copy them.
Also the violent films that children can be exposed to even if they are under the age limit may be stopped at the cinema but it doesn’t prevent them going out and purchasing a film from a shop like “Natural born killers” and the “Scream” movies, by Oliver Stone which were accused of glamorising violence and precipitating copycat murders. Kids had gone out and reconstructed scenes from these films on victims as a form of activity because they thought it to be “cool.” A more well-known incident would be the James Bulger case in which two older children about 9 or 10 had watched “Child’s play 3” which had been classified as an 18 and committed murder on 4 year old James in a similar manner to actions taken in the film. Soon after which a further restriction was given out in 1994 from the BBFC (the British Board of Film Classification), which made people aware of the dangers of the corruption these films can have on impressionable children.
It makes you wonder after these particular incidents, whether or not these films had any influence on the children, or is it just how they had been brought up and may have picked up violent behaviour from relations or friends. It is the parent’s responsibility in this case to reinforce this by setting a good example by being a positive adult role model.
If so what gives the government the right to restrict such films, preventing other young people who want to see them, who realise the meaning of right and wrong and are not vulnerable or likely to be effected by the violence they may witness. The media is a good source of defining right and wrong for us because of it being linked to particular laws and religious concepts. It also gives a more positive learning outcome which has been identified in various academic studies. So with this in mind how has it made more kids today more violent than when this illicit material wasn’t available in the past?
Since the internet globalised in 1995 there has been many concerns on pornographical sites being viewed by young people and the threats of paedophiles contacting children through means of false identity. The censorship of pornography has been an issue that has been under constant debate in our society. There are many arguments for and against the censorship of pornographic materials. In the broadest of explanations, the argument supporting an increase in censorship is rooted in the belief that such material may cause direct and or indirect detriments to society. Advocates for freedom of expression feel that increased censorship violates many basic human rights and consequently may harm our society. The threats from paedophiles have increased over the years because of kids gaining access to chat rooms to people from all around the world. An easy form of communication internationally but concerns of personal details of a particular person get let out and threats become severe. Thats why in my opinion individual freedom is a bad thing because peoples privacy is at stake. With this in mind parents should secure all information and text that shouldn’t be shown to children.
The people who decide on what to censor established themselves under the 1930 Film Act, theatre owners and broadcasters had to submit films that they planned to show to the Film Censorship Board for review. The Board is composed of officials representing the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of University Affairs, the military, the Department of Religious Affairs, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The board may ban films if its requirements that portions of the film be removed are not met. Unfortunately because of such a powerful board many of the viewing audience’s opinions are ignored because of a particular film being unsuitable for ranges of different groups.
