Media do try to have some control over what people can see. The BBFC is an organisation that regulates and classifies the content of the film, which are shown in cinemas and released in videos. It puts a certain age limit for the film and may ask for the film’s distributor to make changes in the form of cuts. This may be material considered to extreme for a certain age group such as sex, violence, drugs and swearing. The British Broadcasting of Film Classification was set up in 1912 and there were two rules for classifying films: no representations of Christ and no representations of nudity. In 1915, the policy of the board was summarised by T.P. O’Connor who had been appointed president. He laid down forty-three grounds for film censorship and the rules covered areas such as nudity, sex, violence and political issues. However society has changed and these strict, cautious rules were drawn from the board. Nevertheless, there are forms of violence that the bbfc are cautious about such as sexual violence, glamorisation of weapons and ill treatment of animals and children. They are also concerned about the emphasis of the process of violence and the details of criminal techniques.
The watershed is set up to protect younger audiences from being influenced and it is what can legally be shown before nine o’clock on television. This is said to not have been doing what it is purposely built for as children are still up at night and are watching the television. However, there is only a certain amount of things that the media can do to help protect children from influential images therefore it is parents/guardians responsibility to make sure that they are not watching things that there are not meant to.
Violence can be effective, harsh and disturbing. Some argue that going through uncomfortable, unpleasant experiences through what we see is how we learn to make decisions. It makes you think although it may use the idea of horror to make us feel lucky and appreciative.
Violence in the media can be misinterpreted and have different effects on people. Moral panics occur when the media blow subjects out of proportion, which can create redundant commotion within the public. This encourages scares, which can cause the public to become fearful and act upon this. Showing and telling the news can be seen to be more horrific than the actual thing. However, some people feel that graphic images should be exposed. The media should not hold back as the public need to know what is going on. The media is the one that give us the truth.
There have been many studies conducted on the effects of violence on the society. The effects theory suggests that people’s characteristics and background will determine how they interpret the violence shown in the media. It suggests that children are more fragile towards the violence they are exposed to because of their young age. Violence in the media excites children but the more they see, the more they need to excite them. This results in them being less shocked by real life violence as violent behaviour soon becomes to be seen as normal on screen. However, violence in the media can sensitise people to the effects of violence for these images can be so shocking that it can put people off violence and make them more aware of its consequences.
Media violence can be used as way to release tension and desires through identification with fictional characteristics and events. According to the catharsis theory, watching violence is healthy because it allows viewers to drain their anger and aggressive impulses into harmless channels. It can reduce subsequent aggression as it leaves the viewers uplifted and less likely to act violently among themselves.
The TV news has been in many debates as some argue that they show too much graphic images. An example of this is the recent incident in Beslan, which had caused a lot of controversy as people had strong feelings of what was appropriate to have shown and what had stepped over the line. Many images of young children, bleeding in agony and crying out for help had been covered in the news. This had stirred strong emotions as people had thought it was disrespectful and its not any of the publics businesses to be looking at these images. Having a camera pointed at someone after going through something extremely traumatizing and being at a low point leaves the victim with no dignity and their moral rights are taken away. However, these were providing visual knowledge to people about what is going on in the world. The constant reports from the TV news not only affect victims but the hostage takers. Media were helping the hostage takers to publicise their cause and they became dependant on them to make their cause known. Rolling news is a source of rawness and provides a window on the real world that other media are unable to match. On the other hand, it can be seem as deceiving and unnecessary. Footages of the same thing are shown over and over again and it can become unreliable to some viewers as wrong, limited information is transmitted in a cycle. Reporters become too caught up in their work and don’t think about what they are doing. Many reporters and photographers are more concerned about their job status than the moral rights involved.
During the happenings in Beslan, reporters began to reflect on the effects of rolling news. Peter Conrad argued against rolling news and the amount of graphic images shown. Nick Pollard wrote an argument responding against Conrad’s views. Peter Conrad has said it is “not to be trusted” as it crates emotions for us “rather than transmitting facts.” Nick Pollard thought that Conrad has “rubbished the whole idea of live news”.
Advertisements depict forms of violence to help publicise products, issues and artists. The media uses violence in advertising to attract male audiences. Companies such as Siemens, Addidas and Mitsubishi all use various types of violence such as the cave man mentality, the new warriors and heroic masculinity, to sell their product. The cave man mentality use male icons from well-known history, e.g. ancient warriors which represents masculinity in advertisement. These show that being aggressive is part if their nature, therefore the advertisements associates and fulfils these needs of being brutal which presumably existed throughout time. These advertisements influence the idea of male dominance as a biological fact. Another type of violence used in advertising is the use of military or sports figures to make the product look more masculine. This is aimed at young boys and adolescent males and portrays an image that violence is suave and tolerable. These images are generally shown in adverts for common male products such as deodorant, trainers and hats and become presented to consumers with aggressive and violent images of manhood.
Playing violent video games like manhunt can increase a person’s aggressive, thoughts, feelings and behaviour in actual life. Excessive display of violence can influence a more destructive approach to others and will encourage people with the tendencies to violent behaviour to take that extra step. However, although video games can be extremely violent, it can be hard to connect this violence in reality. The content of various video games may offend many people but the violence shown is of a negative light. Video games do not show violence to be acceptable or enjoyable. Nevertheless, video games can still urge people to become aggressive due it violent scenes and therefore there should be stricter censorship to protect influential children. However, it is argued that most violent games are rated 18, it is up to parents under the age of 18 to make sure that they are not getting hold of these games. Violence can not only be blamed on video games, it is also lack of parenting, if it wasn’t for video games there will be something else to blame.
Song Lyrics are known to promote violence. Many artists use ideas of violence and use aggressive tones in their songs. Bands such as black eyed peas have demonstrated their opinions about this, and they have expressed it through the song, ‘Where is the love?’ as its lyrics say, ‘wrong information always shown by the media, infecting the young minds faster than bacteria.’
Media surrounds us and has an impact on everyone’s lives in different, big or small ways. The violence it contains still and may always be a big topic of debate. It is difficult to have the right amount of violence shown for everyone as each person has different points of where the line should be drawn.