The Fantastic Authority Of Sexual And Violen Term paper
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The Fantastic Authority of Sexual and Violent Television Themes Once upon a time, in the good old days Americans listened to the radio and read newspapers as they sat on their porches and sipped iced tea. The sounds of laughter echoed in the air as children chased behind ice cream trucks, played tag, hide-n-seek, and chanted Red Rover, Red Rover . Kids rode bikes and walked to school. Front doors were left unlocked, neighbors gossiped across clothes lines, and Dad s new car was an Edsel. Times sure have changed! Today, neighbors are virtual strangers; kids play video games, do drugs, and hangout on street corners. Ice cream trucks are potential undercover drug mobiles. Kids are having kids. Burglaries, murders, and rapes are everyday occurrences in the news. Whatever happened to the good old days ? It is impossible to blame America s plight into the dark abyss of immorality on any one given factor; however, evidence suggests the growing amounts of sexually explicit and violent themes found on television is in part to blame for the loss of American society s moral compass. The television medium once thought of as a positive tool in aiding education, is now the focus of national debates and thousands of research studies. Americans are demanding a lessening of explicit material made readily available to anyone who so happens to own a remote control. The nation has focused its concerns primarily on the detrimental effects television programming has on children. According to Joe Wheeler, the main fear is that children are in danger of being socialized into aggressive and decadent individuals through the television s powerful message (35). What is violent or sexually explicit material? Before this discussion can go any further, it is critical to clarify these terms as they are used in this argument. One may define violence as; any intentional physical harm to another individual, it is an overt expression of physical force with or without a weapon against one s self or other, and as hostile and intentional acts of one person against another through physical force (Black et al., 49). Sexual conduct, as it pertains to this discussion is defined as, everything from talking about sex, to passionate kissing, to physical groping, to simulated intercourse (Jackson, 1). Mary Anne Banta, vice-president and board member of the National Coalition on TV Violence, documented that American children watch three to four hours of television daily. By high school graduation, they will spend 50% more time in front of the small screen than in their class rooms (1). Within this time, children will have had access to 10 violent acts per hour on network programming, 18 to 19 violent acts per hour if they flip on a cable station, and 32 violent acts per hour if they decide to watch cartoons (Levine, 29). If this isn t enough for a parent to contend with, Hollywood has thrown in some good, wholesome sex to fill in the space between punches. Out of 1,351 cable and broadcast shows monitored between October of 1997 to March of 1998, 56% of all programs depicted sexual conduct (Jackson, 1). Two inherent dangers this explicit material poses on a child are the inevitable desensitization to and distortion of reality they will experience. Basically, children believe what they are seeing on the television is as real as life itself. The violent footage in music videos, TV series, and movies are often presented as acceptable means to solve life s adversities; you don t like what the kid said? Then go ahead and shoot him! (Wheeler, 45). Furthermore, kids are likely to become fearful and overwhelmed by the constant barrage of such violent acts. Kids begin to believe these horrid acts are daily occurrences. Larry Gross and George Gerbner at the Anneberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania explored this hypothesis further in a study of heavy and light television viewers. When the group was asked; What are your chances of encountering violence in a given week? heavy viewers consistently chose the more TV bias answer, 50-50 or 10-1; while overall, the light viewers chose the more accurate real life answer, 100-1 (Winn, 70). The medium is also plagued with situational ethics in which sex is the, be all and end all in life, and sexual fulfillment is solely achieved when the right chemistry is found between two people (Wheeler, 154). Commitment, love, and friendship are foreign concepts when dealing with sexual relationships between television characters. It is rare to find a program, which promotes virginity, marriage, or monogamy. Rock videos are especially blatant in their sexism and often exploit female stereo types to such an extent that women are objectified, loathed, and feared by young adolescent males (Shore, 95). Helmut Newton admits when in doubt for arranging rock videos resort to the clich image of a, cadaverously made-up model who does nothing more than wet her lips (qtd. In Shore, 97). How realistic is that? The sad fact is that the irresponsible manner in which explicit material is portrayed can do nothing but leave a frightening legacy of a misinterpreted reality in its wake. Along with distorting reality, most television programs fail to depict the social and moral consequences of such behaviors. Aggression is rewarded and seemingly desirable as perpetrators go unpunished in 73% of all crime scenes (Levine, 29). Murder, rape, and robberies are glamorized; characters sport the latest fashions, the nicest cars, and live in the most beautiful homes. Unlike Japanese films where pain, suffering, and the tragic consequences of violence are highlighted; American television neglects the victim s family who is essentially silenced and left without a chance to express their grief. According to Levine, with the exception of trial based shows, legal consequences are left to the audiences imagination (29). In 1977, Ronny Zamora, a 15-year-old Costa Rican immigrant was enlightened to the harsh reality that violence does have its consequences. His attorney claimed he could not be held responsible for actions due to insanity stemming from, being under the influence of prolonged, intense, involuntary subliminal intoxication (Murray, 44). Nonetheless, a jury convicted him of murdering his 82-year-old neighbor and sentenced him to prison. On top of lacking the social and moral consequences of violence, the television medium (who takes credit for positive plugs for condoms) mentions the health risks of casual sex in only 9 percent of their shows (Jackson, 1). The Henry J. Kaiser company documented 88 television scenes in which sexual intercourse was implied or depicted and, none included, even a passing reference to sexual risks and responsibilities (qtd. In Jackson, 1). The study s authors wrote: At a time when we are facing a sexual health crisis among young people- with nearly a million teen pregnancies and more than 3 million instances of sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers every year we need to pay special attention to those media depiction that could influence how young people develop their attitudes and beliefs about sex (qtd. In Jackson, 2). Surprisingly, there are some television executives who will insist that the violence, hedonism, and selfishness so often featured in their work has no real consequence to society (Wheeler, 198). How ironic that this same business will charge hundreds of thousands of dollars on commercial airtime in the belief that fleeting images can sell anything from canned goods to political candidates! (Wheeler, 198). As ridiculous as it sounds, industry executives are clinging to claims that the programming surrounding these brief advertisements has no influence whatsoever. Their claims are unsubstantiated.It has been proven time and time again that behavior is learned as a result of the behaviors one is exposed to, directly or indirectly, via their environment. Children are sponges; they are constantly absorbing information from and about their surroundings. David Walsh of the National Institute on Media and the Family and a local television station conducted a study at a Minneapolis day care center in which the behaviors of children were monitored and then documented after they watched both violent and non-violent TV programs. They found when a class of two-year-olds watched public television s, big hearted purple dinosaur, Barney, the children sang along, danced, held one another s hands, and laughed together. The next day, the same class watched the aggressive Power Rangers . Within minutes they were karate chopping and high kicking in the air as well as at eachother (Marks, 1). Unfortunately, experimental research studies are unnecessary to experience a situation in which life imitates fiction. The headline news is an accurate source for such tragic scenarios. Serial killer,...
Banta, Mary Anne. The V-Chip Story. National Coalition on Television Violence.5pp. Online. Internet. 11 March. 1999. Black, Jay., et al., Introduction to Media Communications. Fifth Edition. Boston: Mc Graw, 1998. Jackson, Terry. New Study: Steamy Scenes Dominate TV. The Miami Herald. 10 Feb. 1999, Sec. E: 1+. Leone, Bruno., ed. Media Violence Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego: Greenhaven Press Inc., 1996. Levine, Madeline. Media Violence Harms Children. Leone. pp.28-36. Marks, Alexandra. What Children See and Do: Studies of Violence on TV. Christian Science Monitor. (April 17, 1998). 2pp. Online. Internet. 11 March, 1999. Murray, John P. Studies Have Established Media Violence Causes Violence. Leone. pp.43-48. Leone, Bruno., ed. Media Violence Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego: Greenhaven Press Inc., 1996. Shore, Michael. The Rolling Stone Book of Rock Video. NY: Rolling Stone Press, 1984. Silver, Mark. Sex and Violence on TV. (Aug. 11, 1995) pp.5. Online. Internet. 11 March. 1999. Wheeler, Joe L. Remote Controlled. Haggerstown: Reviews and Herald Publishing, 1993.MLA Style
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