Unit 8 Assignment 2 (part 2)

Why are there certain things that young people shouldn't watch?

I think that young people shouldn't watch things because...

• It could offend or traumatise a younger audience.
• They might not understand something that someone who is older understands.
• They may not form the same emotional response as an older audience, the humour may become inappropriate meaning that they wouldn't find it funny. 

Ethics means the beliefs in what is right and wrong. You have moral views about situations, views that are normally influenced by a parent or guardian. The views aren't always black and white, there can often be a grey area like a sliding scale. Ethics can come from your own personal experiences your culture. It could come from your education or from aspects of the media such as the watching of television programmes of films. 

What programmes teach us good morals?

• Children's programmes such as Teletubbies and Balamory teach kids to be kind, to share and they help to educate children.
• Crime dramas or law programmes that show the wrong doer getting punish or justice.
• Sitcoms like scrubs which has an internal monologue saying what a character things.
• Death Row.
• Arrow and The Flash.

What programmes teach us bad morals?

• Geordie Shore
• 16 and Pregnant
• Teen Mom
• Horrid Henry
• Tracy Beaker
• Shameless

We can see how the media plays a part in shaping our moral views.

Should TV and film be more ethical? Can TV and Film be blamed for the slipping ethics of society?

What is the constant need to scapegoat in our society for the fact that ethics of society are slipping?! Can we not just assume responsibility for our own actions and our wrong doings? Everywhere I look television and film are getting blamed for the fact that a child is naught, 'they've been watching fight scenes' well maybe if parents spent less time allowing their children to run free doing and watching whatever the hell they want then their children wouldn't be so naughty. If you blame the media solely for the slipping of ethics then you mustn't have had good ethics to begin with. Ethics are not bound by law, they are personal to individuals. I watch tv to laugh at people,   however that does not mean that I'm about to go sleep with a million sex crazed teenagers and end up pregnant. 

You can't blame what you watch on your ethics changing, yes I do believe that television and film has an impact on you. For example I get heavily involved in my daily watching of Grey's Anatomy, which does show morals and ethics within the medical profession and the differences on people's ethics to personal relationships but I don't sudden;y want to become a doctor. I know the difference between what's on the screen and reality. Here's an idea if you think something is that bad...don't watch it! No one is forcing you to watch it and let's face it you actually want to watch it just so that you have something to complain about. I'm so sick of people jumping on the bandwagon to target something or someone can't we just accept that ethics are a sliding scale that can't be limited in aid of over-bearing protective parents feeling the need to censor their children from everything.

Not everything is a feminist issue, not everything needs someone to tell them it's wrong. 50 shades of grey is terrible, it's just a terrible idea and it can be offensive but I don't need the constant reminder that people may find it offensive or vulgar. It's there and I don't approve but I don't feel the need to shove my opinion down someone's throat and force blame on a whole community. Be responsible for your own actions instead of blaming anyone but yourself.

Big Brother Clip: Shilpa and Jade

What behaviour raises some questions about moral ethics?

In the clip we see Jade losing it and getting very angry for what doesn't appear to be a valid reason following a small confrontation over some oxo cubes. This isn't really a reason for getting so upset/angry which raises the question of why she did it -was it due to Shilpa's race and whether there were any underlining problems to begin with. The clip raises issues and morals about the acceptance of bullying as the clip made it very clear that Jade is bullying Shilpa. We know this because of the way Jade and her friends are laughing on the sofa as she is incredibly verbally offensive towards Shilpa. This was not brought up or given a consequence for this type of behaviour until the show received complaints which showed that the show was raising questions to peoples' ethics and morals as to whether Channel 4 saw bullying as ethically acceptable. This shows bad morals specifically towards a younger audience as they could copy the behaviour.

Why would Channel 4 show this?

I think that Channel 4 would have chosen to show this to keep their viewers entertained, choosing to air content that would keep viewers interested -to keep them watching. A downside to them doing so meant the potential loss of some viewers who may have gotten offended by the idea that the verbal attack was based solely on Shilpa's race. The channel could have chosen to air this content to gain more recognition and reception for their programme. They would have gained this through news headlines which would create opposing views on the issue from fans of both Jade and Shilpa. Therefore airing this sort of content creates an up raw which gets people talking. This will help Big Brother to have gained more publicity. 

What is your reaction to the clip?

On watching the clip I felt incredibly sorry for Shilpa as I felt that she was being verbally attacked and had been subjected to bullying behaviour from Jade and her friends. I also believe that Shilpa could have stood up for herself and defended herself, the way the situation played out made her seem more vulnerable to viewers and this may not have been the case. I was rather shocked at Big Brother for airing something so vulgar and bullying to the public, making it seem that either Channel 4 didn't pick up on the effect this content could show or that they see this behaviour as being acceptable. This may create impacts with the public who could take the situation personally, a younger audience watching may not fully understand the content making them believe that, that is acceptable behaviour that they can then mimic in their own life. It could have been a good thing to air it as it can raise awareness towards problems with bullying however it also shows viewers bullying which is a bad moral which can lead viewers to believe that it is okay to bully someone.

Activity: Choose what YOU THINK should and shouldn't be shown on television, there is no right or wrong answer it is down to your own ethics.

What SHOULD we be shown?

• Bullying  

•  Abortion

•  Sexual Activity 

•  Euthanasia 

•  Self Harm 

•  Real life crime/violence 

•  Opinions of racist/homophobic people

What SHOULD NOT be shown?

• Executions.

From this activity we learnt that the ethics of television and film are hugely based upon personal moral beliefs of what you deem as acceptable. It is a complex idea, I think it's down to the individual about what they want to watch, if we start censoring everything that could be controversial or offensive to people then we'll be left with very boring subject topics.

The BBFC

What was surprising about what is allowed at certain ages?

I found it funny that you are allowed to hear far more foul language than you can see scenes of a sexual content. Violence appears to be far more acceptable than sexual content which I think is silly because personally I would rather see a sexual scene than a scene depicting graphic violence or gore.

Case Study

Summarise in your own words the problems with each film and what the BBFC did.

Clockwork Orange

Problem: 'that the film displayed a unrelieved diet of vicious violence and hooliganism'

Action: a secretary of the BBFC defended the film stating that they were satisfied by the end of the film that the content could not be classed as exploitation and that it is infact a valuable contribution to the big debate about violence.

Juno

Problem: The makers of the film wanted the film to be a PG but due to the sexual references, language and a horror clip within the film the BBFC rated it as a 12A in cinemas and a 12 for the DVD release.

Action: The BBFC decided on the rating of a 12 and the film was classed as 12 uncut. It has stayed like that ever since. 

Fight Club

Problem: It contained a lot of strong violence, in some cases this violence contained a lot of graphic bloody scenes. This caused arguments within the BBFC as some members believed the film was suitable for an 18 rating in the uncut version however others believed that the films was glamorising violence and that the scenes could be seen as potentially used to persuade bare-fist violence.

Action: The BBFC requested a few scenes to be cut by around 6/7 seconds claiming that they focused on the pleasure of 'beating victims to a bloody mess'. After these changes were made the BBFC reviewed the film again coming to an agreement to rate the film as an 18 for occasional strong violence. In America the uncut version of the film was also classified as an R rating.