Effects of the Media

What and who are BBFC

BBFC stands for British Board of Film Classification. It is a company that classifies films, videos and games into specific categories to make sure the audience know about what sort if content is in the film and to protect them from anything they may not want to see. BBFC has been around 100 years. They are an independent self financing organisation.

Films are classified using specific guidelines; an example of a guideline for a U film is that it is suitable for everyone and should be no discrimination, drugs, bad language, sex, nudity or horror, and any negatives should be balanced out with a positive. These guidelines change every few years to keep up with the social norms of what we find acceptable. For example in 1913 when BBFC was first starting out there were restrictions on bathing scenes as well as incurious dancing.

There are several classifications each at a specific age:





U
PG
12A/ 12
15
18

Most film are watched by a employee of the BBFC and then matched to a rating, but some film request a specific audience (e.g. they are made from a popular book whose audience is a certain age) and so the BBFC work with the film editors to make the film fit the classifications. Hunger Games is a good example of this, it started out as a book and so already had an audience but when it was finished the rating was higher than they wanted it to be and so had to get rid of some violent bloody scenes to help it be more suitable.

Inoculation Theory 
Inoculation theory is that if someone is exposed to a specific message for a continued time them it would make the audience desensitised and find the message ordinary and unimportant. E.g. continued exposure to violence would lead the audience bored and not affect them therefore becoming immune to the message or scene.





Moral Panics

 A moral panics is an intense feeling in the whole of the population over something that appears to threaten social order.

The media is used to further a moral panic rather than create one (as it would have done in the past) and so may last longer than it is needed. For example a Magazine or newspaper will pick stories that will interest their readers and could influence what they feel about certain places or people and so fuel the issue further e.g. if a Newspaper say a teenager has beaten an old lady, many of the population may see all teens as someone who would beat up an old lady and so feel threatened when ever they see a teenager, especially older people.

Moral panics have several features; concern, hostility, consensus, disproportionately and volatility.

Moral panic in media example...
Concern- A news report is saying more teenagers are hanging on the streets causing criminal damage
Hostility- People try and stay away from teenagers on the street as they are now been seen as 'folk devils'
Consensus- There is a spread acceptance on the issue and they feel that teens pose a real threat to society.
Disproportionately- Even though it was a couple of teens who caused damage, the majority of teen are been punished by having a curfew in place.
Volatility- Moral panics tend to disappear as quickly as they came as new and media are telling the public different things and so loose interest on the current moral panic.


Uses and Gratification Theory
This theory is an approach to mass communication. It focuses more on the audience/ consumer instead of the actual message and thinks the audience chooses the media to suit their own needs. It suggests that people use the media to fulfill their own gratifications.
Basic model...
Identify- Recognising the product, person that reflect similar values to you.
Educate- Being able to acquire information, knowledge and understanding.
Entertain- What you are watching should be a form of entertainment and let you forget any worries.
Social interaction- It should produce a topic of conversation between other people.


Hypodermic theory

The hypodermic theory (also known as the magic bullet theory) is another model of mass communication. The theory is that the message of a type of media is directly received and accepted by the receiver and will respond in a predictable pattern. 
For example the Nazi propaganda showed the opposing side been bad not their own side been good. 




Catharsis
Many producers and directors of violent media claim that their products are cathartic, this mean providing psychological relief through the expression of strong emotion. 
For example Sega Soft has made an online network that has lots of violent games on and claim to give users the 'primal human urge to kill.'