Here is information on the BBFC.
Moral Panics
Moral Panics was a theory created by Cohen, he argues that moral panics occur when a sub-culture or sub-group within society are repeatedly reflected in a negative way by the media. This is more commonly done through news papers and magazines and a good example of a moral panic was the Hoodies epidemic, the news papers and magazines created an idea in the public eye that youths specifically who wore a jacket with a hood were miscreants and up to no good. This created a fear of youths mainly by the elderly when passing them in the street even though it was a small minority who were being deviant. However once an epidemic like this is started by one for of media it travels quickly, we now see in films youths walking around with their hoods up and assume that they are deviants. Moral Panics cause public up roar and fear creating good publicity for the media. Because people want to know more and that they are safe this allows the media to play situations to their advantage and have been known to have people posing for photographs doing deviant acts to publish in papers.
There are three things which create a moral panic:
Social Control:
This is the way in which we deal with the deviant behaviour which has caused a moral panic, in previous times new laws have been put in place along with people being publicly punished so that others fear committing the same crime, in a lot of shops since the Hoodies moral panic there are now signs asking people to keep their hoods down. This also makes the public feel safe again and gain trust in the government and media that something is being done.
The significance of an event:
When an event occurs the media pick up on it very quickly, they are also known for provoking situations and exaggerating them more, this causing more distress within the public, the way an event is reported can have an effect on how significant it is, if the media report it as being terrible people will believe it is. This is as many people trust what the news papers and magazines say and see headlines and make assumptions from there rather than reading full news articles.
Wider Society:
The things occurring in wider society have an effect on the way people react to an event. Different crimes occur in different areas and some times people fear for their safety due to the area they live in, and feel they may be a victim of these crimes while people in other areas may not react to some things but do others.
Hypodermic Needle Theory
This short video from You Tube explains the Hypodermic Needle Theory.
The hypodermic needle theory is often referred to as the 'Magic Bullet' this theory is not based on actual research but assumptions upon human nature and the way they react to what they see and hear. This theory is a way of trying to explain and show why audiences react in the ways they do so things published and presented to the public by the mass media.
The theory suggests that the things which appear in the mass media are fired straight into the brains of the consumers, the mass media can use this technique to manipulate the public into believing things that they want them to even if they are not strictly true! This is one of the reasons why Moral Panics occur because the natural instinct is to react to what we have seen/read.
Inoculation Theory
The Inoculation Theory suggests that the more situations and scenarios shown through the Mass Media the more we become immune to them. If we see the same things repeatedly broadcast we soon begin to stop reacting to them as they become the norm to us. Now stories which used to shock the nation such as divorce are now completely normal and do not cause the same reaction this meaning news papers, TV programmes and film makers are now having to try even harder to create story lines which will entice the viewer rather than create something that will not cause a reaction as they are used to seeing it in the media eye, however they do have to be careful in creating lots of films with story lines such as crime as we do not want this to become behaviour that is socially acceptable. The BBFC can monitor this through age rating certificates to ensure people are aware of the content.
Catharsis Theory
This theory describes the effect that a specific event has on an audience, this is mainly the effect of tragedy within a media form of comedy. This theory sees using media people can express their feelings without actually doing anything, they may watch a sad film when they are feeling sad and relate to it or feel angry and play a violent game which can act as release to them so they do not go out into the public and do anything like this.
This theory also sets boundaries for people, they realise through media forms that if they do deviant things they will be punished in similar ways to what they see / hear when playing games, watching films or reading magazines, this encouraging people to release their anger in other ways rather than anti-social behaviour.
Uses and Gratification
This theory focuses on the consumer of the media product. It suggests that people use the media for their own person reasons such as entertainment, education and also social interaction. Things such as films give you common ground with someone else who you may have nothing else in common with; this can be a starting point for interaction with another person.
