Media Affect Models Flashcards
Describe the Hypodermic Syringe Model.
Believes that a direct correlation exists between violence/antisocial behaviour portrayed in media and real life equivalents (such as drug abuse and violent crime).
Describes the relationship between the audience and media content as HOMOGENOUS AND PASSIVE.
What does the Hypodermic Syringe Model argue?
=> The media acts like a syringe (or bullet) directly injecting audiences with powerful, influential media content.
=> Audiences blindly accept content. They’re unthinking and unable to resist messages that are broadcasted; they’re immediately influenced.
=> Children and teenagers are vulnerable to media content; they’re still in early stages of socialisation making them easily impressionable.
What do Feminists Orbach and Wilf argue about media representations of femininity?
They may be producing a generation of females who suffer from eating disorders.
What has Dines argued about media representations of femininity?
Men’s consumption of pornography may be harmful in terms of encouraging negative attitudes towards women.
What has Marxist commentator Marcuse believe that media has transmitted?
A ‘mass culture’ which was directly injected into hearts and minds of the population, making them more vulnerable to ruling class propaganda.
What did the “Bobo Doll Experiment” research undertaken by Bandura et al (1961) and that demonstrated copycat violence find?
Looked for cause/effect relationships between media content and violence.
Three groups of children were shown real, film and cartoon scenarios of a ‘Bobo doll’ being attacked with mallets; a fourth group was shown no violent activity.
All groups were shown a room full of toys before being told they couldn’t play with them to frustrate the children. They were then led to another room containing a ‘Bobo doll’ and were observed through a one-way mirror.
Those who had been shown violence (real, film or cartoon) all acted more aggressively than those who were shown no violence.
Conclusion: violent media content could lead to imitation or ‘copycat violence’
What examples of real-life violence exist as contemporary support for Bandura’s study?
Films such as the Dark Knight Rises lead to a shooting in Colorado during a midnight screening of the film in 2012, where a gunman wearing a mask opened fire on viewers of the film inside the cinema. James Holmes, the perp, identified himself as ‘the Joker’ to authorities after imitating the character, leading to the murder of 12 people.
What examples of real-life violence exist as contemporary support for Bandura’s study?
Films such as the Dark Knight Rises lead to a shooting in Colorado during a midnight screening of the film in 2012, where a gunman wearing a mask opened fire on viewers of the film inside the cinema. James Holmes, the perp, identified himself as ‘the Joker’ to authorities after imitating the character, leading to the murder of 12 people.
What did Feminist writer Morgan comment upon the power and influence of media with regards to male/female relationships? What did Dworkin add to this?
Morgan suggested that viewing extreme sexual conduct on screen, leads men to practice and normalize extreme sexual conduct in real-life. He argued that “pornography is the theory, rape is the practice”.
In addition to this, Dworkin suggests pornography trivializes rape.
What do Marxists suggest about media affects on their audiences?
=> Media content holds an ideological function, acting as a form of social control and manipulating mass audiences into accepting ruling class ideology.
=> Argue the media is responsible for demise of public opinion and collective action within the ‘public sphere’ that challenges the ‘status quo’ (aka societies social norms).
=> The media is just another mechanism to control society, rejecting or ridiculing ideas which challenge the existing establishment.
How can the impact of advertising be used to support the Hypodermic Syringe Model?
The industry (advertisement) spends millions on media advertising per year; so it must be assumed that media is having some affect on its audiences.
What does Packard argue regarding the impact of advertisement?
Consumers are being persuaded to consume goods, with contemporary ‘celeb culture’ becoming increasingly influential in lives of the masses (e.g. celebrity endorsements and peoples’ desire to imitate celebs’ appearance and fashion)
What does Newson argue about violent images in films?
=> They are too easily available, and exposure to screen violence encourages youngsters to identify with perps rather than victims.
=> As they grow up, children and teens are subject to thousands of violent images (e.g. the average 18 year-old is estimated to have seen over 16,000 murders on television) through media sources.
=> Newson suggests that such long exposure to media violence may have a ‘drip drip’ effect over the course of one’s childhood. This leads people to become desensitized to violence - socializing them into accepting violent behavior as the norm, especially as a problem solving device.
How did Newson’s report affect the film industry?
It led to increased censorship within the industry with the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) being given power to apply age certifications for films, DVDs and music videos. They can insist that film makers cut content relating to bad language, violence and scenes of drug use.
What did television companies do as a result of censorship?
They agreed to voluntary censorship by adopting a nine o-clock watershed; programs that feature any censored material should not be shown before this time.
