Mean World Syndrome Video Analysis

THESIS STATEMENT: The world’s media today seem to have more violence than ever. Video games have vivid depictions of accident catastrophes, fighting and murder. Television news programs generally lead with a violent story in order to gain an audience. This is free society people can stay what they want. ‘’ Media violence has many negative effect on youth today to commit crimes in society.’’

According to Sr. Elizabeth Thoman, the Executive Director of the Center for Media Literacy in Los Angeles said, the public has produced fear generated by media violence. She calls this the "Mean World Syndrome," in which the impact may not be on potential perpetrators, but on the rest of the population, who begin to believe that violence is inevitable, that crime is everywhere and that they must be afraid. The projection of violence intensifies our views of the real world, making it seem worse than it really is. As the media increasingly reports the gory details of violent acts, the public becomes more immune. It may make the children more fearful as they come to believe that violence is as common in the real world as it is on television and as a direct result children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others.

In the media there is a great deal of violence and nobody can really deny that. However, the effects media has on children and young adults have been debated for years. In this paper I will be discussing the effects of media violence, the other factors, and the possible solutions to alleviate this global issue.

Everyone is influenced and shaped by society. Society affects our perceptions, our consciousness, and our actions. A majority of the influence, especially on the younger demographic comes through the media; specifically through television. It is important to examine how violence in the media develops a pervasive cultural environment that cultivates a heightened state of insecurity, exaggerated perceptions of risk and danger, and a fear-driven propensity for hard-line political solutions to social problems. The purpose of this essay is to evaluate the impact of television and media violence, as well as the human cost of violent media, and the overall effects on society from watching TV.

Whether it’s a story on the news or a drama at the theatre, violence has become a social norm in the media. Today, companies have significantly relied on the use of violence to ensure that their audiences are still motivated to watch. According to the Media Education Foundation, the level of violence on prime time television has increased 167% since 1998. Although there is a widespread belief that watching fictional violence causes people to become violent, the rise of violence on TV compared to real-world crime statistics over the past 20 years tells a different story.

Media violence is one of the most debated public issues society faces today. Television screens are loaded with the glamorization of weapon carrying. Violence constitute as amusing and trivialized. Needless portrayals of interpersonal violence spread across the television screens like wild fire. Televisions spew the disturbing events such as children being assaulted, husbands inflicting domestic abuse on their wives and children succumbing to abuse by their parents. Scenes of betrayal, anguish, infiltrate the television screen. Unfortunately, a child becomes subjected to media violence. Everything a child sees or hears in the media affects them in some way or another. The precise effects of media violence on children are

Before proceeding, it is important to define two terms clearly: media violence and violent behavior. Different people have used different definitions of these terms at different times, but for this research paper, media violence is defined as visual portrayals of acts of physical aggression by one human against another. This definition has evolved as theories about the effects of media violence have evolved and represents an attempt to describe the kind of violent media presentation that is most likely to teach the viewer to be more violent. Violence happens frequently in America and people die because of the lack of ethical training. The problem is not necessarily the one that appears as a clear and present danger because it masquerades itself as a just the cultural shift into a new era of insensitivity. Americans see violence every day in their media and so it has almost lost the potent

the position statement of the National Association for Education of Young Children discussed the violence in the children's lives. It is evident that the problem of violence takes the life of an American child at least every three hours and the lives of at least 25 children. According to a national survey, 91% of the responding teachers reported increased violence among children in their classrooms because of the cross-media marketing of violent cartoons, toys, and videos. In fact, all children today affected by the violence that pervades our societies. Many factors can contribute to violence such as poverty, racism, unemployment, and substance abuse. According to the research, is clear that media, particularly television and films, contribute to the problem of violence in the

The documentary, “Mean World Syndrome: Media Violence and the Cultivation of Fear” examines the work of communications scholar George Gerbner, who died in 2005. According to interviews with Gerbner, violent media content does have negative effects on consumers, especially heavy consumers of mass media, but these effects can not be explained in a simple way of causing some people to go out and repeat the violent act. Instead, the effects are that consumers become desensitized to seeing violence. Consumers might become fearful of their own safety. They become less trusting and compassionate, and are less capable of feeling empathy towards others. According to Gerbner, these effects are more pronounced against already marginalized groups in society. We tend to see each other as less human because of negative stories portraying certain groups as responsible for problems in society such as violence.

In everyday life, we are exposed to violence through the media, in one form or another. The ways we are exposed to it could be either through watching movies, TV-Shows or playing infamous computer games. For years the effects of violence in the media has been a provocative topic of debate. While some argue that violence in the media has no repercussions, others argue that it has a long lasting effect on people.

More than 80% of all media industry portrays violent behavior; as well as more than half of this percentage normalizes using weapons. Displays of assaults, rapes, murders, kidnapping have grown into natural and obvious parts of the media production, which evidently provokes kid’s aggression. Media sources have greater potential and opportunities to shape child’s perception of the world than parents, teachers and friends do. As a result mass production successfully replaces any other source of information and education, making big money on regular basis. Thereby chances of young generations to grow up in proper psycho-emotional environment, protected from harmful violent media exposure, precipitously decrease. Children occur to be the most insecure part of the society, which faces, assimilates and practices violence from early years of life. Public establishments, politicians, scholar institutions and parents are deeply concerned with this problem and try to find effective means to protect younger generation, but active media development is hardly imagined to be

At an undeveloped age, adolescents’ minds are similar to sponges, they absorb everything they see or hear, picking up on everything. However, we continue to let our youngsters watch the corruption, viciousness, and the unsuitable linguistics frequently originated in the media today, but we don’t turn and blame ourselves, we blame the media they cultured it from. Why? As parents it’s our responsibility to filter what our children are exposed to. The media doesn’t force the violence on the young children, but they are setting standards for what children may think is ordinary behavior or language. (Felson) Violence is found in almost everything anymore, regardless of the movie, show or video games. There is some type of violence involved, and it’s almost becoming “normal”. (Felson) With forcefulness being observed in animations, sports, sitcoms and dramas, it’s likely to make children believe that this type of behavior is adequate. “Psychologists have discovered that elevated exposure of violent video games can be linked to delinquency, fighting at school, during play time, as well as brutal criminal actions”. (Felson) Although, it isn’t only the violence on the television that is to blame for portraying the violent behavior. All over the world, media is influencing our behavior. Do you believe it’s as powerful and influencing as many say it is?

Violence in media is not a recent development. Prior to television, citizens across the country glued themselves to the radio listening to the broadcast of popular crime dramas. Before radio, books and newsprint fulfilled society’s craving for dramatic violence. Prior to the days of technology, live stage performances served to sate man’s desire for thrills. With the recent advent of technology along with an ever-increasing human desire for blood-pumping entertainment, children now are much more exposed to media violence than ever before. Gauthier, Zuromski and Gitter write, “Media coverage of violent killings (e.g., the Columbine High School shooting in 1999) has cited the potential role of violent media exposure in fostering aggressive behavior, especially because some of the perpetrators have a history of violent media consumption” (513). Children spend hours on end watching television shows and movies filled with violence or playing video games where they can play the role of a character and act out the violence themselves. This can lead to children eventually playing out these fantasies in real life or, more likely, not reacting humanely in the face of violence. Overindulged by the violence in media and video games, children are losing the capacity for compassion and developing the capacity to harm others without feeling guilt for their actions. To help curb these harmful effects,

With the recent increase in media presence throughout the world, there has also been an increase in violence portrayed through the media. Media violence is believed to be causing aggression in today’s youth and society. This paper will examine the potential reasons on how media violence is causing aggression

In the book Critique of Violence ,author Walter describes Violence as "The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, male development, or deprivation .The violence that is portrayed in the media has been debated for decades ,and it has rose a question about how does it influence the youth?. From movies to video games society has been accustom to seeing violence in their everyday entertainment. Since children are easy to be influence by their environment, it is safe to say that violence in the media can and will contribute to violent behavior.