The Changing Nature of Family Life in Contemporary Society Essay

Margo DeMello begins her chapter, Theorizing the Body, by making reference to the history of horror films and their relation to how society interprets the human body (3). I found this aspect to be particularly engaging in that, when examining western culture, a high number of people consume a form of entertainment, whether it be film, television, music or books. With that in mind, it is crucial that one considers how a person is meant to navigate the storylines and imagery presented to us. What subconscious messages are being relayed? What blatant propaganda is being communicated? Mass media is a powerful outlet in conveying ideas and, as DeMello opened her book discussing horror films (one of which she mentioned, I have a scene from tattooed

The family dynamics of the TV show “Married with Children” depicts a dysfunctional, but yet understanding between each family member. Their daily interaction with each other would suggest lack of communication that is taken seriously in the family unit. The husband (Al- Bundy) and wife (Peggy Bundy) presented a disconnection between the two of them steaming from the dysfunction in their marriage. Al Bundy attitude towards his wife appeared to be one with lack of an intimate and emotional connection. Peggy Bundy appeared to have an unconditional love for her husband, but seems to be missing the love that she wants from her husband. Their relationship seemed to be functionally dysfunctional as they move through their

In "Are Families Dangerous?" Barbara Ehrenreich discusses how "media fixations" are recently allowing us to see the true grime that is our ideal family system. Ehrenreich's main contention is that families "can be a nest of pathology and a cradle of gruesome violence." She states that somewhere inside us, whether or not we want to believe; we know that this is going on around us, and media representations are outing the evils of family life. Implying that families might not be the shiny, happy role-players that we all would like to think of, she speaks of the unthinkable, gruesome crimes to the weak, and infirm, of these so-called families. She elaborates with the supposed fact that ."..families get...more dangerous...and

Chapter 3 Families and SocietyWhat stood out for me on Families in Society, was how the reading related families to an "ecosystem". Each family being an "organism", and contributing to creating a community or how the book states an "ecosystem". Family is a system, and in a system each individual experiences four fundamental concepts being "interaction", "stress", "coping, and "adaption". "Interaction" is how one person's actions affects another. "Stress" is when a person is affected by external forces such as biological factors or family dynamics. The last concept is "adaption"; when a person transitions from their environmental family views and way of life. (Wormer & Besthorn, 2017, p. 88 & 89 )The book explained how, "society is becoming

When I read the diary, there are news of the type "the progress of the man, by accepting same sex marriage" and comments that support these kinds of behavior. These comments say that everyone has to accept that those people love each other because it's their choice, and that we should respect their choices because it's their right. I am always grateful because I have the gospel, and I have the clear knowledge of the commandments. In "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" it says that marriage is ordained by our Heavenly Father. Elder Bednar explains this point very clearly: "...Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose" and in large measure defines who we are, why we are here

The popularity of these films prolonged through the 1970s and 1980s. Carnage and bloodbaths were overlooked by the media since they had become conventional (Derry 164), seen in Friday the 13th (I, II, II, and IV; 1980, 1981, 1982, and 1984) and Halloween (I, II, and III; 1978, 1981, and 1982) (Derry 164-165). Films in this period are, instead of having just random violence, punishing those who are seen as deserving of it. The 70s and 80s had to deal with the consequences of the sexual revolution and a record outbreak of sexually transmitted diseases, so the films of the age executed teen promiscuity (Derry 165). Women are also a common victim, as a “direct response to the feminist movement” (Derry 165).

Gender and familial roles are one of the common themes that films of all time employ. Some films challenge the patriarchy and traditional gender roles while others confirm to the stereotyped roles. Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure (2014) is a Swedish comedy-drama film that won numerous awards including the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at 2014 Cannes Film Festival. It portrays the issue of socially constructed gender and familial roles through its in a different way from the common patriarchal ideologies in mainstream Hollywood cinema. . These familial and gender roles are strongly associated with each other because they are both preserved by children’s acquirement of behaviors from their same-sex parent. Thus, Force Majeure stresses the importance of gender equality by rejecting our unconscious expectations of how each member of a family should be and further our society’s anticipations.

The focus of my investigation was to analyse the representation of women in horror films. The films I had selected were Resident Evil Retribution (2012) and Halloween (1978). In the film, Resident Evil Retribution, the representation of women was stronger, whereas Halloween represented females as weak and vulnerable as they were from a different epoch. I have used codes and conventions and also subverted the representation of women in my opening sequence of the horror film.

Horriffice clowns that eat children, deranged murderers slaughtering innocents, or camping trips turned into a disastrous blood bathed frenzy. Horror has found a commonplace in today’s society. There has been an evolution in society’s perception of the of exposing children to horror. Out of this evolution has come the rating scale used on all movies and television series. The rating removes the parent’s ability to judge and decide if their child may watch. Parents and parents only have the right to determine what their child watches on television.

Classic violent thrillers and horror movies provide insight of the social and cultural events as portrayed through film. Nyny’s ‘The Thing’ is a representation of communism and the rise of the nuclear age in the 1950s whilst the ‘Zombie’ films appearing in the late 1960s and 2000s are indicative of the social and political alienation highlighting consumer society. Whilst violence thriller fans relished Hollywood splatter films such as ‘Texas Chainsaw Masacre’ (Hooper 1974) and ‘The Hills have Eyes’ (Craven 1977) filmmakers and sociologists as opinion recognised the demise of the nuclear family. The ‘Saw’ franchise (2004-10) continues to draw audiences in large numbers of predominantly young cinema goers which demonstrates the enduring pre-occupation

Baker, M. (2001) Families, Labour and Love: Family diversity in a changing world. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin.

For instance, certain types of visual media promote sexual violence against both men and women; often times they promote stereotypes. For instance, sexual mass media images tend to portray victim responding favorably to their situation after awhile; also they portray victim as favoring the assailant . Sexually violent films and scenes are redefining the role of pleasure in society as they encourage the miscommunication of pain for pleasure . Certain common films and videos of a sexual nature contain extreme scenes of torture and bestiality; and addition to this they promote the ideal that life problems and issues can be solved through sex . The popularization of sexually violent films may reinforce stereotypes and encourage a sadistic view of intimacy, which then reflect on society’s conscious collective.

While we are enthusiasts of entertainment and thrilling action, we are parental figures to the next generation of children on their way. Violence presented in media potentially affects children through vivid depictions of gore and tragedy, blurring the line between reality and fictionalized drama. The film industry and its’ supporters thrive off of these displays, drawing in crowds of spectators which provide the industry with an extraordinary amount of profit. Although many of these parents are also part of the viewing demographic of movies, concern looms in the access to this mature content. With the expansion of technology, access to inappropriate scenes and games are accessible to a child who is knowledgeable in the usage of

Decapitated baby dolls and rated R movies shaped my childhood. Now, before you throw my essay in the round file and write me off as a potential serial killer, hear me out. I was not raised like many of my peers. Obviously, most of their parents made sure that the movies they viewed were age appropriate and I am pretty sure they would not have been so passive if the found dismembered baby dolls in their daughter’s playroom. However, my parents were different… very different. Instead of watching the typical family movies such as Matilda and Toy Story, my family spent our weekends watching The Matrix Series and The Godfather Trilogy. While most may not agree with these customs, my seven-year-old mind was far more thrilled at hearing Marlon Brando saying “kiss the ring” rather than Woody talk about snakes and boots. Besides, I closed my eyes during the intimate scenes so that makes everything okay, right?

This brings the debate to how the ‘pornification’ of acts, namely violent, hurtful and discriminatory ones, have effected parts of society and will most likely continue to do so if pornography still portrays these said acts. With the population viewing pornography at younger ages than ever before (Turner), and using the porn that they view as a form of education, then the violent and harmful porn that exists must be taken into consideration when talking about the effects it has on society. In 1987, James B. Weaver’s investigated how violence and rape portrayed on screen was read by men and women. The test group was shown various scenes from popular films of neutral/not sexual content, consensual sex, female-instigated sex, male-coerced sex, and eroticised violence which included scenes of a “slasher” film. The investigation interestingly found that “the men spotted some aggressiveness in consenting sex, whereas the women did not. But more significantly, the men judged rape to be about half as violent as murder, whereas the women considered rape to be about as brutal a crime as murder” (Zillmann 115). It should also be noted that the sexual scenes shown were heterosexual. Baron and Byrne found in their 1977 investigation that “sexual acts involving aggression and violence are among the least arousing sexual depictions for men and females” (Nelson 178). A number of studies mentioned by Nelson found that there were low levels of arousal in