LO4, Task 5: Ethical, legal and regulatory issues (Notes)

Ethical: Representations i.e. Gender, age and ethnicity.
Legal and regulation: Copyright (Music/ Soundtrack). Certification of age rating given by the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) and ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) which certifies broadcasts and adverts, as well as prints of posters for films for example.. Regulation issues like violence, sex and language can effect the certification.

A) The products impact and effect on the audience.
B) Relevant issues of representation.
C) Relevant legal and/or ethical issues
D) Role of relevant regulatory bodies.

A) Passive and active:
Passive: Hypodermic syringe (Theodore Adorno, 1930's)- Media has a negative impact because the audience (Mass) believe everything hey say/hear.
Issues about:
Violence? The town of Springfield try to kill the Simpsons as shown by hangman ropes and pitchforks.
sexual content? no
representation? Represents Americans as stupid, wasteful and uneconomical, as shown by them not caring about the environment at the start.
Positive impacts? Family values.
Role-Model? Marge: She is caring and wants to save Springfield whilst Homer does not.

Active: Able to filter and adapt the content in media (Gauntlett). We have uses and gratifications theory- people use media for there own purpose?






B) Representation:
Who is being represented? (All representations are mediated (on purpose) - Stuart Hall, 1980)
Is there use of stereotypes/countertypes (Tessa Perkins, 1979). Not all stereotypes are false.

Stereotypes: Common characteristics of different groups of people. Most of the time they are negative stereotypes.

Countertypes: Challenged Stereotypes i.e. Males are dominant stereotypically, but the countertype would be a dominant woman.

Representation of women- are they objectified (Mulvey, 1975)- Its a kid film so it doesn't.
Representation of Men (Earp and Katz, 1999)- "Equation of masculinity with pathological control and violence"- dominant, in control.

Representation of ethnicity- non-white- "Exotic, dangerous, humorous, pitied" Alvarado, 1987
Exotic: Accent, Clothes.
Dangerous: Different to the more dominant ethnicity in the film.
Humorous:
Pitied: empathy, feel sorry for.

C)Legal and Ethical:
Legal: Copyright infringement?- Main worry in film industry illegal downloading?
Ethical: Offensive material? Sensationalism? Censorship- has the film been censored

Copyright Infringement: Use content you don't have permission/rights to use.
To prevent- get permission otherwise you can get sued and have to pay a large fee.

Offensive Material:
Racism
Sexual Content
Strong Language
Violence
Drugs
Offensive because of age especially towards the passive audience.

Censorship:
Removing content that is not approved.