Books

Research

Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents:Theory, Research, and Public Policy - by Craig A. Anderson, Douglas A. Gentile, Katherine E. Buckle

'US Government has created and distributes violent video games to youths, and does so without checking the ages to whom it distributes the game'

Grand Theft Childhood: 

The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do - By Lawrence Kutner, Cheryl Olson

'Video game popularity and real world youth violence have been moving in opposite directions' Page 8

The Link Between Video Games and Violence By Rahul Massey

'Grand Theft Auto used as the rationale behind the fatal shootings of three police officers at the hands of 18 year old devin moore in june 2003

The Effects of Video Games on Children:  The Myth Unmasked -  By Professor Barrie Gunter 'Video games provide extremely powerful symbols that can be used to mold a youth subculture'

Trait Aggression and Style of Video Game Play: The Effects of Violent Video Game Play on Aggressive Thoughts by Angela Paradise

'Players of this infamous action game series take on the role of a criminal who can roam around  the city freely, carrying out bank robberies, assassinations and other crimes' page 9

Media Theories

Marxism and Hegemony

Keywords

Antonio Gramsci 
Capitalism 
Karl Marx 
Louis Althusser
Stuart Hall
The Frankfurt School
Superstructure
Mediation 
Friedrich Engels
Raymond Williams 

Red Herrings 

Hybrid
Influence Model
Katz & Lazarsfeld
Hazel Gaudet
Stanley Cohen

Hegemony -> refers to the ways in which the media encourage people to consent to status quo power structures. A term that came from the writings of Karl Marx


The term "Marxism" refers to the ideas and policies of German philosopher Karl Marx. It deals closely with class struggles and socialism, but encompasses many other societal principles.



Sites Used
http://www.smirnov.demon.co.uk/socialism/overview/media.htm
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3686063/A2%20Revision%20Media/Media%20A-Z%20Keywords.pdf
http://suite101.com/article/hegemony-and-media-studies-a52278

Gender and Ethnicity

Gender and Ethnicity

Laura Mulvey -> Male gaze -> Visuals pleasures for men, seeing women from the mens point of view 

Ethnography -> A form of research where the researcher attempts to understand the culture by becoming a part of it

Representation -> the media construct versions of people, places etc., through media texts -> representations of gender increasingly challenge traditional concepts of masculinity and femininity 

Gendered consumption -> The way that gender affects our consumption of media texts

Almy et al -> media representations of gender are important because they enter the collective social conscience and reinforce culturally dominant (hegemonic) ideas about gender which represent males as dominant and females as subordinate.

Judith Butler -> gender roles are socially constructed 

Stuart Hall -> Negative representation of black people in period films -> negative stereotypes as reinforcing dominant ideologies

Sexism -> Discrimination on the basis of sex -> especially against women -> patriarchy is the main cause

Howard Becker -> Self fulfilling prophecy living up to label attached to you

David Gauntlet 

Red Herrings

BFI -> British Film Industry

Folk Devil -> Groups in society, that are targeted or demonised by the media

Hybrid -> Cross between one film genre and another 

Media Dependency Theory -> Audiences depend on media information to meet needs and reach goals, social institutions and media systems interact with audiences to create needs, interests, and motives in the person

Pixar -> Digital animation company 

Websites used

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3686063/A2%20Revision%20Media/Media%20A-Z%20Keywords.pdf

http://revisionworld.co.uk/a2-level-level-revision/sociology/mass-media-0/media-representations-age-social-class-ethnicity-gender-sexuality-and-disability

http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/comm321/gwalker/effectsmedia.htm

New Proposed Critical Investigation

Critical Investigation - How do video games such as 'call of duty' and 'grand theft auto' push the boundaries of on-screen violence and what is the impact of this on audiences?

Linked Production - Either a video game trailer, showing on-screen violence or a music video similar to the sour patch kids rapping about a video game

Year 13 Critical Investigation Proposal

Year 13 Critical Investigation Proposal 

Working Title

How and why have Teenagers been represented as delinquents across platforms such as Broadcast and print? 

Angle

How are the representations/stereotypes portrayed by the media affecting teens across the UK and has it affected their image?

Hypothesis

Negative representations by the media has led to delinquent behaviour as seen by some teenagers who resort to violent means-> self fulfilling prophecy (Living up to label)

Linked Production Piece

Music video similar to ill manors expressing feelings about the negative representation received / label that has been attached

M (media language) – Low key lighting/high key represent status, baggy clothes -> tend to be branded, close up shots and with panning, quick cuts/fade effect 

I (Institution) – Channel Aka -> British digital satellite TV channel It is a music channel (supports the UK urban movement), focusing on playing upcoming UK urban/grime/hip-hop music and has helped the breakthrough for acts such as Tinchy Stryder, Tinie Tempah, Chipmunk, Wretch 32, Devlin etc

R (Representation) – Tend to be represented as trouble makers who participate in anti social behaviour, unfair representation as not all teens are delinquents, Figures show more than half of the stories about teenage boys in national and regional newspapers in the past year (4,374 out of 8,629) were about crime. The word most commonly used to describe them was "yobs" (591 times), followed by "thugs" (254 times), "sick" (119 times) and "feral" (96 times).

A (Audience) – D, E -> Unemployed Youth, Aged 14-25, Personal Identity, Gender -> Male, escapism -> music as a way to get away from problems surrounding them

I (Ideologies) – Youth are seen as feral /Thugs, All teens share the same characteristics and share an anti-subculture, Cultivation theory

N (Narrative) - Personal Identity -> seeing yourself reflected in text, Hypodermic needle, Uses 
and Gratification -> Escapism

S (Social) – Teens represented as troublemakers in society today -> Up to no good  "The teen boys' 'brand' has become toxic

H (Historical) – The Mods and the Rockers -> working class teenagers who created moral panics in the 1960s -> Stanley Cohen -> Folk Devils and Moral Panics

E (Economical) - oppressed the youth through cuts such as community centres, benefits (ema) university fees, etc

P (Political) – Hatred towards politics and the police -> Merton -> pressure to conform to the norm can cause deviant behaviour when the opportunity to achieve by legitimate means is blocked

Issues and Debates

Moral Panics -> media have caused moral panics, by identifying a group as ‘folk’ devils and exaggerating the threat they pose, Moral panics are created through different media texts e.g. films, magazines, articles (London riots which caused widespread panic, gives an image that all teens are antisocial and troublemakers)

Representation and Stereotypes -> Delinquents, labelled either as chavs or asbos, represented to be troublemakers

Media effects -> Hypodermic needle -> feeding people the image that teens are delinquents, ‘News is not discovered but manufactured’ -> Stanley Cohen

News Values -> how the news reported it, exaggerating stats, blaming one ethnicity for moral panics such as the riots 

Theories/Theorists

Gender and ethnicity -> Howard Becker -> Self fulfilling prophecy living up to label attached to you

Moral Panics -> Jock Young and Stanley Cohen – Folk Devils and Moral Panics 

Schlesinger and Tumbler -> Found Correlation between media consumption and fear of crime, with tabloid readers and heavy users of TV expressing greater fear of becoming a victim

Merton -> pressure to conform to the norm can cause deviant behaviour when the opportunity to achieve by legitimate means is blocked

Contempary Media Landscape -> My topic fits into the contempary media landscape as it’s a current event that can be related to teenagers in today’s society, i.e. me 

Main Texts

London Riots
 Ill manors


Other texts

Kidulthood
Top Boy
Inbetweeners
4,3,2,1 

TV Documentaries 

Panorama – The Riots http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b013xy9t

Sky 1/ YouTube -  Ross Kemp on gangs  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tYHJtU6y74

BBC iplayer – Gang Life http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01f6kg8/Gang_Life_Seguns_Story/

Real Time: A Youth Prison Documentary (2003)

Academic texts/books

AQA A2 Sociology – Keith Trobe, Rob Webb, Hal Westergaard, Liz Steel

Youth and Crime (2004) - John Muncie

Yob Nation – Francis Gilbert

Jock Young and Stanley Cohen – Folk Devils and Moral Panics

Youth, Crime & the Media (1997 ) - Richard Hil, Judith Bessant

Internet Links

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/18/asbos-youthjustice
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/nov/05/british-hoodie-films
http://www.francisgilbert.co.uk/2006/04/the-many-faces-of-british-yob-culture-an-interview-by-sheena-hastings/
http://www.economist.com/node/21528285
http://representation-media-stereotypes-of-teens.wikispaces.com/
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/hoodies-louts-scum-how-media-demonises-teenagers-1643964.html
http://socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=13015

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/cultiv.html

http://www.childrennow.org/media/mc94/news_study.html

http://www.nald.ca/province/que/litcent/media2/media3.htm

Ideas

Critical Investigation

-Music magazine -> Codes and Conventions of music magazines -> do they use sex appeal

-Gaming -> Is gaming good or bad for you? -> Pros ( improves hand eye co-ordination) Cons (causes violence)

-Army -> how soldiers the representation of soldiers have changed over time



Linked Production Piece

- 3 page spread for a music magazine, including common codes and conventions

-Documentary interviewing doctors, teachers, students, etc finding out whether games can be good or bad for you

-Documentary showing clips from the past of soldiers being deviant compared to those of today's society (patriotic, hero's) -> interviews with soldiers, how they feel, emotions

Research

The Guardian:

·         “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - epic that takes games industry to new level”

·         Title expected to bring in £150m in UK in first week

Wallmart Advert

Both use humour as a way of grabbing the audience’s attention, different approach to promoting their product.

TV Banned Advert                                  

   Launch Trailer                                             

Portrays patriarchy as the trailer shows a male dominated army force, Also a very patriotic launch trailer -> American soldiers going out to war -> American flag shown several times to reinforce this idea.

“Entertainment software, games consoles and PC gaming accessories generated a total of £2.875 billion in the UK”                 

                               

In the UK, the average video game player is over 23 years old, has played video games for over 10 years, and spends around 12.6 hours a week playing video games.

Casual gamer - A casual gamer is a player whose time or interest in playing games is limited.

Hardcore gamer - Hardcore gamers prefer to take significant time and practice on games, and tend to play more involved games that require larger amounts of time to complete or master.

Norway shooting -> that Anders Behring Breivik claims in his manifesto that he used this video game to perpetrate the 2011 Norway attacks. Coop Norway, a chain of retail stores in Norway, removed this video game from its shelves as a result of this attack

The Telegraph 10/10

“The biggest game of 2009. The sequel to one of the most successful first person shooter (FPS) titles of all time”

Gamespot

“Modern Warfare 2 nails the three pillars of play--campaign, cooperative, and multiplayer--to earn its place in the pantheon of moern shooters”

IGN 9.4

“Brutal, bombastic and every inch the videogame equivalent of a Hollywood blockbuster!