"Changes in society have been reflected by changes in media regulation" Discuss this view.
We can definitely see a clear change in media regulation being reflected through various changes in society. This is massively affecting the way people are releasing movies/TV shows, to try and not offend the vast majority of people now. In this essay, I will be focusing on some societal issues and controversies circulating around the major cases of censorship as well as the case study on China and how the Media is trying to appease China in order to make an appearance in their box office. Another point I will be going into is the cancel culture and why some TV shows/movies have been put under fire and even canceled because of this new culture being introduced. In New Zealand, the main regulatory bodies are The Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) is the government agency that is currently responsible for the classification of all films, videos, publications, and some video games in New Zealand. It was created by the aforementioned Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 and is an independent Crown entity. In 2017 we got the latest chief censor of film and literature, David Shank who has been in the role for 4 years and is still in the position.
Disney is a great example of "Changes in society have been reflected by changes in media regulation" with movies such as Dumbo and Song of the South. Because of the whole BLM (Black Lives Matter) movements that have been recently addressed, there have been pressures from society for Disney to censor the scenes in Dumbo in which the crows are in. This was due to the way the crows seemed to be presented in the scene as racially stereotyped black people in the time period it was set and the main crow being called Jim, referring to the racial slur "Jim crow". This flared up debates and controversy behind the scene, eventually putting so much pressure on Disney causing them to fully cancel and take the whole scene fully out of the movie when released on the Disney+ streaming service. Even Song of the south has been almost completely pulled from Disney history because it was seen as such a pro-racist movie and encouraged the enslavement of the black community. This sparked many controversies and the movie was never released on DVD, Blu-Ray, or VHS tape or on the Disney+ streaming service. Some people were very disappointed as it was a classic Walt Disney movie, but others are very happy about this because of the fact that many people think it was very racist, even though in actual fact it was not meant in this way and was actually quite a factual reality of what was actually being the thoughts of the time, as well as it being acceptable in those times and reflected the context of the time it was made.
We see censorship in TV broadcasting too, this is being affected by popular opinion and coming across in the form of cancel culture. Because of the whole agenda behind people hating on former president Donald Trump people have in essence "canceled" (a form of boycotting or shunning involving an individual (often a celebrity) who is deemed to have acted or spoken in a questionable or controversial manner.), his show "The apprentice" because many people see him as somebody who comes across as very misogynistic and racist. Because people and their perception of him have used cancel culture and its momentum to "cancel" this show that he created, even though it does not directly portray him and his views. This has also been happening to other shows and movies that seem to portray any views they do not agree with.
Along with the BLM movement getting so much momentum, there have been so many censorings because anything that even seems remotely offensive is being taken out of movies and shows because it may come across as offensive to certain groups of people and people don't want this because in today's world everyone is soft and can't handle certain topics. The argument against this however is "how far does it go?" and this is true, where does it stop? and how far is too much? Also, who are the people we are giving all this power to? This means it is in whoever is in charge's hands and they can choose what they want and don't want being said and portrayed/ showed. And because of this, we can lose historical truths and people will become uneducated in what happened in the past, possibly causing us to repeat the same problems that others before us have made. The censoring of these movies/ Tv shows can also paint a false picture and this means whoever is censoring our media is almost re-writing the history of our media. My personal views on the topic are that they should put disclaimers at the start of movies informing the viewers if there are any unacceptable views in the film or show, and explain that these things may have been acceptable in those times rather than fully erasing that persons work and the history possibly portrayed in it.
Another example of media regulation in the extreme is the whole China censorship in media and how they have a massive hold on what people can and cannot release and show in movies. This is because of the massive restrictions in the Chinese media and how only 34 foreign films are allowed into the Chinese box office (2nd largest box office earnings behind the USA). This means that producers and directors are very cautious about what gets into the final cut, and how they do almost anything to not offend or put China in a bad light because this causes them to lose massive revenue and can cause almost 'bad blood' with the Chinese media regulators making it harder for a possible sequel or another movie from that company to be released in the Chinese theatres again. Another example of this was with North Korea and how they were put in a bad light in the 2014 release of 'The Interview'. This ended up making the North Koreans want to retaliate and cause them to sent terrorist threats etc... causing the producers, directors, and distributors of 'The Interview' to change the release date after being hacked and to "appease" the North Korean "authorities" in a way.
There are some good things coming out of media being censored, however, because so many kids and people under the age of 18 have either their own device or some form of internet access and this has resulted in the change in parents being the moral gatekeepers of kids are now watching and this has brought in the need for a "role model" of sought to censor what they are watching.
A good example of media regulation in the New Zealand Tv industry is "13 reasons why". "13 Reasons why is a show that was made to create awareness around the very real nature of suicide and depression and how this can be caused through bullying, rape, and other things talked about in this series. However, the directors of this show have in my stance taken the wrong approach in the way they have shown this in a very graphic and unnecessary way, this is true also for the scene in which Hannah Baker killed herself which showed it in a very detailed manner which I think is inappropriate for any young viewers that most likely would be watching this on Netflix as there is nothing stopping them and most parents don't check on what their kids watch nowadays. This is where the OFLC (the regulatory body in New Zealand ) had to come in and give the show an 18+ rating on it in New Zealand. Because anybody under this should and must be supervised so they have a guardian or someone to be able to explain the heavy concept shown and put in front of them. In other countries, it was given a 15+ rating by the BBFC to ensure that any younger audiences cannot access the Tv show.
"Manhunt" is an example of censorship in the video gaming world and something pulled/banned for good reasoning. Because of the gruesome and terrible gameplay involved with the game, it was banned in New Zealand, UK, Australia, Ireland, and possibly other countries. This I believe was a good decision by the censoring agencies in these countries, because it was a very terrible game that could be damaging to young viewers and even older viewers playing the game and this can dehumanize them and make these things almost seem fine to do anywhere. Especially now that parents no longer are watching and censoring what their kids watch and play on the internet and this ban helps these younger people in the gaming community to not be as exposed to this content.
We also can see that in more cases regulation is necessary such as the Christchurch mosque shooting where the shooter recorded live on Facebook for thousands of millions of people around the world to watch. This was later taken down off Facebook but was recorded and put up on youtube and other places for others to watch after the event had happened. This was quickly dealt with and censored on all these sites so that people weren't viewing this horrific act. This in my view as well as the Manhunt game were good for the censoring agencies to jump on because they are very horrific and terrible content for even adult viewers.
The censoring of media in my view has caused massive problems in society making sure to only show viewers what they want to show them, and in a way "brainwashing" viewers into thinking in this way. This, in my view, is taking away the free will of people to watch and listen to what they want to, almost making the media in a way like a "communist media state". This can cause massive problems within society and over time it will become worse just making certain things normalized and made alright whereas other things are made to be bad and hated/ "canceled" in a sense. This is why in my view media should have certain regulations to prevent the use of illegal uploading of illegal content inappropriate for children or content they should just not be watching, which should actually be monitored by parents but unfortunately is no longer done, but I do disagree with mass regulation and censoring of almost everything and that anybody over a certain age should not have media censored as they should be mature enough to turn off anything they don't want to be viewing or don't think is appropriate.
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