Theme 3: Research and theory (before)

Zulfiya Tarazova. Theory and Method for Media Technology.

Theme 3: Research and theory (before)

Reference: Brad J. Bushman, Patrick E. Jamieson, Ilana Weitz, Daniel Romer (2013) Gun Violence Trends in Movies, Pediatrics, Vol 132, 1014-1019.

For preparing my third lecture I have taken science article from journal “Pediatrics” – “Gun Violence Trends in Movies”. “Pediatrics” is an official peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The content of the journal is intended to encompass the needs of the whole child in his physiologic, mental, emotional, and social structure. Original research and clinical observations are published in this journal. Contributions pertinent to pediatrics are also included from related fields such as surgery, public health, human genetics, basic sciences, psychology, psychiatry, education, sociology. Impact Factor: 5.297 (2013). Total 2012 Citations: 61,542. “Pediatrics” is among the top 2% most-cited scientific and medical journals. “Pediatrics” has the second highest impact factor, second highest 5-year impact factor, and highest total citations among all journals in the field of pediatrics.

For analyze I have taken research of the professor Brad Bushman of Ohio University (USA) and his group. Brad Bushman is a famous specialist on the impact of mass media on the child's psyche. In previous publications he described a positive correlation between television viewing and the level of violent crimes committed by juveniles, and also pointed on a number of personality traits of juvenile offenders. Authors of research “Gun Violence Trends in Movies” assume that the amount of gun violence shown in PG-13 films has more than tripled since 1985, the year the rating was introduced. Study reveals that the most popular PG-13 movies of 2011 and 2012 showed significantly more gun violence than R-rated movies of the same time period. PG-13–rated films are among the top-selling films and are especially attractive to youth.

About method. Researchers have used trained coders, which identified the presence of violence in each 5-minute film segment for one-half of the top 30 films since 1950 and the presence of guns in violent segments since 1985, the first full year the PG-13 rating (age 13+) was used.

Scientists considered "the scene of violence with weapons," all the moments when the hero, holding in the hand a gun, firing at the enemy alive. Hunting and sport shooting were excluded: according to authors, hunting and sport shooting can’t be called “violence”. Bushman and his colleagues are not reported about the scenes where can be use lasers and other fantastic designs weapon against robots or other known inanimate enemy.

Results found that violence in films has more than doubled since 1950, and gun violence in PG-13–rated films has more than tripled since 1985. When the PG-13 rating was introduced, these films contained about as much gun violence as G (general audiences) and PG (parental guidance suggested for young children) films. Since 2009, PG-13–rated films have contained as much or more violence as R-rated films (age 17+) films.

Authors of the study came to the conclusion that even if youth do not use guns, these findings suggest that they are exposed to increasing gun violence in top-selling films. By including guns in violent scenes, film producers may be strengthening the weapons effect and providing youth with scripts for using guns. These findings are concerning because many scientific studies have shown that violent films can increase aggression. Violent films are also now easily accessible to youth (eg, on the Internet and cable). This research suggests that the presence of weapons in films might amplify the effects of violent films on aggression.

I guess that it is an interesting study, because it has proved that mass media has a big influence on the human’s consciousness, especially on the children and adolescents. Authors of research have used methods of quantitative research, which show the increasing of the amount of gun in movies for child.

I think that in this research we can see some thesis from the two-step flow of communication or Multistep Flow Model, which was created by famous sociologist P. Lasarsfeld. This theory says that most people form their opinions under the influence of opinion leaders, who in turn are influenced by the mass media. According to this model, ideas flow from mass media to opinion leaders, and from them to a wider population. If we take some movies and their heroes, we will see that they show model of behavior to the child and inculcate aggressive habits to the child. I guess, that heroes of movies can be leaders of opinion in that case. The directors of these films can also be regarded as "opinion leaders" that promote aggression and using of force.

Also we can consider this research from semiotic theory, where the gun can be consider like a sign of demonstration of the

force, power. This research also has proved that modern media industry creates on the human's consciousness the image of the enemy, which can attack and we need to be able to handle a weapon in every situation in order to save our life.

Theory is a  set of statements or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested or is widely accepted and can be used to make predictions about some phenomena.