Task 5
- 1. Task 5
- 2. The hypodermic needle theory The hypodermic needle theory was an Idea that the mass media were injecting thoughts into the public’s minds and they were believing it, it was established at Frankfurt school as they were studying ww1 propaganda and finding that a passive audience reacted by believing everything they were told. No this doesn’t apply to star wars. Disney want the audience to engage and buy the products and not be passive. Goes against all Star Wars fans; they go to the cinema in costumes, buy lightsabers and other Star Wars merchandise.
- 3. TWO STEP FLOW The two step flow is the idea that someone gets news or something from the mass media and then pass it on to other people. This could also be an effect as people who didn’t watch the film could also be informed about things and then it could affect them too. This theory does effect star wars as you listen to opinion leaders and follow the crowd which helped Star Wars get to £2 billion at the box office.
- 4. USES AND GRATIFICATIONS Uses and gratifications are 4 reasons people use the media. 1 diversion, this is to escape everyday problems and get away from everything. 2 personal relationships, this is creating bonds with characters and having an emotional connection. 3 personal identity, this is reflecting yourself in media and connecting yourselves to characters you are like. 4 surveillance, this is the useful information that helps you live such as the news. This could be an effect on the audience as people will have bonds with the characters (mainly older ones as they’ve known them for longer) so will like watching it. They may also connect themselves with characters and their personalities. However they could also watch it to get away from the normal life as star wars is so completely different.
- 5. DESENSITISATION The desensitisation theory is the idea that the more we are exposed to something our reactions grow weaker, such as violence, death and sex. I think this could affect the audience as there is lots of fighting and killing in star wars but we don’t really react unless it is a main character.
- 6. Positive and negative effects the force awakens has on the audience There are a few positive effects on the audience. One is equality, I believe this as there are many foreign and female lead parts in this film for the first time in a Star Wars and I think that this is showing equality and having a positive effect on the audience. This also boosts the self- esteem of those represented as they feel like they have a voice. Another positive effect is the audience having role models in these characters. A negative effect of force awakens is the fighting. This can affect the younger audiences as they may see It that fighting is acceptable.
- 7. How is race represented The institution has represented race by having many different race main characters to show equality. This is a positive representation as it is showing that they are equal to everyone else.
- 8. How is gender represented The institution has represented male and females by having both male and female main characters to be equal. This is a positive representation as it shows that males and females are equal.
- 9. How is age represented The film is popular to a wide range of ages, so they have to appeal to all of the different ages. They use the younger characters and the fast pace to entice the younger generation and use the older characters and story line to entice the older generations. This would give a positive effect on the film as it will rack in more viewers from all ages and shows that the film is for everyone.
- 10. How is sexuality represented In the film only one sexuality is explored (heterosexuality). This has a negative effect as it only explores one sexuality so it looks like the film is favouring it and not agreeing with the other sexuality's.
- 11. Does the film provide typical mainstream representations or does it offer something that challenges society? I believe that the fact the film has both genders and different races as main characters is something that challenges society as not many films does this.
- 12. What are the current debates in society regarding representation that could be related to the film? The current debates are that female and males are equal and also all races are equal and this film is related to that heavily.
- 13. discrimination Discrimination is “the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex”. In real life people discriminate against different races and genders so Star Wars has made different genders and races main characters to get rid of discrimination.
- 14. Copyright Copyright is “the exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the originator for a fixed number of years, to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material.” Force awakens and Star Wars would be copyrighted so people can’t steal ideas or make money from it.
- 15. Violence/sex/language There is an issue about violence sex and rude language that it is offensive to people and makes people more likely to do it. In star wars there is a lot of fighting and violence.
- 16. How does legal considerations effect the film The film has to be within the legal considerations or it won’t be alowed to be published.
- 17. BBFC The bbfc are the British Board of Film Classification. They censor and give age ratings for films. They do this So only people old enough can watch the films. They make sure films don’t promote drugs and don’t allow discrimination. These rules effect how the film is made, for example The film has to be within the legal guidelines or it will not be aloud to be published e.g. not allowed to promote drugs or The film has to be ethical e.g not much violence or the film will have a higher age rating meaning only older people can watch it.