Task 3- Internet/Web Research

Research on the effect of media violence; many studies, many conclusions.
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/effects_media_violence.cfm
Media Violence as entertainment
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/violence_entertainment.cfm


Media Violence in perspective of parents
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,147986,00.html

Opinions on Media Violence
http://www.topics-mag.com/readers/media-violence-forum.htm

http://www.cybercollege.com/violence.htm

Meta-analysis of Media and Violence compared to other correlations
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2007/nov/29/mediaviolenceisalmostasba

This article doesn't entirly blame media as a definite cause of violence .
'But media violence does reinforce the myths and images, beliefs and attitudes of a culture of violence. '
http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/media-violence-what-if-we-changed-question

The consumption of media violence by men.



http://www.psychologicalscience.org/pdf/pspi/pspi43.pdf



more quotes:
http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/mediaviolence/violence.php

Task 2 - Books research

MEDIA VIOLENCE

MOTION: PEOPLE NEED PROTECTING FROM VIOLENT LYRICS, FILMS AND VIDEO GAMES'
JAMES GLEDHILL
APRIL 2008

'Gordan Brown [Ref:Sun] and David Cameron [Ref: Independan] referred to violent video games in calling for greater social responsibility.' page 1 of 7


'less able to empathise with the suffering of others, and therefore more likely to act violently towards them'- players take the 'role of a an agressor' in video games page 2 of 7


'lyrics encourage, reinforce and legitimise' Page 2 of 7 - violence, homophobic violence etc.


'much of the debate revolves around how we should treat things that some people find offensive: as a potential danger to society' Page 3 of 7 - eminem ft rihanna love the way you lie - domestic violence issue.




SEPTEMBER 2010: THE CREATIVITY ISSUE
MEDIA MAGAZINE
"CAPTURE
THE
OBJECTIVE
POSTMODERNISM, CREATIVITY AND CALL OF DUTY" Lisa Fortescue-Poole- Page 47


'The very act of studying a videogane is a postmodern one.'


'There is something ultimately intellectually compelling about the creative process gaming, known as ludology; and the elemnt of immersion into the world of the game is absed on many postmodernism features


ILL EFFECTS- The media/violence debate
THE NEWSON REPORT - a case study in 'common sense'
Martin Barker
publisher: Routledge- taylor & francis group


'television has no influence at all? if that was the case, then advertisers wouldn't be willing to spend all that money, would they? isn't that sufficient proof that tv must have some effect? Given that, what is the problem with admitting that Tv violence might cause people to go out and commit real-life violence?' page 36


'Is there a consistent and overwhelming body of evidence in favour of the proposition that 'media violence causes violence'? It more than 70 percent of published studies support this conclusion'.


'The concensus among the psychologist, media theorists, sociologist and educators presented is that there is a direct, casual link between the excessive viewing of violence, or the playing of video games, to becoming stimulated to acting violently or to becoming desensitised to violence.'


'And whenever the phrase 'media violence ' is used it conjures up one image above all else: an image of motiveless mayhem.'


THE WORRYING INFLUENCE OF 'MEDIA EFFECTS' STUDIES- David Gauntlett


'Daily express, a menacing piece headed 'The Rmabo culture' revealed in its sub-head that 'Violent videos are linked to real-life brutality'. it then went on to say that 'A disturbing report. . .shows that screen violence reinforces violent behaviour'.


'Brown 'violent action films', we are told, are designed 'to excite and stimulate the viewer rather than concentrate on the story being told.' The examples given are Rambo (1987) The film, in fact, have a clear story and contain some scenes of vioelence, scenes in which the audience is clearly called upon to support one or more of the characters who are trying to stop another character from committing cruel acts of violence.'


'Hollywood action movies producers..could easily argue that ' the violence portrayed is necessary to tell the story'


'In most cases it would be difficult to decide whether a film is story - led 'violent drama' or a 'violent action film' centrally concerned with excitement.'


Media studies
Theories and approaches
Dan Laughey
publisher: 2009 by camera books


'Since the media are more or less omnipresent in all of our lives, this means we are all influenced to some extent by what we view, listen to, browse, play and read. This direct-effects approach requires a stimulus and a response- an external stimulus exerts itself on an object an causes an internal response, like fire on wood or a tap on the kneecap.'


'less benignly , if we we play a video game, we may respond by becoming more violent and aggresive in real life situations.'


MASS MEDIA IN A MASS SOCIETY
-MYTH AND REALITY
RICHARD HOGGART


'one supposes that the old excuse of 'living in the real world' is hiding the background there.' p22


'It is almost always easier to sing along with the crowd' p23


THE MEDIA BOOK
The Analysis of popular culture - main areas of cultural studies today- John Lough
'Post-modernism is evident everywhere, from car design and Tv Shows, to film and scientific theory.' p238
publisher: Arnold

'we only accept reality through TV and other simulacra' p.239

'we are allegedly more reliant on televison experience over reality, which is fundamentaly altered' p40

Critica readings: Moral Panics and the Media
publisher: Open university Press
FEAR OF CRIME: Read all about it? The relationship between newspaper crime reporting and fear of crime
Paul Williams and Julie Dickinson (1993)

'Moore and Trojanowicz (1988) argue that reasonable fears concerning crime can be harnessed to fight the threat of crime, but when these fears become unreasonable they amount to a counterproductive response and become a a social problem' p212

'crime in the media has been a focus of concern because of the assumption that the salience given to certain types of crime, notably those involving sex or violence, creates a distorted picture of reality.'


Media Gender and Identity: David Gauntlett
'In modern societies, people typically consume many hours of television each week, look at magazines and other publications, surf the internet, pass billboards, go to the movies, and are generally unable to avoid popular culture and advertising. It seems obvious and inevitable, then, that we will be affected by these experiences somehow.'


Media Violence and its effect on aggresion: assessing the scientific evidence by Jonathan L. Freedman
'and if we do not deal with media violence our society will continue to experience increased violence and crime'

MEST 4 - text 3

RAMBO!


Jonathan Garret (a former writer for the Atlanta Journal Constitution) said in an interview: "Rambo is the most violent movie I have ever seen. The last 11 minutes of the film are so violent, it makes We Were Soldiers look like Sesame Street".

Writer Davide Morrell 'The level of violence might not be for everyone, but it has a serious intent.'

Media language: semiotics: non verbal codes of war, soldiers, weapons, grenades, guns etc. explosions, tanks, shootings. Diegetic sound of music from Drowning Pool containing related lyrics to the image ' let the body's hit the floor' . Stallone voiceover narration 'when war is in your blood, killing is as easy as breathing'. It suggest killing is easy for him because there's nothing else that implies otherwise; no emotion attached. Short, action packed scenes is conventional of the films genre.

Instituition: Lionsgate is the lead independent filmed entertainment studio. Recent box office hits as The Expendables, Lionsgate's most profitable film ever, The last Exorcism, Saw 3D, Kick Ass, Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too? and Precious, which won two Academy Awards. Other recent hits included Daybreakers, My Bloody Valentine 3D, Haunting In Connecticut, Forbidden Kingdom, RAMBO and The Bank Job.

The Millennium is a non-profit, film arts and community membership organization.

The Weinsten company independent American Film Studios.

Genre: Drama, Action & Adventure, Mystery & Suspense

Representation: Fearless character. no uniform- usually topless to show physically fit represents his masculinity. Is alone on missions because the male warrior must go it alone to fit in with the theme of military , rigid face expression - no emotion.

Audience: R-esrtricted , under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Ideology and values: Stallone narrates 'die for something, or die for nothing' suggesting no one can stop him, he feels glorified by his passion and honour.

Narrative: Rambo is divided into two halves, a narrative structure that plays to audiences instincts. The first is designed solely to make you hate the Burmese army, who make the cops from First Blood look like Care Bears. Just in case you don’t already hate them for mass genocide of innocents, they also feed prisoners to pigs and their leader is a pedophile. In the second half, you cheer as they get their revenge—their very gory revenge.

MEST4 -text 2

BLACK OPS: The game was released on November 9, 2010
Black Ops has also set new sales records in the United Kingdom; Two million copies of the game were sold in five days, beating the previous record holder, Modern Warfare 2, by over 10 percent.

• Activision



• Treyarch



• Historic First-Person...



• Release: Nov 9, 2010 »



• PEGI: 18+
  

CONTROVERSY:
Adam Biessener questioned events depicted in the single-player campaign stating that they push "the lines of good taste." Specifically noted was the scene depicting the torture of a restrained prisoner.

In Germany, the game was expected to be banned from public sale the end of November due to graphic violence, leading to removal of all promotion and the game itself from public displays in stores, so only adults can buy it on request.

The Federal Department of Media Harmful to Young Persons also received an "urgent request" to ban all international versions of the game based upon the "Nazi content".

INSTITUTIONS:
Treyarch is an American video game developer company, also major developer in the Call of Duty series. They have made Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, Call of Duty 3, Call of Duty: World at War, and Call of Duty: Black Ops.Treyarch used a motion capture technology similar to the one used in James Cameron's film Avatar, which allows accurate facial expressions, capturing the whole performance of the actor.

Activision is an American video game developer and publisher, developed and published games such as Call of Duty, and Guitar Hero.



The first official TV commercial for Call of Duty Black Ops is now out on the internet for all to see and its . There’s no actual gameplay from Treyarch’s upcoming shooter. Instead it’s a live action piece with lots of people, trying to shoot each other. That includes NBA player Kobe Bryant and late night TV talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops Tv ad says 'There's A Soldier In All Of us' which was also on a Soviet propaganda poster (???). But it’s all set to the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter,” that gets you in the mood to fire your weapons.

The obvious theme of the commercial is that all the participants are not really shooting each other but are in a Black Ops multiplayer match. No one gets hit by bullets in the spot and aside from some explosions knocking down a couple of folks briefly no one is seen being hurt at all.

List of 15 violent video games:
15>Grand theft auto
14>Manhunt
13>The punisher
12>Gears of war
11>Resident Evil
10>Morta Kombat
9>Fear
8>MadWorld
7>Left 4 Dead
6>GOD OF WAR
5>Bioshock
4>Silent hill
3>Condemned 2
2>Fallout

NUMBER 1: PROTOTYPE

'I can be anything, become anyone...absorbing every memory, until i can remember who i am and who deserves my wrath.' Young impresionable people watching this may be on the discovery to find themselves and this narration dialogue will grip them if not the intense violence. Trailer uses both non-diagetic and diagetic sound (of guns, helicopters, explosions etc) that builds up until it reaches a silent black out screen from the action that leaves the audience with excitment. Clear graphical settings of real locations, reveals that it's set in New York city. Prototype narrative: a virulent plague known as BLACKLIGHT is spreading through Manhattan. Those infected are mutated into hideous monsters of varying form, and an uncontrollable urge to kill all uninfected life-forms.

All the different weapons avaiable to use:

MEST 4 - Text 1

The video, which was directed by Joseph Kahn.

Dominic Monaghan and Megan Fox personify the fiery relationship Eminem and Rihanna share in this song in it's video - displaying the never-ending cycle of love; starting with them both lying on the bed, then going through numerous fights and make-ups, before ending up in the same place they started at the beginning of the video: their bed. It can be misconstrued as promoting intimate partner violence.



While this is a narrative broadly about "domestic violence," it looks less like a classic domestic violence narrative in which there is one clear abuser and one clear victim of abuse, and more like an abuser's fantasy that reimagines the relationship as a mutually abusive relationship with passion that burns so hot there's a thin line between love/hate "Can't live with you; can't live without you." Which is not to say those relationships don't exist in the world, but I'm not sure they're as common as our media suggests they are. Marjorie Gilberg, executive director of Break the Cycle, which works to end teen violence. "The danger is that pop culture defines our social norms," Gilberg says.



Imagine watching this as a 15-year-old girl, long before you had the tools to critique it, and before you had any relevant experience to the subject matter. I imagine you would have found it less an admonishment against violence than a suggestion that this is what real love is like, because you was raised in a culture that constantly suggests that is so. And respect is boring.

Despite the controversy over the single, the song immediatley reached number one in most poplular music charts.

http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2010/08/discussion-thread-i-love-way-you-lie.html

Eminem raps while standing in a field of wheat, juxaposed to Rihanna standing in front of a fire. The connotations of a wheat field represents him to be innocent.

Rihanna stands in front of fire, instead of running away she stays, although rihanna has said she thinks Eminems lyrics are a masterpiece.

The music video stars Megan fox, actress and model, that in itself glamorises violence.

[Chorus - Rihanna]
Just gonna stand there and watch me burn
that’s alright because I like the way it hurts
just gonna stand there and hear me cry
that’s alright because 'i love the way you lie' (--> no one likes being lied to, a absurd idea is introduced: to accept bad treatment)
i love the way you lie

[chorus]

[Eminem - Verse 2]
'you ever love somebody so much you can barely breathe' (--> he is at times sweet)
when your with em you meet and neither one of you even know what hit em
got that warm fuzzy feeling
yeah them chills used to get em
now you’re getting fuckin’ sick of lookin’ at em
'you swore you’d never hit em, never do nothin’ to hurt em' (--> possible promises made by violent partners before)
now you’re in each other’s face spewin’ venom in your words when you spit em
you push pull each other’s hair
scratch, claw, hit em throw em down pin em
so lost in the moments when you’re in em
it’s the face that’s the culprit, controls you both
so they say it’s best to go your seperate ways
guess that they don’t know ya
cause today that was yesterday
yesterday is over, it’s a different day

' sound like broken records playin over ' (--> metaphor of the cycle : domestic violence)
but you promised her next time you’ll show restraint
'you don’t get another chance
life is no nintendo game,' (--> makes it clear that it is reality, real people, real lives) but you lied again
now you get to watch her leave out the window
guess that’s why they call it window pane

[Chorus]

[Eminem - Verse 3]
now I know we said things, did things, that we didn’t mean
and we fall back into the same patterns, same routine
'but your temper’s just as bad as mine is, you’re the same as me ' (--> they're both mutual on the level of physical violence)
when it comes to love you’re just as blinded
baby please come back, it wasn’t you, baby it was me
'maybe our relationship isn’t as crazy as it seems
maybe that’s what happens when a tornado meets a volcano' (--> suggests this kind of relationship is acceptable, although the song is a powerful reality of what women go through)
all i know is i love you too much to walk away though
come inside, pick up the bags off the sidewalk
don’t you hear sincerity in my voice when i talk?
told you this is my fault, look me in the eyeball
next time i’m pissed I’ll lay my fist at the drywall
next time there won’t be no next time
'i apologize even though i know its lies ' (--> even he knows his in the wrong because he apologises but his lying ; he won't change)

i’m tired of the games i just want her back
i know i’m a liar 'if she ever tries to fuckin’ leave again
i’ma tie her to the bed and set this house on fire'
(--> a violent expression of love)
[chorus]
[End]





Comments
(http://top40.about.com/b/2010/08/09/eminems-love-the-way-you-lie-video-stirs-controversy-over-depiction-of-domestic-violence.htm)

As a survivor of domestic abuse, I love the video. Music is meant to capture and express emotions and the video definitely does justice to emotions involved in domestic abuse. There is no “responsible way” to portray it. The video is an honest depiction of what it looks like on the inside. As far as Rihanna’s part in the song and her past with domestic violence, I don’t agree that she’s glorifying it. It makes the hook more honest. That’s why she was chosen for the song. To express the honest emotion. The video is a masterpiece.

August 17, 2010 at 12:48 pm


Cara
I found it kind of disturbing. Particularly the fact the girl would start the violence, the guy would retaliate and then they’d make passionate love. To me it was making it seem like their turbulent, violent relationship was one of passion and not of the terrifying reality of domestic violence. If they’d portrayed the girl (or even the guy) being beaten and humiliated, the victims suffering as a result and them leaving their violent partner and moving on with life, then it would have had a more positive message. As it is, this just made it look like they like it rough.

August 29, 2010 at 9:41 am

I personally disagree. Yes the words are really intense and disturbing but I think that was the point. It’s supposed to highlight the severity of abusive relationships. Mentally unstable people may hear this song and do what you think but “Well, Eminem and Rihanna said it in a song” is not going to stand up in court. People make their own decisions in the end and if they were going to hurt or kill their significant other they were likely already going to do it which is tragic.

July 2, 2010 at 10:43 pm

( http://justjared.buzznet.com/2010/08/05/eminem-rihanna-love-the-way-you-lie-music-video-premiere/ )

jdub @ 08/05/2010 at 9:21 pm +1

So I was sitting down about to watch it and right when Megan and Dominic started fighting, I jumped right up to get closer to the tv! Sooooo damn good!!! Ahhhh I’m a huge eminem and Megan Fox fan. I seriously love this video…

(Despite of the emotional and brutal clips of the relationship, this person/fan loves the video because who starts in it. )