409a; Presented September 26, 2005

409a; Presented September 26, 2005
My Fourth Outline of Assigned Readings
by Julie Gersh
Media Craze and its Effect on Road Rage

Reference 1: Drivers Behaving Badly on TV, Movies, Cartoons, Music Videos, Car Commercials: DBB Ratings from the General Curriculum (1997).

Instructions for this activity are found at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy23/409a-g23-oral.htm
Instructor: Dr. Leon James

Concept 1: Children’s Exposure

Definition: At a young age, children are exposed to road rage through the use of media. This extends to video games, television, movies, cartoons, and more. Cartoons are our biggest threat because parents have a preconceived notion that if it is animated, there must not be harm embedded within it.

Example: Tarzan is the first example used in the reference. This is a great depiction as many parents are unaware that any harm could be done to their child through watching this cartoon. Tarzan is supposed to be a hero – who would ever think the child could be receiving negative messages? Psychologically, the parent should be observing and potentially watching with the child to ensure there are no negative aspects, even subtle ones. Culturally, we fall into this trap that the media should babysit children. Occasionally, as it may allow the parent a break, this is positive. However, under many circumstances, parents are unaware of the slight messages that children are actually picking up.

Opinion: On one hand, I do believe that violence should not exist in children’s television. Although, I do fault the parent somewhat as they are to be aware of what is going on in their own home. Power Rangers is a huge example of this. I have seen first hand, a 3 year old imitating and fighting with his brother just after watching the cartoon.

Concept 2: Teens feed into what is “cool”

Definition: An adolescent watches a movie on the theater and decides that they want to obtain the same high they received from watching the movie by imitating certain actions they observed such as driving fast or recklessly.

Example: Movies like The Fast and The Furious (1 and 2!), Speed, and The Dukes of Hazzard, are just a few examples of movies that could easily charge an adolescent’s “need for speed”. Culturally, they want to emulate the character and receive a similar sensation.

Opinion: I feel that it is natural for someone to watch a movie and imitate the characters as the person probably did not face repercussions in the movie. I do not think this is positive in many situations however I honestly do not foresee Hollywood tuning down because people are complaining that teenagers are imitating similar aggressive driving they are observing. There is no scientific evidence, though I would not be surprised if there were more accidents after someone watched a violent/driving movie than say, a romantic comedy.

Concept 3: Stopping the madness

Definition: As I have just outlined, it is not probable that the media will tone down without scientific evidence that their specific television show, video game, etc., is the sole cause of road rage and accidents. The question then is what is the resolution?

Examples: Examples in reference 1 were a child keeping a diary of what they observed on television and teachers discussing such media in the classroom.

Opinion: It is increasingly obvious through the infinite number of media references that the aforementioned is a huge problem in Western societies. I feel that the couple of examples given were far and few in between compared to the efforts we should be making!