DO TV CRIME DRAMAS LIKE ‘BREAKING BAD’ GENERATE MORAL PANICS AND NEGATIVELY CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIAL ISSUES THROUGH THE IMPACT THEY HAVE ON AUDIENCES?
Introduction
Introduce the text: The media text this essay will focus on is an American TV show called Breaking Bad
Go through background information of show exploring Economical factors (E)
Briefly outline what issues this relates to (S)
This includes: Media effects (copycat crimes, give an example), substance abuse *censorship problems, social issues, moral panics
what group its aimed at
Quotes/key words/theory,texts,citations
Age demographic
Socio-economic group
Media effects
https://masscommtheory.com/theory-overviews/cultivation-theory/- The theory suggests that this cultivation of attitudes is based on attitudes already present in our society and that the media take those attitudes which are already present and re-present them bundled in a different packaging to their audiences
The theory suggests that television and media possess a small but significant influence on the attitudes and beliefs of society about society. Those who absorb more media are those we are more influenced
How Breaking Bad has shaped the meth
industry-http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11206140/Breaking-Bad-blamed-for-shocking-rise-in-crystal-meth-usage.html
-Showing the horrendous
impact of crystal meth can have a boomerang effect and cause curiosity among
some viewers who might think 'that must be good – Another way the media can influence audiences is through glamorising
certain things in such a way that it makes the audience curious and want to
actually go out and do it.
hedonistic generation-·Hedonistic= engaged in the pursuit of pleasure;
sensually self-indulgent
This article gives more information about media audiences and the effect It has on them. It gives more insight into how influential media texts are at empowering audiences. It looks at theories like the hypodermic needle model and other media theories.
At its most basic, this theory suggests the media transmit ‘messages’(ideas, information, beliefs and so forth) that are then picked up and acted upon by the audience (receivers).
Introduction
There
has been an on-going debate in the media about whether 'it' is to blame for
some people’s heinous actions or whether the people in question acted out of
their own self-interest. It's no word of a lie that the media influences people
do go and do things, for example TV advertisements were made with just that in
mind; but can the media also contribute negatively towards social issues and
create moral panics? This essay will explore whether TV crime dramas like
Breaking Bad, (an American TV show about a high school chemistry teacher who
decides to "break bad[1]" and cook up the
finest drugs north of the border), can influence audiences and add to social
issues or resolve them. Audiences can be impacted/influenced by material they
see in the media, we call this media effects and "at its
most basic,this theory suggests
the media transmit ‘messages’ (ideas, information, beliefs and so forth) that
are then picked up and acted upon by the audience (receivers)[2]", so does this mean
that if someone were to see a murder constructed in a text like Breaking Bad
that they'll be motivated to go and copy it? The theory does give us an insight
in to how audiences "receive" texts but of course there are other
factors in play and the media effects isn't the only theory which can be used
to rationalise someone’s actions.
'Gone too far' is a fish out of water comedy which is based on Bola Agbaje’s original script. The story is based on some parts of her personal life and this is a good thing because in this comedy you just couldn't make some of it up. The story is great at showing how diverse London is and really shows how different cultures are from each other. It is a great educator which shows how mixed communities can live with each other and the similarities and differences between them. In a comedic way it did explore issues surrounding bigotry within the Afro-Caribbean and African communities but what the film is extremely good at doing and resolving this is through the use of its music. The way the music is implemented in the film. for example in one of the first scenes when Yemi is singing along to a modern rap song and in another where we see Razer (portrayed by Tosin Cole) also singing along to a similar song of the same genre really helps brings the film together.
This house believes that films featuring ethnic minorities should only be produced by those who have the ethnic identity being represented I do not agree with this statement based on the fact that people are free to choose to film whatever they like and represent it how they want it even if it maybe wrong or inaccurate. Inaccuracies in film are of course an issue but when you begin to tell people what they can and can't film then that is far worse and more dictatorial. Some of the best films in history have been produced by people who aren't from the same ethnic minority, for example Tarantino's Django Unchained is a perfect example of how a white man can successfully produce a film centred around the black community. The counter argument to this is that when another ethnic group attempts to represent the minority is that they can of course choose to show how much power they have or represent them as powerless. Another argument if favour of a person of a different ethnic background representing a minority group is that without the endorsement of the director the film representing the group may not reach a large enough audience or be shown off to everyone. Recognition is important for any film and if an unknown director who was of the same ethnic identity as the minority group wanted to produce a film representing them it may not be as successful as if someone else were to make it. Also, it doesn't have to be just a group of white directors and producers on the set there can be room for the ethnic minorities to educate and show how they want to be represented, especially on a Hollywood film set.
Do TV CRIME DRAMAS LIKE ‘BREAKING BAD’ GENERATE MORAL PANICS AND NEGATIVELY CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIAL ISSUES THROUGH THE IMPACT THEY HAVE ON AUDIENCES?
Introduction
Introduce the text: The media text this essay will focus on his an American TV show called Breaking Bad
Go through background information of show exploring Economical factors (E)
Briefly outline what issues this relates to (S)
This includes: Media effects (copycat crimes, give an example), substance abuse *censorship problems, social issues, moral panics
what group its aimed at
Quotes/key words/theory,texts,citations
Age demographic
Socio-economic group
Media effects
https://masscommtheory.com/theory-overviews/cultivation-theory/- The theory suggests that this cultivation of attitudes is
based on attitudes already present in our society and that the media take those
attitudes which are already present and re-present them bundled in a different
packaging to their audiences
The theory suggests that television and media possess a small
but significant influence on the attitudes and beliefs of society about
society. Those who absorb more media are those we are more influenced
Showing the horrendous impact of crystal meth can have a boomerang effect and cause curiosity among some viewers who might think 'that must be good – Another way the media can influence audiences is through glamorising certain things in such a way that it makes the audience curious and want to actually go out and do it.
hedonistic generation-·Hedonistic= engaged in the pursuit of pleasure; sensually self-indulgent
Section 1
MIGRAIN analysis of how Breaking Bad appeals to different audience groups and how people view it differently (A,I,R)
how different characters appeal to different people (N,A)
refer to textual analysis
reference song choice being parallel/contrapuntal and what this means to the audience (M)
Say whats interesting about breaking bad, about its genre and how it differs from typical codes and conventions and whats the same, refer to different texts which contradict and support it (G)
CSI - ^ both modern TV crime dramas, one similar to Breaking Bad and one different
Vaage, M. B. (2016). The antihero in American television. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. - quotes below
traditional hero
Walter white and serial killer Dexter are not morally good
the notion of identification entails that the spectator is under some kind of illusion where she looses herself in the character and the mistakes the characters experiences for her own
Section 2
Look at historical text and compare it based on genre, time period, location, mise-en-scene
Introduce Dixon of Dock green and look at some of its wider contexts (SHEP)
Answer & refer to the question about what issues it has created and is it to blame
refer back to modern times, about how it would be accepted now and the views which people have on drugs and police - negativley contributes to moral panics about how police force isn't suitable anymore,
include facts and figures about the meth surge and police violence in the US and UK (S,P)
Quotes/key words/theory,texts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixon_of_Dock_Green - Wikipedia article for Dixon of Dock Green - The image of Jack Warner in police uniform with helmet was well-known to the public and made for a very effective symbol of policing in Britain - This quote looks at how people viewed the police, this can be linked to certain hegemonic values that we still believe the police is like today and differs from american views of the police as recently with the Black lives matter campaign they are not being praised as saviours anymore.
Black lives matter campaign in the US (S,P)
Journal of Broadcasting and electronic media- Portrayals of crime,race and aggression in reality based police shows- Oliver, M. B. (1994). Portrayals of crime, race, and aggression in “reality‐based” police shows: A content analysis. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media,38(2), 179-192. doi:10.1080/08838159409364255 - "
"second in terms of racial representation, these programs tend to underrepresent blacks and over represent whites as police officers
"these programs are much more likely to portray whites as police officers (or heroes) and non-whites as criminal suspects (or villains)"
look for issues that Dixon of Dock green covered during the time (60-70's) - racial profiling and corruption
Section 3
Relate Breaking Bad to theories on media effects and dependency theory/cultivation theory
start the debate on whether the media is to blame for peoples actions
have a balanced review of the question including quotes and examples from people in favour of the media being influential 'negatively on audiences and the media have 'an affect' on audiences whether this be negative or positive
list other social issues/moral panics - this includes the rise of feminism and the fall of masculinity.Blevins, J., & Wood, D. (2015). The methods of Breaking bad: Essays on narrative, character and ethics. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company,.
Quotes/key words/theory,texts
Paradigm - a typical example or pattern of something; a pattern or model.
Blevins, J., & Wood, D. (2015). The methods of Breaking bad: Essays on narrative, character and ethics. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company,. This can be linked to another social issue that Breaking Bad raises - masculinity and feminism
Walter is a father. husband and school teacher who like the waning reign of the symbolic father, suffers many sleights against his masculinity from his family, his students, his doctor and his boss at the car wash
for Walter it is about the danger, the excess danger induced by the crisis in his masculine identity
-Copycat killers are more likely to suffer from personality
(and other mental health) disorders, come from socially dysfunctional and
alienating family backgrounds, be emotionally vulnerable, be trusting of the
media, and – as noted above – a previous criminal history (as well as
self-identifying with criminals they have watched or seen in fact and/or
fiction). - This somewhat backs up that the media content
does not influence the general audience in a vindictive way and that a small
proportion of people take it In the
wrong way. People look at the media in different ways, just because some psychotic
people view and act on the media in negative ways it doesn’t mean, for example
news channels can influence the general audience and create moral panics.
Conclusion
conclude on the main argument about breaking bad and the media effects debate using book quotes to back it up
talk about the other moral panics it covers and include other texts, Dexter and link to news article
give an overall summary of the essay and give final opinon with a 'it depends'
use stats and data and opinions from elites to back up points
Similarities and differences between Dixon of Dock Green and Breaking Bad
Dixon of Dock Green is an old British TV crime drama cast and shot between the 1950-70's. It featured a main character, Dixon, portrayed by Jack Warner who played the part of a Police man and we followed his everyday stories. He solved crime by using common sense and there were few large and violent crimes just petty thefts for example. Whilst on the topic about violence the show never aired any extremely gratuitous parts or explicit parts and this fit in with the views and values shown in that time period. 'anachronism' is a word that can be used to link things to a particular time period and Dixon was a police man suited to that time period as it wasn't as violent as it is today. Policemen in London today very different to what they were in the 60/70's. There were aspects of violence, in particular the nuclear protests which sparked the use of the well known hippy symbol. Policemen today have a different approach towards crime but we the audience still don't see it that way we still picture policemen how they were in the 60's.
Breaking Bad is an American TV crime drama where we follow the story of the criminal and not of the law. This is not typical of crime dramas to follow this story, however it is typical of them to show clear binary opposites, for example right vs wrong, good vs bad and Police vs Criminals. Breaking bad is set in present times (when it was filmed 3 years ago) and explores the life of Walter White, a chemistry teacher turned drug kingpin. The law in this case is represented very differently to that of the people in Dixon of Dock Green. Also there is gruesome and gratuitous violence and there is a lack of censorship compared to that in the 1970's England . Although some stuff is cut out a lot of stuff is shown, for example murder, theft and drug dealing. Things which would have been widely unacceptable is easily looked past now a days.
"Dixon of Dock Green." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 28 Dec. 2016.
Green
The image of Jack Warner in police uniform with helmet
was well-known to the public and made for a very effective symbol of policing
in Britain - This quote looks at how people viewed the police, this can be linked to certain hegemonic values that we still believe the police is like today and differs from american views of the police as recently with the Black lives matter campaign they are not being praised as saviours anymore.
Oliver, M. B. (1994). Portrayals of crime, race, and aggression in “reality‐based” police shows: A content analysis. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media,38(2), 179-192. doi:10.1080/08838159409364255
Media magazine:
Steph, H. (2010) Dexter, 21st Century hero for a 21st Century audience. Media Magazine, 31, 58-60, ISSN: 1478--8616
Working title- Do TV crime dramas like ‘Breaking Bad’ generate moral panics and negatively contribute to social issues through the impact they have on audiences?
This clip shows the first 'cook' session that Walt and Jesse do together. Firstly, I chose this clip because it's showing something highly illegal, but we the audience are not made to see it that way, we are led to believe that this is art just like the way the characters describe the cooking in the clip. The clip also shows us how showing something explicit like this in an almost comedic way takes the edge off the whole scene and makes it enjoyable and not in a burden in the back of our mind that makes us think that this is illegal and wrong.
In the clip the sound is used in different ways to provide a differentiated and enjoyable scene, for example from around 20 seconds on wards we have a non-diegetic song playing whilst they were making the meth. Without the music we would be able to focus on the diegetic sounds that were going on in the clip and if that were the case we wouldn't be distracted about what's happening. The music used in the clip was very upbeat which did go with the pace of the scene and the type of shots that went with it, however it was contrapuntal because the mood the song gave off was more like the one you see at a concert and you don't tend to associate sort of electro-rock music with something as 'street' as this. A more parallel song which would have related to the clip may of been something more explicit like trap music or songs from the Rap genre, however the contrapuntal song worked well with drawing the audiences attention away from the true meaning of the scene and offered a distraction from reality. The song does make the scene more enjoyable and much more of a pleasure to watch as it turns the cooking scene into a performance more than anything else. This is one of the reasons why audiences can relate to TV crime dramas such as Breaking Bad much more easier as it takes away the censorship that regular TV has and it exaggerates it in either a negative or positive way.
Also in the clip, the cinematography used can make the scene appear more relate able and because of this the audience may see this is as something real. For example at the start of the clip we see a shot filmed entirely on a camcorder, which is recognisably different from the professional cameras which are used later in the scene. By using an ordinary camcorder the audience may be able to relate as you could associate this prop with something you would use to film family moments or special occasions and not to cook meth with. This then lightens and removes any tense moments from the scene as the camcorder shot can make the audience think of nostalgic moments. The type of shots used after the first part all mainly medium shots of the cooking apparatus. This gives the audience enough view to see what is going on and it removes a lot of human element from the shop and only focuses on the cooking process which helps in differentiating what is real and what isn't as if an audience were to see another person doing something, they may be more likely to do something, this can be linked to the media effects theory and in particular we can link this to the Bobo Doll experiment as it looked at how violence can effect a child's behaviour. This can be linked here as if the audience saw a person preforming an act like cooking meth, they may be more prone to go out and try it as they have been exposed to it. However, audiences aren't always passive in the way they take in media, the hypodermic needle theory suggests otherwise and states that audiences are injected with the content that the media product they are viewing is showing, this is of course not applicable for everyone but it does raise the concern that some people do see TV crime dramas as real life and relate-able and this is a bad thing because TV crime dramas include behaviours that shouldn't be copied. Jump cuts are also used in the clip to show the making of the meth. This was a good decision to add this in as watching liquid poor in to beakers maybe quite boring so the jump cuts sped up the process, making it more enjoyable to watch and less like a meth cooking show. Which could mean audiences don't see the line between right and wrong which causes them to react upon things in different ways.
The Genre of Breaking Bad is a TV crime drama and the clip here displays some similar characteristics but also goes against some of the key codes and characteristics. The iconography in crime dramas comes from the mise-en-scene and in this case the props used were typical of the genre as drugs were shown. This is typical of the genre as it shows the aspect of crime, but in this clip Breaking Bad doesn't put much emphasis on the iconic props as it is quite negative. Breaking sort of goes against the general codes and conventions that TV crime dramas have as even though we see there is clear binary oppositions; (first proposed by theorist Levi Strauss) of Good vs Bad and the Police vs Crime. Usually we are on the good side and follow the story of the detectives and not the criminals. However in Breaking Bad we follow the story on the wrong side of the binary opposition. We know it's the wrong side because we can identify this by the iconography as we can identify the side we are following with the costumes and environment they're in. In the clip we can identify this as we can see no person working for the law and a 'good' person wouldn't be in a shady RV in the middle of the desert cooking drugs. The fact that it portrays the opposite side of the two variables doesn't make it any less of a crime drama as to have a binary opposite would mean you would need to compare it to another thing. Breaking Bad does this with the incorporation of the DEA, however just like in the clip we are only shown the recreational part of the wrong side. We know it's the wrong side because of the binary opposite and that the police force is the good but we are not made or forced to choose what to believe in.
2nd Clip
This clip first looks at an advert for the fictional company Los Pollos Hermanos (The chicken brothers), this is the company which was the cover for a much larger drug smuggling business. The advert then switches off and it transitions into the process in which the drugs are packaged and sent off using the business as a cover.
The scene from Breaking Bad is edited in a way which removes any safeguards from the clip making it seem for the audience as though they are watching a harmless advertisement. The clip makes an almost seem-less transition between the advert and drugs scene that it doesn't really give the audience time to prepare. We are being shown something that is vert likeable, fried chicken in slow motion which is another editing effect, this has slowed the whole pace of the clip down. By first showing us something we can relate to then something quite shocking afterwards, it dampens the effect it would have had and makes it seem rather ordinary. The transitions also continue throughout the shots where we see the drugs being packages. The transitions happen in such a way that the last shot fades into the next the one which gives the effect of a smooth transitions just like you may see in a food advert. That's what the editing tried to make it look like so it takes the severity away from the fact that they are packaging drugs and not food.
The sound in the clip is also used to make it seem as though the clip is just one big advertisement. There is a sound bridge from the original authentic advert into the sequences of shots which show the drugs so by doing this is still manages to keep the same mood as to what the advert was as there is no sudden change. Also the non-diegetuc song which was playing also worked in parallel with the advert however not so well with the second half of the clip, this is why the sound bridge worked so well in transitioning from one scene to another extreme. The song may have been parallel in the beginning whilst the advert was playing, however when it transitioned into the next part of the clip the song was then contrapuntal, because a summer time melody doesn't bode well with the packaging of drugs. Breaking Bad do this throughout the series and use songs that contradict whats going on in the actual scene, this could be quite a negative thing because it desensitises the clip for an audience which could make them think that drugs and violence isn't as bad as they same. Sound in the media really can have quite an adverse effect on and audiences reaction, as playing a song that doesn't really fit in with the mood of the scene can make an audience remember the scene much more easily and this could be bad if the scene is a violent one, it may inspire people, however this has never been proven and only theorised that the way media texts portray certain issues can influence someone behaviour.
The mise-en-scene in the first part of the clip is typical of that which is similar to an advert (for food more specifically) as, for example the advert at the start is very well lit (high key lighting) which is a general code and convention of a regular advert. The director here may have wanted the audience to relate to what they think an advert is by using familiar tactics. This was used so that the audiences could be guided into the next part of the scene which is a lot harder to take in as many kilo grams of drugs are being packaged and this is not something you see all the time, therefore it may have caused shock to the audience but it did no such thing in this clip.
In the second part of the clip the mise-en-scene was used in a different way which followed some of the aspects of what a typical TV crime drama is. We can look at the props and costumes used here, for example the people shown we're wearing face masks and white overalls, we usually see this in some shows where people are packaging substances, therefore we can make the link to whats happening, also we actually see the drugs and the cooking equipment used and this identifies the moral issue in the scene as you are shown the whole operation, however the like whats been mentioned above with the sound and editing (what the mise-en-scene doesn't show you) it's that even thought its made to look like a 'bad and unethical' scene we aren't made to see it that way and we see it as an advert because of the various other factors in the scene.
