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
- Breaking Bad's viewing stats and money cited from Wiki- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_Bad
- Moral panic quotes- Stanley Cohe
- 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
- http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Break%20Bad - "break bad definition"
- More information to what the media effects theory is about- http://www.sociology.org.uk/AS_Media_effects.pdf
- 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.
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