----------------------------Original message---------------------------- On Thursday, March 30, 1995 8:35PM, Cindy H-G <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >>Most discussions about the harmful effects of Film and TV on impressionable >>minds center on sex and violence. Personally, I think the lowbrow sitcoms are >>possibly more dangerous, in an insidious way. I really think few people go >>out and try deadly car chases, searing fires, etc. because they've seen them >>on TV, but all the time you can see teenagers acting like the stupidest, >>rudestsitcom characters. These characters are at first intended to be parodies of >>stupidity, but as they become known and loved, they gradually become "real" >>and their style becomes a real style in the junior highs and high schools of >>the country. Rudeness that once would have had "Ooooh!" entertainment value >>becomes the normal, cool way kids mouth off to each other, parents, teachers, >>etc. And THAT is more dangerous to the moral fabric than outrageous and inimi- >>table violence, partly because it sneaks in without causing alarm and imper- >>ceptibly shifts from being "put on" for humor to being a basic style and iden- >>tity. I'm not recommending that we all go back to reruns of Donna Reed, but >>I do see this happening. Any comments, reactions? I tend to agree that these portrayals of children/teen-agers over the past ten years or so has indeed contributed to a break down in what American society views as acceptable behavior on the part of its young people. (My own thoughts about this scare me, though, because I was not exactly a model of compliance and sweetness in my own youth.) In particular, I despised the young protagonist of the hugely popular "Home Alone." A recent article in the Atlantic Monthly entitled "Moral Credibility and Crime" examined some of the underlying reasons why people obey the law, and according to the sociological studies cited in the article, the primary reason people remain law abiding is fear of social disapproval. It does seem to me that over the years, depictions of disrespect for authority and authority figures (parents, teachers, police, etc.) have become the rule rather than the exception in film and television programs aimed at young viewers. I think these programs contribute to America's continuing problems with violent crime, perhaps to a greater extent than the action films. After all, there were some pretty violent films (albeit not as graphic) made in decades past, when America's crime rate was significantly lower -- but there were also those Donna Reed-type programs that maybe provided a sturdier moral foundation to impressionable American youth. Of course, my own rambling here inevitably leads us back to the old argument does the media create our cultural or merely mirror it?