David Buckingham has done a lot of work on this topic, with particular reference to children and the effects of screen violence. His publications include: Moving Images: Understanding Children's Emotional Responses to Television (Manchester University Press, 1996) After the Death of Childhood: Growing Up in the Age of Electronic Media (Polity Press, in press - publication early 2000.) Children's Television in Britain: Defining the Child Viewer (British Film Institute, 1999) with Hannah Davies, Ken Jones, Peter Kelly. In Front of the Children: Screen Entertainment and Young Audiences (British Film Institute, 1995) which he edited with Cary Bazalgette. His webpage at the London University Institute of Education is at http://www.ioe.ac.uk/ccs/buckingham/ and you should have no difficulty finding his email address. Best wishes At 21:53 03/12/99 +0100, you wrote: >>I'm looking at theories on the emotional effects of screen violence for >>film and TV spectators. I've found a great deal of debate in TV studies on >>such "effects." Can anyone point me to a good overview, or specific >>leading voices, in film studies on this issue? I'm especially interested >>in any application or refutation of Aristotle's ancient theory of >>catharsis, as a purging/purifying/clarifying of fear and sympathy (or >>terror and pity) through the watching of violent action onstage. >> > >The best overviews available are: > >Gauntlett, David (1995) Moving Experiences: Understanding >Television's Influences and Effects. London: John Libbey. > >Freedman, Jonathan (1984) Effect of television violence on >aggressiveness. Psychological Bulletin. Nr 2:227-246. > >Freedman, Jonathan (1986) Television violence and aggression: A >rejoinder. Psychological Bulletin. Nr 3:272-278. > >Freedman, Jonathan (1988) Television violence and aggression: What >the evidence shows. I Oskamp, Stuart (ed) Television as a Social >Issue. Applied Social Psychology 8: 144-162. Newbury Park: Sage. > >Cumberbatch, Guy & Howitt, Dennis (eds) (1989) A Measure of >Uncertainty: The Effects of the Mass Media:. London: John Libbey. > >When it comes to catharsis theory, none of the studies conducted has >supported the 'purging' effect of fictitious violence. Then again, >neither has the studies on aggressive behavior as an effect of media >violence (although lots of 'em claim to have found proof for such an >effect). > >Ulf Dalquist > > >Ulf Dalquist Phone: +46-(0)8-39 21 68 >Petrejusv 18 Cell phone: +46-(0)739-88 17 05 >121 38 Johanneshov Sweden E-mail: [log in to unmask] > >---- >Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite >http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite > > ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu