Friday, 28 June 2013

Task 3 : Ethical and Legal



Ethical:
  • Representation of gender:
Several issues come to mind when I think of media ethics surrounding the concepts of gender, race and ethnicity. I am struck first by the difficulty in defining those terms, and how any such definitions are "loaded" by our own cultural preconceptions. For some time I've been interested in how identity is created/shaped for us by the dominant ideology, and how we might resist those constructions, whether through our own actions, or through re-interpretations of media texts. In this discussion I will be focusing more on issues #1 and #5, as they relate particularly to “the female spectator."

Legal:
  • Video Recordings Act 1984:
Video recorders were first introduced in the UK in 1978. At the time there was no legislation governing what could be released on video or to whom video recordings could be supplied. Initially the major distributors were wary of releasing their films on video because they felt video tapes might have an adverse effect on cinema revenues. This left the market open for smaller distributors who, in most cases, could only afford to release low budget material, including horror and pornography. Because there was no legislation governing video recordings, these companies were therefore able to release films that had not been submitted to the BBFC for cinema release, uncut versions of films that had been cut by the BBFC and even films that had been refused a certificate altogether by the BBFC. Some of the films released contained scenes that would be in contravention of UK laws on animal cruelty and obscenity. Even more worrying was the fact that such films were available, in theory at least, to children of any age.

Which from these lists do you think applies to your particular industry?

These two legal and ethical, both relate the particular industry because they have ties the music industry and they can help adults or young people understand the industry more in depth.

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