Preview

Lessons From Littleton: Critical Analysis: Youth And The Media

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
452 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Lessons From Littleton: Critical Analysis: Youth And The Media
Critical Analysis: Youth and the Media

In "Lessons from Littleton: What Congress Doesn't Want to Hear about Youth and the Media", Henry Jenkins describes how violent entertainment is portrayed as a witch. He then continues to explain that something needs to be done about the "cultural pollution" that our teens are exposed to. Due to the many problems with the "scientific" approach to culture it is up to the parents to limit or control what or how much violent media their child takes in. I would have to agree with Jenkins, that steps need to be taken, such as parents taking a stand, greater awareness efforts, and alternative social connections. First, I would like to emphasize seeing how there are many variables and opinions concerning

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Gabriel Vara

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Mike Males, in “Stop Blaming Kids and TV,” inscribes government officials have blamed today’s media on the acts of kids and young adults, how the impact of violence, drug, and alcohol abuse can ruin children’s lives. Parents need to notice that their own behavior has a major influence on their children’s lives and futures. He makes strong statements that the media does not influence adolescent violence, drug, and alcohol abuse. He supports his opinion with many examples including the comparison of television violence and real actual violence. Males notes, “Kids will witness at least 200,000 acts of television violence by the time her or she are completing high school.”…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Roberts Peters’ article “Censorship of Violence in Popular Entertainment Is Justified”, he writes about his personal concerns and his personal solutions to combat obscenity and uphold decency standards in the media. He believes that due to the many graphic and violent depictions in TV, films, music/RAP, video and computer games, the children in present society are easily influenced into acting out the media violence and turning it into real life violence. He believes that there are four main problems with media violence. The first problem is that is too much of it. The glut of media violence desensitizes viewers and contributes to the “mean world syndrome.” A second problem with media violence is that it can be easily imitated. He believes that the characters being depicted in the media are mostly glorified, youth characters who are troublemakers and engaged in behavior kids can readily imitate. A third in media violence is the manner in which it is depicted. He believes that the media does not show the purpose of the horror of violence, but rather the media portrays it as an exciting, pleasurable and effective way to handle problems. The fourth problem with media violence is Hollywood’s infatuation with guns, in which I quote, “Why should we be surprised to discover that kids want a gun? If Hollywood stopped glorifying possession and use of handguns, there would be fewer crimes committed by youth with handguns.” Peters wants us to know that whatever minor flaws there may be in enforcement of gun laws permitting crazy people to buy them, the real problem is that our media is saturated with violence. Although Peters’ tries to make valid points about the corruption of youth through media violence, he misses many opportunities to use prime examples as if he hasn’t done much research into the subject himself. I believe that his arguments are ineffective due to his lack of statistical evidence, such as crime rates statistics, to support his statements.…

    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In US, people believe violent media corrupts the minds of the youth and provokes violent actions and behaviors. Whenever there is a violent crime or act being committed by children, the first culprit the media turns to are violent video games or TV shows. In the case of one of the most infamous school shootings, Columbine, the news immediately blamed the shooting on played violent video games and music. There was no conclusive evidence for this statement, but the public still believed it. Gerard Jones, author of several works of fiction and nonfiction, writes the article, “Violent Media is Good for Kids”, to counter this popular belief that violent media is the cause of violent behavior. He brings up points on the topic that states that creative…

    • 213 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gerard Jones' essay “Violent Media is Good for Kids” was a very interesting paper. He opens with a story of him as a child, “alone and afraid” of the rage that was inside of him. His parents taught him that violence was wrong and that rage was something that could be simply overcome. Jones' main argument was aimed at parents, saying that they are stifling a child's natural instinct of anger and rage. He wrote that “we send the message to our children in a hundred ways that their craving for imaginary gun battles and symbolic killing is wrong...”, and uses his own childhood as an example of how comics were good for him because they were juvenile and violent. I feel that his explanation of our fear of “youth violence” is logically sound, and I agree with him that violent media can actually help children.…

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Hot Button Paper

    • 2536 Words
    • 11 Pages

    I am twenty-six years old today and when I reflect back on my childhood to the media sex and violence, I don’t remember much because my parents had complete control over what we were able to watch and listen to. If my parents wanted to watch a movie that they felt was in appropriate for my age, they would send me to a different room or else watch it when I went to bed. I do remember that bullying was becoming a larger issue. My mom was a school bus driver for a few years when I was little and there would be fights breaking out with high school students. My mom would have to get in the middle of it and try to get them to stop. I remember one kid yelling out on the school bus “where did you learn those moves?” and the high school student said from a movie. That memory will always be with me because that fight was a very brutal fight. There was lots of blood involved and my mom was threatened to be killed. That was very scary for me and knowing that the student learned how to fight like that from a movie makes me think that the media has a large effect on people. When I talked to my mom about the media sex and violence, she told me that it was…

    • 2536 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In today’s society, young children are seeing more and more television violence in the mainstream world. You can find violence just about everywhere, on movies, the world-wide web, and even children television shows. Stations like Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network all have an excessive amount of television violence. For these stations to be centered towards children, they have far too much violence. It is almost impossible to get away from these violent acts in the media. Although these television programs may not intentionally be trying to influence young audiences to imitate the actions they preform, some of these programs have a strong influence on a young child’s life.…

    • 1550 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In modern years, there has been dispute about whether or not children should view, or listen to violent media. In "Violent Media is Good for Kids" Gerard Jones says that we should. "When we try to protect our children from their own feelings and fantasies, we shelter them not against violence but against power and selfhood." Jones is right to say this; violent media can help kids if it is used in the right way rather than being abused. He does not include statistics to back-up his arguments and that is a downfall of Jones's article. He does however include examples as to why he believes that violent media is good for children. His examples maybe far-fetched, but when you think about it, he has a good point violent media is good for kids if used in a specific aspect. Therefore, instead of trying to keep the kids away from the media we should teach them how to use it correctly so that it is productive rather than…

    • 1070 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    It competes with families, friends, schools and communities in its ability to shape young teens' interests, attitudes and values. The mass media infiltrates their lives. Most young adolescents watch TV and movies, surf the Internet, exchange e-mails, listen to CDs and to radio stations that target them with music and commercials and read articles and ads in teen magazines. “ The youth are constantly bombarded with the media's messages and they don’t know how to take it in. “The problem is that young adolescents often don't--or can't--distinguish between what's good in the media and what's bad. Some spend hours in front of the TV or plugged into earphones, passively taking in what they see and hear--violence, sex, profanities, gender, stereotyping and storylines and characters that are unrealistic. We know from research such as that conducted by George Comstock and Erica Sherrar that seeing too much TV violence appears to increase aggressive behavior in children and that regular viewing of violence makes violence less shocking and more…

    • 1593 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Violent video games have become increasingly popular. Not only are adults enjoying the new fad, but young children are too. Many studies have been conducted in order to determine how the newest violent media has been affecting the children of today. It is a common misconception that the children who play these violent games, watch movies and television shows grow into a violent adult, while the children who more sheltered from this media become model citizens. In the article, “Whodunit—The Media?” Maggie Cutler addresses the controversy that follows the notion that violent media has a negative effect on children and asserts her opinion that instead of exploiting the media violence as harming this latest generation, working with the media will prove beneficial to the safety and sanity of the children.…

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    research papper

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Since the 1920’s, when the first television was invented, to the 1980’s, when the internet was created, the media has developed and became a significant component of our everyday lives. Everywhere we go we are surrounded by televisions, billboards, computer screens, magazines and newspapers. The media has a massive influence on society as a whole, but teens are impacted the most. Since human behavior is influenced by what an individual sees, the effect is greater at a younger age. Present day media has a detrimental effect on teenagers, especially pertaining to violence, sex, and the influence of alcohol and drugs. How many movies and cartoons on the television show that violence is okay, that violence resolves problems, that violence is funny? In 1952, the U.S. Senate held hearings to determine if media violence contributes to adolescent aggression. The answer now is clear: It can (Children). The average child sees 12,000 violent acts on television annually, including many depictions of murder and rape (Impacts). Studies show what exposure to watching too much television increases the risk that a child will be aggressive (James). In shows, perpetrators go unpunished 73% of the time (Media). Parents of young children need to understand that exposing their children to PG-13 and R-rated movies that contain a lot of violence can also be quite scary and produce anxiety (Children). Music is another huge problem involving the influence of sex. Lyrics in the past years have become more of a reference to sex, drugs, suicide, sexually transmitted diseases, ECT (Media). Teens struggling with any of those problems will be attracted to the music that expresses their feelings. It is not just song lyrics that can influence teens; it is also the music videos. A lot of music videos show inappropriate behaviors and false stereotypes. More than half of the music videos contain violence that is often…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Persuasive Essay

    • 888 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Many movies, television shows, music songs, and video games are filled with violence: murder scenes, nonstop profanity, rape and torture scenarios. By placing scenes like these in the movies for the children and teenagers to see, the media is causing them to become more violent than it already is. What has our society come to these days? Everywhere we look, violence is present; in the streets, back alleys, schools, and even at home. Even if one might be a pacifist, violence will keep its way into our homes through the television. Many parents these days are busy with their work, and sometimes it is hard to keep track what their children do. They are working singles or couples who must rely on others for the parenting and raising their children. Even baby sitters use television as the easiest source of entertainment for the children. Since every family has televisions and the children play video games almost every day, truly the media affects the children. The average hours of American youth watching television is about four hours, which means children spend more time watching television than in any other activity, except sleep, after school. So, parents should control the television that children watch. They need to be aware that media violence affects in the real world.…

    • 888 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    This is a growing problem because the youngest generation has been exposed to more media than previous generations. In America today, children from age eight to age eighteen use the various types of entertainment media six hours and twenty one minutes per day on average (“Media Violence”). It is estimated that the average American child will have seen…

    • 1845 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Body Paragraphs

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Whether it’s a television show, movies, video games, music lyrics, or the Internet, a worldwide communication network, a young viewer cannot escape the cataclysm. As per Roberts DF, “the average child spends 5.5 hours daily with electronic media. Including all forms of media, between 8 and 18 years of age, the average time with media is 6 hours and 43 minutes daily. (Kaiser Family Foundation; 1999). Adolescents are growing and developing individuals who are continually going through changes in every aspect of their lives. Each experience in an adolescent 's life will continue to shape knowledge, attitude, and behavior, and media continues to be an important influence. Most adolescents are able to separate fantasy from reality, but there are children who are susceptible to the theory, that media represents the real world. What effects do violent media messages and images have on adolescent? Research on violent television, movies, video games, and music reveals evidence that media violence increases the likelihood of aggressive and violent behavior. Pediatricians and other health care…

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Censorship Research Paper

    • 955 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Censoring violence in movies and video games have been a big feud for a while now.According to the article “ 98 percent of American households own at least one television set” ( Media Violence). In the video games people can experience violence without actually committing a crime. Research shows that children learn behavior by watching what they see, so “ the more violence children observe , the more aggressive and violent they act” (Media Violence). “Young children are especially vulnerable to the effects of observed violence,”(Media Violence) . The media industry tried to create rating system for the games and movies but still able to watch or play it. A young man in alabama in 2003 was charged with murder after shooting and killing 5 men because he did the same thing in the game called “Grand Theft Auto”. It is important that the parents try and improve the rating system but will soon run into problems because of the first amendment. Another concern with media violence is the type of aggressive and violent ideas that are in the song lyrics. Lyrics in popular songs seem to glorify violence. The songs mostly include disrespecting women in a sexual and harmful matter, shooting and killing police and etc. A study was done showing the effects of rap music (which more that 60 % include something about violence)and the people involved in it commonly. “37.6% acquired a new sexually transmitted disease, 4.8% hit a teacher, 12.1% reported being arrested, 14.8% had sexual intercourse with someone other than their steady partner, 44.2% reported using drugs, and 44.4% consumed alcohol.” ( Rap (Music). The statistics shows that being involved or around violence can harm you in many ways or hurt you in the long…

    • 955 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Today, teenagers spend more time in front of media than they do sleeping. Between Internet, facebook, cell phones, television and music, the teens are almost always plugged into the media. Media has significant influence over the formation of youth culture. The media culture is dangerous because it provides adults with a way to communicate to youth without permission slips or chaperones. The media culture is not interested in raising young people in virtue and character. Rather, the media exploits youth in order to make money at the expense of their moral character. To see an excellent documentary on how the media exploits youth culture, see the PBS Frontline documentary, Merchant’s of…

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays