Nowadays, mass media and television have taken the separate cultural domain. It reveals through a wide impact of television and movies on democratic life. Mass communication has penetrated the awareness and outlook of society on the culture. Thus, people become dependent on TV programs and movies that do not always reveal useful information. Some mass media researchers believe that television and movies should be more realistic and reveal the violence and profanity. Others insist on the fact that the main function of TV is to eliminate brutality from real life. My strong belief is that television should introduce people with cardinal virtues by broadcasting educational programs and movies with clear language and moral messages due to numerous reasons.
First of all, the movies revealing violent and cruel attitudes toward people contribute to the increase of the crime rate. Many researchers figured out the consequences of watching television violence and found out that children suffer from it in most cases since it provokes aggression towards others (Dorpat, Th 30). The increase of the children’s aggression level evokes an indifferent attitude to the violence in reality. Some people while watching movies depicting violence and brutality are eager to witness bad “guys” be punished and, hence, they take pleasure from watching the cruelties. The nature of violence lies in a person’s psychological perception of violence as the cause of the conflict between people. In other words, people are unlikely to accept the good features of negative characters in the movies (Rosenberg, M. B. 18). The same concerns children who always emulate their parents’ habits believing there is only one way to punish the evil. As a result, children’s outlook on good and evil is significantly distorted and in the future children will not be able to distinguish between the actual evil and a slight offense. Moreover, violence is included in the tradition of American movies.
The profanity was especially increased over several decades of the last century. Instead of movies and TV programs overwhelmed with cuss words and the usage of abusive language, media should be directed on the education of the society. The fact that the current TV viewers are more likely to watch programs overwhelmed with scandals and obscene language should make the government to think over the future of the television media. Those surveys constitute low educational level of the society and moral degradation of the population. The situation is aggravated by the growing tendency to use cuss words by TV reporters. Television journalists are free to use taboo words such as “hell” or “damn” during the news programs holding at dinner time, the time when children are likely to be at home (Gans, H.J. 244). Therefore, government policy must be directed on the elimination of the scandalous TV shows that distort the social and moral outlooks of the society on the culture of language and behavior. That is why, people should be culturally active advocating the main moral principles. In addition, violent movies and Hollywood movies propagate the unhealthy way of life where all heroes used to smoke and to drink spirits. Currently, smoking and dissipated way of life are out of date. Besides, more programs on healthy lifestyle tend to be introduced on TV.
The exposure to the nudity and sexual scenes may lead to the early sexual contacts that can hamper the healthy development of a teenager. Nowadays, the youth is stressed with a growing amount of sexual scenes so that they get used to the growing amount of the sexual crimes. Consequently, children do not analyze what they watch on TV but perceive it as the reality. The outcome of such perception may lead to blurring the limits between the real world and the movie world as well as to the corruption of children’s innocent mind (Gauntlett, D & Hill 277). Instead, some scientific and educational programs should be provided that would cultivate the teenagers’ right outlook the sexual relationships.
However, nudity as an art should not be conflated with erotic scenes and pornography, if we talk about nudity as cult of the human body beauty. Nudity is also presented in works of famous architects and painters who glorified the beauty of male and female bodies. In this respect, nudity has nothing in common with sexual scenes and violence and has the right to be shown on TV.
In conclusion, I believe that television’s main function is to cultivate the moral values of the younger generation, which is obsessed with TV programs and movies. Hence, the television should be directed on the healthy development of the children’s personality and to the cultivation of the positive outlook on the reality. In addition, adults should be more conscious of what they watch and should not overuse it as the main means of entertainment. The government, in its turn, should take more attention to the development of mass media and set up a more strict censure on TV programs due to fact that television has the greatest impact on the current society.
Works Cited
Dorpat, Th. L. Crimes of Punishment: American’s Culture of Violence. US: Algora Publishing, 2007.
Gans, H.J., Deciding What’s News: a Study of CBS Evening News, NBC nightly news. US: Northwestern University Press, 2004.
Gauntlett, D & Hill, A. TV Living: Television, Culture, and Everyday Life. London: Routledge, 1999.
Rosenberg, M. B. Nonviolent Communication: a Language of Life US: PuddleDancer Press, 2003.