LO6 Essay

The product I will be writing about in this essay is a film based product called 'The Interview.' This product was released in 2014, starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, two very well known comedic actors. These actors had been in many highly rated adult films for example 'Bad Neighbours' in 2014. This gives the idea that the target audience is around the same age for this film product I am writing about. I am writing this essay about this media product because it had some highly negative and positive reviews from various people because of similar controversial reasons.

A theory that can link to this media product is the negative effects on a passive audience. This theory connotes that if a person engages with a media product so much that in time the person will allow the media product to adapt the persons personality. An example of this would be the case of a 13 year old boy shooting his dad because he was so influenced by the game Grand Theft Auto he let it adapt his behaviour and allow him to shoot his own parents mercilessly. In the my product 'The Interview' it may adapt peoples feelings on the main character Kim Jung Un. Kim is portrayed as a fun person however with a sense of evil as he has all this power, This could influence people to go along with the politics with different mindsets of North Korea. Or start an uprising with the North Korean Dictator that could ultimately end in conflict. This could lead to a negative impact on the world and for the government as people may have their own drastic opinions and may decide to act on them as they will have adapted their behaviour to the media product.

A theory that this media product can link to is the Hypodermic Syringe theory. This theory implies that media has a negative impact on people claiming that we believe what we see and hear. In this media products case it points out very current and bias issues in the world mostly revolving around Kim Jun Un and his dictatorship or North Korea. Throughout the film we see two Americans point of view of the character Kim Jung Un. However the Character of the dictator is scripted from an American producer thus implying that it will be bias towards the USA as they have had controversy with Kim in the past. This could have a negative impact as people may believe all these exaggerated things mentioned in the film. for example it is shown that Kim goes around in his own tank everyday for fun. This not true however people who have engaged with the so much may eventually believe it.

The Moral Panic theory is very prominent in my product as it demonises a certain group throughout the film. The Moral panic theory was created by Stanley Cohen in 1972. He claims that when the media demonise groups then it becomes a threat to society values. This theory is used a lot for this film as it brought up a lot of controversy. In the film very stereotypical comedy against Asian people and their leader Kim Jung Un. These constant slightly racist references were so severe that the film was banned in Korea as Kim believed it was highly offensive to him and his country. This led to the US government being fearful that Kim may retaliate by the use of his weapons, that he highly shows off. Multiple news outlets blamed the film for causing what was going to be another civil war. However Kim never retaliated and saw the film as a comedic film and not a severe offence. The film had a negative impact on the USA as it was scared of Kim starting conflict. This going against their society values. However nothing came of this that was severely traumatising.

Another theory that can be seen throughout the film is the active audience theory by Stuart Hall where he claims that media goes through stages of encoding and decoding. Encoding and Decoding is the way the TV transfers their message to their target audience. In my media product 'The Interview' the message being transferred to the people watching it is that Kim Jung Un is a harsh dictator and there is elements to mock him. This can lead to the public mocking him and not taking him so seriously. This may have negative impact in a political way as this could count as libel and persuade Kim to engage in conflict or it may be positive and give the people a bit more enjoyment in current affairs.

In conclusion 'The interview' had a negative impact on the target audience as its bias political views could influence them as their age is at the point where they can be easily manipulated. This linking to the hypodermic syringe theory as it has a highly negative impact on the target audience.