LO6 Essay 2

Discuss the potential problems with media regulation sectors you have studied.

The potential problems with the media regulations for Grand Theft Auto and the film Fifty Shades Of Grey is the fact that it can show various unique scenarios to people under the required age to know about situations that are seen as very extreme. This can lead to copycat crimes. This leading distress and moral panic, making society change in a negative way. In my own opinion I believe Grand theft auto is not that well regulated as the game and its content is advertised on a major scale showing clips of this extreme violence. These adverts not being regulated by OFCOM and W3C as any child to access this advertising and website over the game.

Grand Theft Auto is considered the most extreme realist game in the world. This game has scenes that PEGI claim is gross violence. However many people claim that this game is too far when it comes to the age rating as the most extreme qualities of a PEGI 18 is happening all the time, constantly. This constant violence can lead to copycat crimes, An example of a copycat crime that can be linked to Grand Theft Auto is the crime when a 14 year old boy killed his father and brother with a shotgun. The child when questioned said that "Trevor inspired him to" Trevor being a character being in the game obsessed with killing and being considered mentally unstable. This giving the game the reputation of being a (word that means it bad to the public.) This copycat made people believe that PEGI is not doing enough with regulating as crimes like this are still happening.

Many parents who can be considered as part of the active audience complained about the content within the game in multiple ways e.g social media and game reviews. This was because of the children playing this game can be considered the passive audience who see this game as okay and acceptable. Another reason for them to complain is Bad world syndrome that could have been developed by playing this game. Bad World syndrome is when a person believes what they see and believe it happens in the real world. An example that the parents will thinking about when they complain is the fact is the children will have nightmares of GTA related incidents as a result of 'Mean world syndromes'. As they believe what they see in the game.

Another product that potential regulator problems would be the film based product, 'Fifty Shades Of Grey' Within this film multiple mature and highly sexual activities are performed throughout the film
this lead to multiple complaints about the content within the product.
A problem that arose from this film was the highly dominant sexual activity. This became a problem as it began to link to the desensitisation theory within young people. The scenes show a sexually dominant man overcome and persuade a woman to do unique sexual things. With the desensitisation theory this can link with this content as young People may believe that this behaviour is acceptable and part take in this activities with people who may not want to. This can link to copycat crimes in subjects of manipulation, creating distress and mental pain.

However some people may say that BBFC have done as much as they can as BBFC do not have the power to change the story which is mainly revolved around sex. People will have said they have regulated enough by adding multiple disclaimers and giving the film a 18 rating with reviews claiming that there is strict rules about age with this film. Another group of people would say that there is a lot worse content that younger people can access. For example pornography that is free and easy to access, This also giving the younger people a worse type of desensitisation that the BBFC cannot control and would be down to the W3C which have done part of their job by not letting the websites not be recommended on any site on the internet.

In my opinion I believe at the launch of Fifty Shades Of Grey the regulation of this product was acceptable as the age rating and the content was stated very clearly that the product is only for people of a old nature and is fully understanding of the content and are trusted to not make similar actions in the film. This is in my opinion is a sign of good regulation by BBFC as they clearly describe the age rating to the world.
In comparison to Grand Theft Auto, both products have the same age rating from their regulators of a 18 rated this is because both products highly feature a mature older lifestyle that can be considered extreme which people and myself would claim that will be contained within the regulation. I believe that both products have highly made sure that the recommended age buy the product however in my opinion I believe through time of the products being released we as people have become more desensitised through other forms of content being more accessible and examples of this being pirate and legal websites that allow 18 films to be seen for free not matter the age.