Analyse The Ways In Which Contemporary Media Regulation Reflects Its Period
The current zeitgeist in China due to its rise in the world stage and the subsequent antagonization of China in the world stage has brought its leaders to have interest to increase their nationalist fervor which is reflected in their media regulation.
The rise of Xi Jin Ping and the antagonization of China in western media has brought the Communist party to take actions themselves to accelerate the antagonization of western norms by targeting foreign media and the values they represent in their content , the removal of sexual innuendos and LGBTQIA+ representation is explained by the fear that a Chinese audience consuming western media would have their opinions and values influenced to become Pro-LGBT or more crass distancing themselves from the ideal Chinese values or even become western leaning.
The series Friends has been aired in Chinese streaming platforms such as Sohu & Youku the latter being a subsidy of the Alibaba Group Holding Limited which is influenced and have shares owned by members of the Communist party, , they have censored and altered certain scenes from the series "Friends" which belongs to Warner Brothers and ran from 1994 to 2004.
For context the Chinese government does not recognize homosexual marriage and recognizes marriage as a ceremony uniting a heterosexual couple while criminalizing homosexual relationships, so it would be in their best interest to make sure that their young have limited or even no representation of LGBTQ which is a "western product", such measures are taken as they think a younger audience that is impressionable might directly accept those values as suggested by the Hypodermic Needle theory , become desensitized to "negative values" seeing it as something normal, or even repeat what they see in real life as suggested by Alex Bandura's Social Learning theory, though it might not be as frequent as in Western countries Chinese who already have pro-LGBTQ leanings will have their views reinforced with the representation.
The 21st Century has seen progress in terms of racial sensitivity and a rejection of past traditions or actions once deemed normal now removed due to being offensive especially in a racial context an example being "Blackface" which was the practice of wearing make-up to imitate the appearance of an African, a common practice in theatre in movie screens in the 1950s.
The current social climate rejects such actions leading to the censorship of the representation of Blackface or upheaval when Blackface is utilized due to it being seen as offensive. The series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia produced by RCG studios after being bought Disney to be showcased in their platform in early 2022 had to see certain episodes censored or removed, one of them being where season 9 episode 9 titled "Lethal Weapon 7" was removed from the platform for the creative choice of portraying black characters from the original movie they are parodying (which are played by actual black actors like Donald Glover) with white actors given makeup to appear black.
In modern times where society and government are more aware of the negative effects of smoking and mostly viewing it in a negative light has impacted the depiction of smokers and the act of smoking in media especially movies. In 2019 Netflix promised that all PG 13 and under movies will see a minimized depiction of smoking after activist and pressure groups brought up the fact that depictions of smoking have tripled in kids movies. Smoking is only to be allowed when done by historical figures and for the sake of characterization or connotation (for example, evil).
https://www.indiewire.com/2019/07/hollywood-studios-banned-on-screen-smoking-1202156534/
Another case would be of the series Sailor Moon which was picked up by the streaming platform Hulu on May 2019 which no longer uses the censored 4Kids version which aired on TV screens in 1995, a choice attributed to society becoming more accepting and understanding of the LGBTQ community since 1995 where since then they have become desensitized to the portrayal of gays in media especially in Western countries.
Media Regulation Is Failing Everyone, How Far Do You Agree With This Statement
Social Media platforms such as twitter and facebook despite having teams of independent fact checkers and the ability to hide or limit the visibility of content deemed dangerous or offensive fails to take responsibility for having allowed certain content in their platform or even from allowing the dangerous material to spread. The Section 230 mandates that Social media platforms are not accountable for whatever is posted on their platforms meanwhile they can only take action once the content is posted and present for everyone to see and distribute. One case of Twitter failing to stop the hate of hate speech in this case Anti semitism was when Kanye West after having his account unblocked on December 2022 decided to tweet a death threat against the jewish community, the mean tweet was screenshoted and retweeted thousands of times before being banned on hours later on the same day (10th of December). The fact that they banned his account only piqued people's curiosity even more encouraging those who have screenshoted the tweet to spread it further where pictures of the tweet have been showcased in Ultra rightwing forums like "4-Chan" & Xavier Naidoo's (Ex German pop-star turned right wing political pundit) Telegram channel that spreads Anti-Zionist material where now since they have someone backing their views they become more radicalized and sure of their views as suggested by George Gerbner's Cultivation Theory. Meanwhile people who might not have anti semitic tendencies due to seeing such a major celebrity many see as a role model express such an opinion might become desensitized to Anti-Semitic rhetoric or if they view Kanye for Personal Identity as suggested by the Users & Gratification Theory or have Semiotic productivity from viewing Kanye before seeing him in a positive light might learn Anti Semitic tendencies as suggested by Alex Bandura's Social Learning Theory.
Another way Media Regulation fails people is due to the over-censorship of certain content like movies leading to a lack of representation of certain groups while not allowing people especially children to learn certain social concepts. An example would be how Indonesia's regulatory body for movies called "Kominfo" released guidelines to not showcase romantic scenes or even gestures in movies even those not aimed for children, this led to movies such as "Jumanji 2" released in 2019 in Indonesian theatres having scenes cut for showing kissing, this means children are deprived from learning about social skills in this case on how to deal with romance which is a relevant part of one's life.
Analyse the Challenges Of Regulating The Media In The Digital Age
The advent of the internet and social media platforms has made it harder for regulatory bodies to censor or regulate media. The presence of Youtube, numerous pirating sites , or even formal streaming sites like Netflix with the help of a VPN allows people to bypass the regulations of one's country and watch the uncensored version of a movie by only looking for the right websites and installing a VPN, an example being how Disney Asia refused at first to air the Disney Original Series titled "The Owl House" which ran between 2019-2023 due to the representation of LGBTQ+ characters before opting to cut out scenes representing a side character's gay parents and a kiss scene between the 2 main characters who are bisexual. Fans of the series who were angered by the choice of their respective country's choice to censor the series took to Twitter with the hashtag #SaveTheOwlHouse to at first protest the possible ban and then to encourage the usage of VPN to access the American version of Disney+ where the series is aired.
Despite the Indonesian Regulatory Body for Film's (KOMINFO) attempt to promote the government agenda of upholding eastern and thus more conservative values Indonesian viewers could access sites like Cineb.net & IndoXXI.com to watch the original cut of movies like Jumanji 2 which showed a removed kiss scene, the rapidly rising number of Indonesians with internet access and the economic ability to have a phone have spared them the option of spending money on movie tickets instead opting to watch for free on pirated sites where non censored versions are shown.
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