Negative Conventions on Television
At the very moment somebody turns on a television, he or she is presented with a whole new world of beliefs, means, and values. Channel to channel, viewers are presented with different images and sounds that shape our world. The contents on television exposes society to negative stereotypes that portray racist, sexist, and aggressive conventions. Since more people are tuning into television, it is important that the message it bestows to the viewers has a positive influence. "Not only is their an increase in the average time American adults spent watching television on an average day, but also by the increase in the percentage of heavy viewers and the decrease in the percentage of non-viewers" (Xiaoming, 1994). I wish to approach this review by looking at how different mediums of television portray negative stereotypes. My specific interest is in the contents of music videos.To gain a better understanding of the audience that is affected by television, one must look at who the majority of the viewers are. According to research done by the journalists in the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media: "1) Women watch more television than men; 2) Those of lower of lower socioeconomic status watch more than those of higher SES; 3)
Furthermore, the inclusion of different types of aggressive behaviors sets the wrong example for its viewers. "In terms of receiving aggression, a large percentage of criminal suspects [38.5%] and police officers [21.7%] were portrayed as receiving at least one type of aggressive behavior" (Oliver, 1994). When different types of aggressive behaviors are shown, the viewers are more likely to watch and use these different types of aggressive behaviors if faced in aggressive situations. Verbal aggression, physical aggression, threat of physical aggression, unarmed physical aggression all have a bad influence on the viewing public when seen. Another aggressive stereotype that reality based shows portray are violent crimes. "Of the index crimes portrayed in these programs, 87% of criminal suspects were associated with violent crimes" (Oliver, 1994). When watching these programs, it is likely that a child or teenager will see these kinds of shows and get a bad example from it. Watching violent crimes occur on television only produce negative attitudes and do not look at the reality of police work since "FBI statistics classify only 13% of all index crimes as violent" (Oliver, 1994). The observation of aggressive behavior produces a negative stereotype that the public sees and relates. This unnecessary need to show violent crimes only brings negative influences on the viewer and is only present to get better ratings. Another sexist stereotype that commercials portray is specific gender roles for men and women. "While commercials with only male characters included products reflecting fun and action, commercials with only female characters focused on products related to looking good" (Healy, et al., 1994). This sets a negative example to the viewers who see these commercials and accept certain gender roles. The designations of roles for women and men send the wrong message because the reality is that gender roles cannot be distinguished. The first negative convention that the television displays i
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Approximate Word count = 1357
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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