300 Word Essay

There are two sides to every argument. In the case of regulation they are whether it is in place for the protection of society, or in order to control society. My belief in the use of regulation today is quite liberal, as I do feel like regulators do exercise their power far more often than needed be; however, regulation is needed, and has always been needed, in order to protect society from threats. Over the decades the needs and reasons for regulation have changed. Regulators such as BBFC and OFFCOM are incredibly and unnecessarily strict when regulating movies. Approximately 20/30 years ago regulation was in place as there was too much exposure to sexual and violent content, but nowadays in a postmodern era, where technology has advanced exponentially we have gained accessed to a vast variety of ways of accessing media texts and consuming it to their heart's content - this is partially a reason for why as a society have grown to become a passive audience, and have been desensitised by the media. Due to this desensitisation people have developed the need to experience even greater visceral pleasure, as they do not get the same thrill from watching horrors now that they used to. Due to this, production companies are producing (sometimes unreasonably) gorier films with more blood and violence. Films such as The Human Centipede 2 which was banned by the BBFC for being "sexually violent and potentially obscene", and then eventually unbanned, given an 18 certificate is an example of why films are unnecessarily regulated. The regulators hear some negative responses from the public and instantaneously assume that no one should be allowed to watch this as the audience will copy what is shown. This is proven to be untrue as when the movie was watched illegally people were not compulsed to go and reenact the horrified scenes. The biggest reaction to the scenes were most likely out of disgust due to the repulsive images shown. It has also been shown in society that age certificates are a phoney system, as people far below the allowed age have consumed the texts and have been unaffected by it, due to their sense of reality and the knowledge of the gravity of the consequences of being consumed by the media; such as children. Most male children will have played a violent video gas such as grand theft auto or call of duty nowadays, despite the graphic content and age rating of the games being 18. These children are unaffected by this and play these games knowing that it's only a game. It is the adults that grow over protective and


the internet is unregulated.
nowadays discrimination has become the major issue.
points for and against.
"moral panic"
scapegoating
no examples or case studies
be able to address the question and how necessary regulation is.
synthesise both sides of the arguments.
2 points for, 2 points against.