LO6: Controversy in Media

 Lo6: Controversy in Media

Digital Economy Bill

An act which restricts access to inappropriate content (such as pornography), data protection, protection of intellectual property rights to prevent breach of copyright, to regulate digital marketing and to regulate the relationship between Ofcom and the BBC. - Filters content from passive audience but also proves passive audience in the necessity to filter content for them. This is also representative of Gauntlett's active audience theory that we can filter and adapt content for passive audiences.

Social Media Trend

'Devious Licks' was a Tik Tok trend which appeared in 2021 that involved teenagers stealing items from areas they visit and recording it: examples of this would be soap or towel dispensers to entire toilets and sinks. This was evidently illegal and costed schools thousands to replace property.

The Last Hope Copyright Lawsuit

The Last Hope was a video game which was released on Nintendo Switch consoles as a rip-off for the Sony/Naughty Dog game 'The Last of Us'. Trailers for the game were eventually taken down by Sony and the game was removed from the Nintendo E-Shop. 

Controversial TV Series - The Boys

The Boys (season 3) stands out in it's controversial nature; this being evident in both scenes and articles for the Amazon series. An example of a controversial scene would be one which worsens representations of mental health: this being evident where a woman is going to commit suicide via jumping off a building with a crowd of people below discouraging her. However, the primarily controversial aspect is where the main antagonist, superhero, Homelander comes to 'save her'. Initially trying to convince her to not jump, the scene playing out as the audience would expect and with Homelander being the antagonistic character of the series, him saving someone struggling with mental problems leading to suicide furthers the extent at which the series would value mental health as a international struggle and how we must support it. However, the scene takes a darker turn when a large TV billboard plays a news article of Homelander's girlfriend committing suicide. The tempo gets louder to create tension as a close up shows Homelander's aggrieved emotions. This results in a shot reverse structure between Homelander and the girl as binary opposites when Homelander tells her to jump and the girl pleads, not wanting to actually kill herself. This then results in the girl jumping which is evidently controversial with a character convincing someone to commit suicide. Furthermore, news articles on the series include quotes such as 'its serialization of American nationalism and imperialism' with the show having a political commentary with its characters like Homelander and A Train.

Controversial Game - Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 was controversial due to its historical context (set in 1899) and its developers, Rockstar Games, who made the infamous Grand Theft Auto series with their practices for development which forced employees to stay at work 24 hours a day at the end of Red Dead 2's production, not seeing their families for months. Furthermore, the game's historical context features issues like racism and elitist racist groups as well as poor working conditions in conjunction with sexism and predjudice.