Unit 7 Assignment 2 Part 1

Ethical issues in the creative media sector – Games and animation

Ethics in the media is the subdivision of applied ethics dealing with the specific ethical principles and standards of media, including broadcast media, film, games, theatre, the arts, print media and the internet. The field covers many varied and highly controversial topics, ranging from war journalism to Benetton advertising.

Issues in the ethics of entertainment media include:

• The depiction of violence and sex, and the presence of strong language. Ethical guidelines and legislation in this area are common and many media (e.g. film, computer games) are subject to ratings systems and supervision by agencies. An extensive guide to international systems of enforcement can be found under motion picture rating system.
• Product placement- An increasingly common marketing tactic is the placement of products in entertainment media. The producers of such media may be paid high sums to display branded products. The practice is controversial and largely unregulated. Detailed article: product placement.
• Stereotypes- Both advertising and entertainment media make heavy use of stereotypes. Stereotypes may negatively affect people's perceptions of themselves or promote socially undesirable behaviour. The stereotypical portrayals of men, affluence and ethnic groups are examples of major areas of debate.
• Taste and taboos- Entertainment media often questions of our values for artistic and entertainment purposes. Normative ethics is often about moral values, and what kinds should be enforced and protected. In media ethics, these two sides come into conflict. In the name of art, media may deliberately attempt to break with existing norms and shock the audience. That poses ethical problems when the norms abandoned are closely associated with certain relevant moral values or obligations. The extent to which this is acceptable is always a hotbed of ethical controversy.

Representation:

Gender stereotypes, discrimination- Many types of media have stereotypes- including games, TV, advertising and music. These stereotypes affect people on how they see themselves or it makes them do bad/undesirable behaviour.  Dietz (1998) found that 41% of the games were devoid of female characters. Only 15% (5 out of 33) portrayed women as heroes or as action characters, while 21% (7
out of 33) portrayed women as victims or as so called “damsel in distress”. At the same time, in
28% of these games, women were portrayed as sex objects based upon physical appearance or sexually-oriented actions.

Women in games are routinely abused, bullied and harassed while their professional community, and the industry’s largest companies, tend to remain silent. Interrogating this culture or attempting to advance this conversation can result in censure or punishment. An example of this in games is Grand Theft Auto (GTA). GTA V has little room for women apart from portraying them as strippers, prostitutes, long-suffering wives, humour-less girlfriends and goofy, new-age feminists we’re meant to laugh at. Characters constantly spout lines that glorify male sexuality while demeaning women, and the billboards and radio stations of the world reinforce this misogyny, with ads that equate manhood with sleek sports cars while encouraging women to purchase a fragrance that will make them “smell like a bitch."- all the game does is reinforce and celebrate sexism. While driving listening to radio it turns sour really quick when a voice comes on the radio that talks about using a woman as a urinal.

This is an example of how women are represented in GTA V 

In animation there are many gender stereotypes included in popular TV shows and movies, this is mainly aimed at females and present them as skinny with perfect hair and dresses (or really pretty/revealing outfits) as popular girls or they present smarter girls as bit bigger build in body with dull clothes like jumpers and big glasses. This is shown in the famous kids TV show Scooby-Doo, Daphne as the more beautiful and dependant one and Velma as the nerdy/smart one with less nicer clothes (as their stereotypes).

The most popular animation stereotype is Disney- The princesses are possibly the most popular Disney characters besides Mickey and Minnie. They are instantly recognizable to us in terms of their name, dress, story, relationships, etc. When we begin to look closer though, we notice certain similarities between the princesses in terms of physiques and attitudes. Disney also got controversy for the film The princess and the frog- it was the first film with a African-American heroin but still uses stereotypes throughout the movie. people don't think about the males in Disney films. In the Princess movies, they play a role, but not a very large one. If you look into what they are saying and the way they are acting though, you see that the males are just as stereotyped as the females. for example they often sing about what it means to be a man- The urge that men have to be tough, skilled, suave, and covered with hair. Also the evil male characters are often overweight or ugly. We never see them with a female companion or being overly independent.

This is a video of the evolution of gender stereotypes in animation movies

This is example of the Disney princesses gender stereotype summed up

Racial stereotyping:

When playing violent video games, playing as a black character might make “disturbing” cultural stereotypes among white players, a new study has found. White players, both men and women, expressed more negative views of blacks, more strongly linked blacks and weapons and acted more aggressively overall after playing the games with black avatars. This experiment was that 126 white university students, 60 percent of them men, played the action game "Saints Row 2," Some were given a white avatar, the others a black avatar. Researchers found that the volunteers who played with the violent goal as a black character “showed stronger explicit negative attitudes toward blacks” compared to volunteers who pursued the violent goal with the white character.

A game called 'Ethnic Cleansing' is number 1 in the top to racist video games, the game unsurprisingly pits you as a skinhead and has you running around a non-descript locale gunning down as many ethnic minorities, races and religious folks as possible, primarily blacks, Mexicans and Jews. This would be offensive by itself, but the game is not at all content to stop there. The soundtrack is backed by some racist rock music, and whenever you shoot a black person, they make the loud scream of a monkey.

This is an example of game-play of the game Ethnic cleansing

In animation they were more racist in the 30's and 40's, cartoons made by Warner Brothers, Metro Goldwyn Mayor, Walter Lantz, and other animation studios made ridiculous stereotypes of Blacks with disquieting regularity. The racism in animated cartoons originated in large part with newspaper comic strips from the turn of the twentieth century. The typical depiction of a black person is similar across both media and the pioneers of early animation were frequently comic strip artists to begin with.

An example is the 1941 Walter Lantz cartoon “Scrub Me Mama with a Boogie Beat,” in which particularly racist stereotypes sleep the day away in Lazy-town until a Lena Horne look-alike sashays off a riverboat and motivates the lethargic populace to dance and shimmy (the message is that only music can energize black people).

This is the title screen for cartoon “Scrub Me Mama with a Boogie Beat,”

Social issues and sensitivities:

This is representation of gender, representation of religious beliefs, linguistic usages and accessibility.

In gaming the social issues it creates is antisocial personality disorder- the video games are addictive for kids/young adults, these are more affected by video games that adults. Scientists say that the kids/young adults addiction will increase their anxiety levels and depression, also people who are predisposed to violent behaviour might be at higher risk to being more affected by playing of violent video games than others. The general aggression model suggests the simulated violence in the video games may interfere with a player's thoughts, feelings and physical arousal and this in return creates a short-term (and possibly a long-term) effect on an individual's interpretation of an aggressive or violent act-  In 2007, 32% of students ages 12–18 years old reported being bullied at school, compared to 5% in 1999. An example of this is a seventeen year old called Daniel Petric murdered his mother and injuring his father after they refused to let him play Halo 3- 'Petric walked into his parents’ room and said “Would you close your eyes? I have a surprise for you,” before shooting his father between the eyes'.

This is a picture of the game that caused the murder.

In animation the social issues they can be addictive depending on the person, some animation might cause antisocial behaviour- as some animation shows a wrong idea of how people act to others or in general. The most popular examples are Family Guy and South Park, these have a lot of controversy around them, usually stereotyping or racism are the main ones to do with the controversies. In South Park they have many time pushed the boundaries of ethical constraints- For example in an episode the children accidentally adopt an Ethiopian child which they name him Starvin Marvin. This gives off the impression that all Ethiopians are starving. Also his speech in this episode is just clicking sounds which makes people think off him as animal-like and inhuman. The way he is depicted in this episode is meant to stereotype African children as poor and skinny even though some are actually not.

Here is an image of Starvin Marvin from South Park.

In Family Guy there are plenty of controversies around race and stereotyping, the most offensive is said the be the episode that Peter seeks a Jew to balance his chequebook and this was banned by Fox for a while – they feared uproar at some of the stereotypes discussed in the show – and wasn't aired until some of the lyrics to the song ‘I Need A Jew’ were cut or altered. In the box-set with this episode in some fans of the show complained how tame the episode was and said 'it looked like an overreaction by Fox', Fox possibly did this because of the growing criticism the show was already attracting.

This is the song 'I need a Jew' from Family Guy

Religious beliefs:

In gaming the most recent (and rather absurd) version of religion in video games was the worship of the Founding Fathers in Bioshock Infinite. In terms of a "person/character becoming something more due to religion" that one's probably a good bet because of Comstock. The creators never really explain why Comstock believed in his racist beliefs and only presented religion as a catalyst, you will have to fill in a lot of the blanks yourself and they will be extremist beliefs.

Far cry 3 had tribal culture religion and metaphoric demons which needed an uprising against. Typically, such religions focus more on physical strength and domination rather than salvation.

Elder Scrolls has extensive religious lore tying a parallel a bit closer to Greek mythology with warring factions and gods that represent various traits.

Fallout 3 has the Church of Atom which began worshipping an un-detonated atomic bomb due to it's power to change things.

This is an image of the founding fathers in Bioshock Infinite

In animation there is religion in Disney movies but in some of their movies it is hidden or not noticed by the viewers. The Disney movies that we know have religion in are Mulan with the Chinese traditions shown in the movie- like the women's clothing and eating traditions. Another known Disney film with religion shown is Hercules, where there is Greek mythology with the different Gods and the big temple where people worship/pray. Furthermore there are hidden religions in some Disney movies like Snow White, she is a Christian- as she is seen briefly praying with her head bowed and hand clasped asking for Gods blessing to the seven dwarfs which showed her kindness. Also the film The Hunchback of Notre Dame involves God the most, in beginning of the story it tells of the villain wanting to kill a baby but stopped by the Church, one way the Holy Spirit works. The heroine later sings to God, how prayer should really be and that isn't the only song to do with religion in this film- Quasimodo sings about miracles in the squeal. Also believing he's better than others, the villain constantly clashes with his faith.

This is an image of when the heroine (Esmeralda) singing in the church.

Culture:

There are many games that offend cultures but some are so bad they get banned in countries/certain parts of the world. the top 5 most offensive games are:

5- Duke Nukem Forever- This game contains awful sexual content, awful misogyny, and disgusting scenes like when a player walks him into the bathroom to pick faeces out the toilet. 

4- Manhunt- Players sneak around maze-like levels and were tasked with killing men in various gruesome ways, getting points for violence, essentially. Suffocating men with plastic bags, stabbing men in the face with knives, knocking men in the head with bats, sticking axes into men, etc. This game is banned in several countries.

3-Super Columbine Massacre- It puts players in the mindset of the killers, and makes an attempt to put the audience in a place to understand where those two that did the killing were coming from.

2-Postal 2- The game is like a sandbox of senseless slaughter, hate, and peeing on people’s heads. An example is a “mission” objective to get yourself treated for gonorrhoea and sticking a shotgun up a cat’s anus to use the animal as a silencer. 

1-RapeLay- RapeLay put players in the “shoes” of a rapist- Stalk women on trains and through train-stations, as well as train-station bathrooms and other train-related environments until you corner and rape them mercilessly. However if you rape them “incorrectly”, the girl will twist around and stab you in the chest until you die.

This is an example of  a women in the game RapeLay

In animation there are few shows that are offensive and still allowed to show, one of the most offensive shows is Bricleberry, all of the adult type animations have pushed some boundaries in their episodes but Brickleberry has gone to far as many people are saying. This show was the centre of controversy last year as it was re-cut to remove some (but not all) of the rape jokes- The show left in AIDS, Parkinsons and black face jokes. Some people say bad thing about Family Guy, but it (sometimes) earns its offensive laughs by adding in some actual whimsy and joie de vivre. “Brickleberry is just nihilistic" as people call  it.

This is an image of the show Bricleberry

Depiction of violence and sex:

As games become more realistic, their depiction of violence goes more extreme- There have always been video games which have excessive violence, but the next-generation consoles such as PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the extreme nature of certain kinds of games is becoming ever more visceral and realistic. People are asking if  there is a point at which "extreme" becomes "too much". Never have gamers witnessed disembowelments or amputations with such intense realism. Enthusiasts might call it "exquisite," but psychologists like Bushman (professor of communication and psychology) worry that it will desensitize gamers to violence more than ever before. An example of a game that shows violence is Mortal Kombat X, in the gameplay trailer it shows depicts ultra-violent confrontations between supernaturally powered individuals that rip one another apart, crushing skulls, exposing internal organs, and splashing buckets of realistic blood all over the screen.

Here is the gameplay trailer for Mortal Kombat X

There are more games getting sex scenes in them, and they are getting more talked about. An example game is Mass Effect. The sex scenes in Mass Effect are quite tame, limited to 'tastefully-lit' shots of character models and the occasional flash of groping. Fox News in the US said that the game featured “full digital nudity and sex” (a remark the company later apologised for), while Neo-Conservative blogger Kevin McCullough wrote that- “Mass Effect can be customized [to allow the player] to sodomise whatever, whomever, however they wish”. He then said that- “with its 'over the net' capabilities virtual orgasmic rape is just the push of a button away”. McCullough has since apologised for the hyperbole, but maintains Mass Effect’s sexual content is “offensive”.

This is a image from Mass Effect sex scene

In animation, as the result of countless complaints from the people that were convinced that Doom and Ren and Stimpy were responsible for the Columbine shootings, cartoon violence has hugely declined in the television that most children have access to. Things like the Looney Tunes played every day have stopped and when Cartoon Network featured a solid multiple hour block of MGM cartoons every Saturday morning. Removing the violence from cartoons was the first step on a slippery slope- Once the violence disappeared, Mums/parents needed something new to complain about, so cartoons were: too rude, too loud, not inclusive enough or not politically correct enough. This led to fundamental changes in the nature of new cartoons and the cartoon cannon split into two factions to deal with these changes. These two factions were-  On one end, the cartoon creators hands tied too tightly by PC restrictions and made a bunch of brightly-colored incomprehensible shape monsters to parade in front of the TV incoherently (Boobahs, Teletubbies). On the other, cartoons went from being a form of mindless entertainment to mediums that were designed to teach kids lessons and morals, sending Dr. Phil-esque messages to those who watch them.

Looney Tunes- with harmless funny violence from Wile e coyote who is only
remembered by his violence even though he was the one getting hurt which was funny

However, according to a recent study published in British Medical Journal entitled "Cartoons Kill," animated films are surprisingly full of violence. For the study the researchers analysed the top 45 grossing PG- or G-rated animated children's films from 1937 to 2013 and compared it with the top two grossing adult dramas released in the same year. Which they found that, in comparison to adult films, characters in animated films were twice as likely to die and three times as likely to be murdered- this is important because children between the ages of 2 and 5 spend approximately 32 hours a week watching television or movies, so it's important to think about what kind of content your child is consuming and how well they'll be able to digest it. For example, the study suggests that allowing your child to watch the same death scene over and over again can have traumatic effects, especially if it's the death of a parent, which can often cause severe separation anxiety. However they also say that this doesn't mean you shouldn't allow your kids to watch these animated films. Even though there are some uncomfortable scenes, these movies can actually help children accept the idea of loss. "Films that model appropriate grief responses could help children to gain a deeper understanding of the meaning of death," the study says. The kind of animation film shown in this research was Disney movies with deaths or sad scenes- For example:

This is the famous death scene in The Lion King which had even men crying

Also this more recent film Up that had everyone in tears and rated Disney's saddest film

There are few animation films/shows which show sex scenes, the popular animated shows that people know have sex scenes in are: South park, Family guy and Brickleberry. Also there are quite a lot of sex references or even few sounds that have appeared in The Simpsons, this has been around since December 17, 1989 and is still going strong. In the Simpsons movie there has been controversy around the scene where Homer dares Bart to skateboard naked, it was funny until they made it so we saw his genitals. In the movie this isn't the only thing to do about sex, Marge and Homer have sex- even though we cant see it we hear few noises and see the expressions on the animals faces that were in the cabin with them. Throughout many of their episodes there is sex or sex references in them.

A 'clean' example of The Simpsons scenes

Offensive language:

Even though recent years it is common for swearing to be said between mature adults it is becoming more appeared in games as games are getting violent and mature content for adults. In 2006 the game Scarface: The World is Yours launched to positive reviews and a new Guinness World Record for dirty language. Over the title's 31,000 lines of dialogue, the word "fuck" is used exactly 5,688 times, far surpassing any other console, PC or handheld game's use of the famous four-letter word. Also released in 2013, Grand Theft Auto V is another commercially and critically successful hit that has honed in on a more realistic form of swearing. The series as a whole is well known for exposing generation after generation of players to bad language and other morally reprehensible deeds.

The PEGI system splits bad language into 2 categories:

• Mild swearing and/ or offensive language (rated 12)
• Sexual expletives (rated 16)

This is a video of the Top 5 - Games with Excessive swearing.

In animation the same well known shows like South Park and Family Guy seem to have all of these controversies in them yet they are still allowed to be aired in many countries as this seems to be due to popular demand by fans of these shows. Out of those two shows, South Park seems to be the worst with swearing, violence, sex, culture etc. In the South Park movie 'South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut' it shows the four boys see an R-rated movie featuring Canadians Terrance & Phillip, they are pronounced "corrupted", and their parents pressure the United States to wage war against Canada. In every scene there is swearing, there is even songs in this film which are full of searing. These include: Uncle Fucka, It's Easy, Mmm'kay, and Kyle's Mom's a Bitch.