What is Cultivation Effects; it is a theory that looks at how something from your culture affects the way you act. George Gerbner and Larry Gross did a study and followed the “cultivated” effects of violent television on viewers. They were "concerned with the effects of television programming (particularly violent programming) on the attitudes and behaviors of the American public" (Miller, 2005, p. 281). Besides violent television what other cultivation effects can arise from violent programming?
Television has changed from what is seen and shown now a day, not only is there a load of violence being viewed by viewers but there’s countless portrayals of sex being observed by minors. More and more kids between the ages of 5 to 17 are watching television unsupervised. Television stations use to show violent and explicit sexual content at night after a certain hours. But now with so many different cable channel and satellite options available, access to view shows that are normally scheduled for late night viewing can be seen at anytime of the day by minors.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has suggested that portrayals of sex on television can contribute to precocious adolescent sex. Approximately about sixty-six percent of our television shows today cater to sexual situations. Hollywood celebrities have a role in this theory because they are viewed in high regard by many and they give the perception that this attitude is acceptable behavior on screen. According the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics there is still not enough research to prove this theory that sex on television increased teen sexual activity.
Another example of cultivation effect on television is the offensive language used during
primetime. Upon completion of a study of seven broadcast networks for prime-time viewing
from 1997 - 2001, the use of profanity skyrocketed to an average rate of one profaned word
every eight minutes. It was not a surprise to me that the FOX network programs included more
crudities than all other networks with UPN having the maximum rate of such utterance per hour.
Milder words such as "hell" and "damn" towered above all others being used, but the "seven
dirty words" were heard once every 3 hours. Programs labeled TV-PG circulated more dirty
remarks than those labeled TV-14. Television shows with an "L" rating and programs without a
content rating still contained more vulgarities than other content-rated shows.
In 1978 a radio station owned by Pacifica Foundation Broadcasting out of New York City was doing a program on contemporary attitudes toward the use of language. This broadcast took place on a mid-afternoon weekday. Immediately before the broadcast the station announced a disclaimer telling listeners that the program would include "sensitive language which might be regarded as offensive to some."(Gunther, 1991) Pacifica believed that this was enough warning to give people who would be offended, but placing a warning in front of something is like placing chocolate cake in front of a fat guy. Humans thirst for the unknown, and at this time, sexual perversion was a big unknown.
There were countless uses of the word fuck and motherfucker. Also, there were instances of moderate to mild language such as “dickhead”, “jerking me off”, and “pricks”. Finally, some of the language used is sexual/biological such as "go fuck yourself", "motherfucker", and “butt-fucked.” (I apologize for typing the language used here, but I felt it helped to answer the question.)
“In 2005, out of 68% of TV shows that showed steamy sexual content, only 15% discussed risk and responsibility. And it’s not just movies and TV: Music, video games, and the Internet are also filled with sexually explicit, often-degrading messages that can shape kids’ attitudes about sex.” (greatschools.org)
and Angela Miu. "Watching Sex on Television Predicts Adolescent Initiation of." Pediatrics 114.3 (2004): 280-89. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Mar. 2011.
The n-word evolved from the word “negro,” meaning “black,” as early as the 17th century as intentionally derogatory (Price, “Straight Talk About the N-Word”). “Faggot” originated with the Middle English “fagot,” meaning a bundle of sticks that was usually burdensome (dictionary.com). This word then became a term for a contemptible woman circa 1590, and circa 1910, the word picked up a ‘g’ and became a highly derogatory reference to flamboyant, gay men (dictionary.com). This word, in particular, could be speculated to have been chosen for gay men because they were a contemptible burden on society at the time. “Slut” originated in 1402 as a slovenly, untidy woman; later in the 15th century, the near modern usage of “a sexually promiscuous woman” appeared. (dictionary.com). The scarlet letter Hester wears is modeled after centuries of shameful branding. In England, under the Poor Law Act of 1697, after receiving relief from their parish, the poor were required to wear a badge of blue or red cloth in an open and visible manner. This was meant to discourage them from collecting additional aid unless they were highly desperate, as few people wanted to be seen doing this while wearing such a “shameful” branding (Hindle, “Dependency, Shame and Belonging: Badging the Deserving Poor,
In Boondock Saints, Rocco swears up a storm by screaming the ‘f’ word in different ways. After Rocco finished yelling, Connor says, “Well, that certainly illustrates the diversity of the word.” In efforts to try to keep this essay clean as possible with such a dirty word, Rocco uses the word to describe the brothers, the situation, and his frustration. Overall, making it a diverse word by using the word as a verb, an adjective, and a noun.
And reading both Zeisler and Weaver's message in their articles you can see that both their messages that they are trying to give over to their readers coincide with one another. When Weaver says 'How is your own attitude about profanity shaped by the environments in which you grew up?' it shows how Weaver in actuality is agreeing that the meaning of words can be received differently by having the environment and community that you live in, connect the word to a positive or negative
Weigel, R. H., and Jessor, R. (1999). "Television and adolescent conventionality: An exploratory study." Public Opinion Quarterly, 3779-90.
How can I ever forget a time when I said a swear word in front of my mom. I was at the grocery store shopping with my mom and cousin. I was already upset because I got in trouble at home already. My cousin just kept messing with me and making fun of me and I just told her to “shut the fuck up.” Don’t you just hate those nagging little cousins that laugh at everything? I tried to say it as low as possible but my mom has ears like a hawk. Man I swear I never got slapped so hard a day in my life. From that day forward I swore that I wouldn’t say any swear words ever. Do you ever wonder where swearing words originated from? Or even people views on how they feel about them? Barbara Lawrence has an issue with swearing words because people use different terminology such as: “Broad”, “chick”, “piece of tail” and other sorts of harmful words to downgrade women. Bill Bryson on the other hand says that swear words are merely considered bad because they are considered bad. A similarity that both Lawrence and Bryson have is when they mentioned the word “ficken”, which is a German or Latin word meaning f***. The difference between the two are that Bryson explains the different words the Romans created and used over 1,500 years ago and Lawrence explains that some
Profanity is often thrown around like it is nothing, but it can ruin a lot of things for people who use it on a regular basis. Christians are an example of people who do not like profanity. It is a sin to curse and Christians take profanity seriously. So many people use profanity so much that they do not even realize that they are using it. Some people think that it is “cool” to cuss and use foul language, those people throw bad words around like it is nothing. The lesson that profanity teaches is that using bad language can make people frown upon you and will not get you far in
The entertainment that television is now portraying is not exactly what the younger society of America needs to be exposed to, but unfortunately in today's economy that is the only kind of entertainment that sells. There is so much unnecessary exposure to violence, aggressive behavior, and sexual acts now being broadcasted daily on television, movies, music, and even the news. The broadcasting systems are now targeting younger children and teens. The crime rates have skyrocketed due to delinquent juvenile behavior over the past ten years. The whole viewing society is now becoming very tolerant and at ease with sex and violence. Youth and children are picking up on these behaviors daily. Studies have shown that by the age of 18, the average American teen will have viewed around 200,000 acts of violence on television. The violence and sexual content that television and music are now portraying has negatively influenced younger children and teens to commit murder, exhibit aggressive behavior, and become tolerant of violence and sex.
Hibberd, James "Tuned-in kids get turned on earlier; study links adult-aimed TV to sex at younger age." Hollywood Reporter 409.35 (2009): 6+. General OneFile. Web. 4 Nov. 2010.
The evolution of written profanity began roughly in the sixteenth century, and continues to change with each generation that it sees. Profanity is recognized in many Shakespearean works, and has continually evolved into the profane language used today. Some cuss words have somehow maintained their original meanings throughout hundreds of years, while many others have completely changed meaning or simply fallen out of use.
...e becoming more and more common everyday with the movies with people getting drunk and smoking weed making it look like it’s the best thing ever and that only cool people does it makes teenagers expertise that leading to a new addiction. Exposing sex on TV is not only affecting the children but it’s affecting the teenagers making them curious about life and trying to experience new stuff leading to a teen pregnancy or sometimes diseases. All these are serious problems that USA has in society today but since TV has become an everyday thing for every American family that all these different issues do not really seem to be relevant because all these problems are a part of society. If people want to look for a solution to solve the violence, the young sex, and the profanity in the teenager’s first people need to solve the number one problem that no one thinks of The TV.
Sexual activity in the mass media is another negative influence on teenagers. The first example is early sexual intercourse. According to Stockwell, a research shows that teenagers who are exposed to a lot of sexual content on television are more to likely to have sex by 16 years of age than those with limited exposure.