Immorality In Television Essay, Research Paper

Vulgarity in Television

In the early years of television people

where much more sensitive to what was said and took offense to any form

of obscene language. Even in the movies it was unacceptable. However, for

many the standard for the use of vulgar language has expanded. In many

shows on television vulgar words are used way to often. In many cases unnecessarily.

These words do not bother me in the least. However, there are many parents

with young children who are offended by this. This would not such a big

deal if only the shows that carried these vulgarities would be shown later

at night, as they where for many years. Also, most of the programs are

not correctly rated to warn of there content.

Besides using the basics of the swear words

some programs take it to a different level. Instead of using the words

themselves they use a form of slang in order to get around the censors.

Although these words are not the same as the ones commonly used, they do

share the same meaning. By having these programs use these words they are

encouraging the children to use a new language that there parents do not

understand. And because the parents do not understand the words the children

then think it is all right to use profanity.

Profanity in television is not so much

a problem as it is an annoyance. It makes television more interesting to

watch and can occasionally make a situation more humorous, but I do not

enjoy it when a five-year-old calls their parents a– holes to there face.

Rating System

Recently introduced to all the television

shows is the new rating system. This system was implemented to warn about

the kind of shows on television. The system tells whether the show is to

mature for young children. However, does the system still have flaws?

Although it does give an idea as to what

the show contains, it does not tell as to the extent to which it is. An

example would be the television show “Strangers with Candy.” This program

is extremely crude with little humor. Normally I enjoy crude humor, but

this show is gross. It contains vulgarity, drug use, and sexually references.

And to top it off the show is at 10:00. Shows like this should not be viewed

any time. My point of bringing this up is to show how lose the system is.

I believe that it should be remolded to a different, more precise version

of what it is.

The current rating system is as follows:

TV-Y–This program is appropriate for

all children.

TV-Y7– Directed to children age seven

and above. May include mild physical or comedic violence, or may frighten

children under age seven.

Categories for programs directed at entire

audience:

TV-G– Suitable for all ages. Contains

little or no violence, no strong language and little or no sexual dialogue

or situations.

TV-PG.– Parental Guidance Suggested.

May contain infrequent coarse language, limited violence and some suggestive

sexual dialogue and situations.

TV-14– Parents Strongly Cautioned. May

contain sophisticated themes, sexual content, strong language and more

intense violence.

TV-M– Mature Audiences Only. Unsuitable

for children. May contain mature themes, profane language, graphic violence

and explicit sexual content.

Sexually Themes and Drug Use

The limitations of sex in television as

far been expanded since when the television first became popular. In the

past twenty years shows have been made which prove my point. Lately on

television their has been much leniency towards this subject. Shows such

as “N.Y.P.D. Blues” and “Beverly Hills 90210″ constantly try to see how

far the can take a situation before they agitate the censors. Once again

it does not bother me to see these things, but when thinking about it I

really would not approve of my younger sister to see these things.

Another blight on television would be the

use of drugs. Unlike vulgarity and sex I really do have a problem with

drug use. There is really no use for it on television and I would prefer

to never see it. Although I am totally against it really do think that

their is a difference between seeing someone spark a joint and watching

them stick their arms with a dirty needle. It is my opinion that if young

children see this they will become curious and want to experiment. And

if this happens they will someday be eating a steady diet of government

cheese and be living in a van down by the river.

Subliminal Messages in Television

Although this subject is often overlooked

it is a great cause for concern when it is exposed to young children. Subliminal

messages can warp a young child?s mind into thinking that they should do

something that is subconsciously being placed into their minds. These thoughts

are usually harmless. Most advertisers try to promote there product by

either having an actor rapidly saying the products name or by constantly

showing pictures of the product. By doing this they are sending messages

toy young minds that they need to have what is their. A good example of

this would be “Pokemon.” Because of all the publicity kids feel the need

to have what is being shown. The result to this is parents going out and

buying over one-hundred-fifty-one toys of little monsters that their children

will forget about in a year. This is exactly what the advertisers want

so they can put out another toy that will have kids begging their parents

for money.

Violence in Television

Probably the most talked about subject

when it comes to bad-mouthing of television. This has become a serious

problem in television. Even in the days of early television violence has

been around. However, since those days it has become much worse. Instead

of kids jumping of cliffs thinking they are superman, or hitting each-other

over the head with a frying pan, they are hitting each-other over the head

with a steel chair and choking out their friends like a wrestler. Their

is no real place to put the blame because violence is every where. However,

it does not need to be placed on television where it can be broadcast to

anyone who wants to watch it.

Unlike the other topics I mentioned I do

not think that by only moving the more violent programs to later at night

would work. This is manly because it would be to difficult as to determine

what is violent and what is not. By this I mean that people have different

views as to what they find violent. Some people may find an angry dog chewing

a small toy violent enough, while someone else finds decapitation is nothing

to loose sleep over. Either way I believe that violence does influence

the young mind, and unfortunatly thier is very little our society can do

about it because we have let the situation get to far out of control.