CRITICAL

APPROACHES
Lauren Hamer

MORAL PANIC
Stanley cohan suggested in his book fols devils and
moral panics 1972 that moral panic occurs when a
condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges
to become defined as a threat to social values and
interests.
Ebola would be a prime example of moral panic, this
being that the media although informing audiences what
is happening and where it is happening, giving
information on its symptoms and what it does but in
addition to this it can scare the audiences into a panic of
not wanting to leave the house or becoming suspicious
of others.

HYPODERMIC
MODEL
The Hypodermic needle theory implies mass media has a direct immediate and powerful effect on its
audiences, this meaning that audiences can be directly influenced by what they are seeing or hearing
to define how they may act, additionally triggering a desired response.
They express the view that the media is a dangerous means of communicating am idea because the
receiver or audiences are powerless to resist the impact of a message. People are seen as passive and
are seen as having a lot of media material shot at them. This then meaning that people end up
thinking what they are told because they have no other source of information to compare with.
An Example of this would be the war of the worlds. In 1938, the now-famous radio dramatization of
the science fiction novel war of the worlds by HG Wells was preformed like a contemporary new
broadcast a technique that had been used to heighten realism and dramatic effect. However as
audiences listened to the simulation new broadcast which was every 40 minutes some people
concluded that It was in fact a real account of an invasion from mars, citizens headed to the road, hid
in their homes and loaded their weapons in an attempt to defend themselves from the attack. This is a
prime example of how the Hypodermic theory has worked in the past by information being shot
straight into a persons mind.
The Strengths of this would be the use of numbers and statistics can be effective and reliable way of
seeing trends however a weakness to this would be too simplistic, changes to attitudes and beliefs are
not always observable or easily measured in the way physics may be. Audiences interpret media
differently.

M O D E L I N G O R C O P Y C AT T H E O R Y
The copycat effect refers to the tendency of sensational publicity about violent
murders or suicide to result in more of the same through imitation this also
linking into the copycat crime theory.
The following crimes have been associated with child's play films.
1.In December 1992 four people who tortured and killed a 16 years old girl,
Suzanne Caper, were said to be influenced by one of the child's play movies.
Furthermore during the torturing of the girl the perpetrators taunted her with
quotes from the movies.
2.In 1993 John Venables and Robert Thompson abducted and murdered a toddler
named James Bulger were said to be influenced by the film Childs play 3.
According to research based on copycat crimes it is stated that most of the
people who commit crimes mimic what they have seen in the media (especially
from the news and violent movies)

T E E N O B S E SS E D W I T H T V
SHOW DEXTER
Steven Miles hacked politics student Elizabeth Thomas to death in his bedroom and dismembered
her body.
In a truly gruesome killing, 16-year-old Miles wrapped the body parts in cling film before
placing them in bin bags. He then covered 17-year-olds body with a green plastic garden sheet, a
court heard.
Miles, who had a fascination with horror movies and the macabre, and was obsessed with Dexter,
a serial killer in a US cult series. The teenage politics student used saws and tools from his
fathers tree surgeon business to cut up her body. He told his family he had an alter ego called
Ed who had ordered him to commit murder, after stabbing Elizabeth to death in January this
year. He told his sister : Ed made me do something bad.
This is an example of copycat crimes in which the show DEXTER has influenced a 17 year old
boy to hack his girlfriend to death then claiming it was his alter ego ed

EFFECTS DEBATES
The Hypodermic Theory Strengths and Weaknesses.
This is one of the simplest models used to explain the way the media can have an effect on
the audience. It assumes that the audience are passive and that all members of the
audience group are the same and respond in similar ways. It states that the media has a
direct influence on the audience and it injects its beliefs and values directly into the
viewers or readers. For example, if someone watches violence, it will make them behave
violently or accept violent behavior.
Strengths:
The use of numbers and statistics can be an effective way of seeing trends.
Effects studies often involve a large number of participants and sometimes extend over a long
period of time
Weaknesses:
Has little place in contemporary analysis and audience reception, although it is possible that
audiences revert to such thinking from time to time. These types of instances are rare and dont
carry a great deal of momentum. Audiences today tend to be a lot more sophisticated and aware
of how media messages are constructed

EFFECTS DEBATES
The Hypodermic Syringe Theory can offer quick, simple reasons for behaviors with
apparently simple solutions but does not take into account that a range of factors may
influence audience behavior. It is an idea that is popular with the tabloid press and
politicians who attempt to provide solutions to problems to reassure their
audience/constituents. However, there is little to support this theory when it is
considered carefully.
Passive Audience Theory Copycat
This meaning that audiences are passively controlled by what they are seeing,
listening to or reading. Thus then actively changing their actions, behavior and
thought process. The effects of the copycat theory can be argued either way in some
cases in children it may be good if brought across in educational purposes as they may
be watching a show about how to act or behave, in which could be influencing them in
a positive way, on the other hand in some crime cases that have been made like the
James Bulger case in 1993 some say that it was influenced from the film Childs Play
but on the other hand there is no proof that they had ever seen it.

AUDIENCE RESPONSE TO SPECIFIC FILM:

SAW

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK
To explore more about moral panic and the copycat theory I made a
questionnaire which asked the question would you consider the film to
be dangerous in the fact that it could influence people from this
everyone responded yes with the reoccurring answer of yes as the
scenes and could influence others and give others ideas on how to
commit these crimes.
This then shows that some of the scenes shown within TV and films can
be influential to certain people as it could be linked in to the copy cat
theory or the Hypodermic theory as both are seen as information and
actions being taken upon what they have seen or heard.
On the other hand they also argued this with a no as it is only a film
and those with a strong mind know that it only acting and only there for
entertainment.

SUMMARY OF
FINDINGS
Throughout my research I have found that there are many different media approaches that can effect a
persons way of thinking and how they may then interpret certain situations.
The moral panics has shown me that in situations where there is no other source of information's
viewers or readers will then start to think that it is 100% real. Like the war of the worlds
The Hypodermic theory is when information from the news, TV, or films is directly shot or injected
into a viewers mind this then meaning that they could be instantly influenced by what they see,
however audiences today interpret media differently. This meaning that today most people wont be
influenced by what they see only a select few.
When I researched the copycat theory it became clear that the main thing that came up was violent
copy cat crimes, this meaning that what some audiences have seen in horrors or on the news have
then gone out to reenact. However the copy cat theory could not just be for crimes it could also be
linked into children and what they see on TV which could be educational and in some cases helpful for
them.
Within my audience responses I learnt that the even though the film saw may seem influential it is in
reality only a film to which only those with a weak mind would see as being influenced.

CONCLUSION
To conclude all the theories are proven to be true in some
cases especially in the early 1900s as there was no other
supporting evidence to argue against.
With the Hypodermic and copycat theory can be seen as
proven with those in weaker mind set or people who have a
history of mental illness would only be the ones to have
been influenced by such things they see within the media as
in this day and age most audiences know that within the
media it cannot always be from a reliable source. Regarding
TV and films audiences know that they are actors simply
entertaining the public.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Moral_panic
http://www.slideshare.net/kimberleyfinn/moral-pani
c
http://www.slideshare.net/ecclestona/hypodermic-s
yringe-model1