The Mean World Syndrome - Desensitization & Acceleration (Extra Feature)

Buy DVD at http://www.mediaed.org

The Mean World Syndrome
Media Violence & the Cultivation of Fear

A new film based on the late George Gerbner's groundbreaking analysis of media influence and media violence.

Featuring George Gerbner and Michael Morgan

For years, debates have raged among scholars, politicians, and concerned parents about the effects of media violence on viewers. Too often these debates have descended into simplistic battles between those who claim that media messages directly cause violence and those who argue that activists exaggerate the impact of media exposure altogether. The Mean World Syndrome, based on the groundbreaking work of media scholar George Gerbner, urges us to think about media effects in more nuanced ways. Ranging from Hollywood movies and prime-time dramas to reality programming and the local news, the film examines how media violence forms a pervasive cultural environment that cultivates in heavy viewers, especially, a heightened state of insecurity, exaggerated perceptions of risk and danger, and a fear-driven propensity for hard-line political solutions to social problems. A provocative and accessible introduction to cultivation analysis, media effects research, and the subject of media influence and media violence more generally.

Also includes three additional short features -- ideal for classroom use -- that take a closer look at Gerbner's analysis and the Mean World Syndrome.

1. Media as Storytellers: "Nothing to Tell but a lot to Sell" -- Explores the significance of commercial media eclipsing religion and art as the great storyteller of our time. (7:32)

2. A Mean World Case Study: Child Abductions -- Provides an in-depth look at how media coverage of child abductions has fed parental anxieties out of proportion with statistical reality. (4:17)

3. Further Effects of the Mean World Syndrome: Desensitization & Acceleration -- Examines how heavy exposure to media violence normalizes violence, numbing some people to real-world violence even as it whets the appetite in others for ever-higher doses. (8:48)

Category:

Education

Tags:

• MEF
• George
• Gerbner

[6969696969969696]

where can i get this for free, or see more

[ChallengingMedia]

@6969696969969696 You can see the official trailer or a low resolution preview of our film on our website.

Thanks for your interest!

[jasonlajoie]

I could only get about half-way through this video. It was way too violent for me.

[WritergirlAD]

I always think of how I can hardly watch movie trailers anymore because of how shockingly violent and loud they've become, but there are little 6 year old boys sitting through them not even blinking-sadly, it seems they're already used to it at that age.

[daddysgirl3471]

@ChallengingMedia I started to feel an anxiety attack coming on after watching that 91 YRS OLD MAN being punched OVER AND OVER AGAIN! I am in tears. Can't watch anymore.

[Raina430]

I really think it is so terrible that in a video denouncing violence I saw more condensed violence than I have seen anywhere. At one point I covered the screen. I wanted to hear his important message,yet I feel like it says something about the producers that they are presenting this orgy of violence. I would rather have seen colorful

MRI's of what this does to the brain, or something more imaginative to make the point.

[lightbrownpoop]

@jasonlajoie im only 2 minutes in and dont feel like watching anymore...i hate it when interesting, educational videos show disturbing imagery.

[kelly941000]

@Schnarkel Thank you for answer me!! i got it ;)

[betatalk357]

0:38 and 1:05. If I was there, I'd shot those 2 assholes in the head. Seriously, you gotta beat up a homeless guy to make yourself feel like a man and damn near kill a 91 year old World War 2 veteran for his car? And its only a boring Chevy. Mean World Syndrome, alright. Those thugs would see how mean the world can be to them.

[murphy795]

@watchessailormoon that made me lol, but the dude stabbing his wife was disturbing

[Watchessailormoon]

so violence is bad to show on TV, and then to explain that, they show a bunch of violence? "Hey kids, you shouldn't watch porno. And to show you that you shouldn't, here is 10 minutes of porno to watch right now."

[Watchessailormoon]

guess what people, bad things happen. There are bad people out there. The only reason that it seems like it is getting worse is because there is more media coverage. It's an illusion. Study history and you will quickly realize how much better things have gotten over time.