Immorality In Television Essays - Rating, Behavior, Media Studies

Immorality in Television Matchmaker.com: Sign up now for a free trial. Date Smarter! Immorality in Television 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