Digc201 W7 Panic And Policy

DIGC201 Digital Games Cultures  

Week 7 Panic and Policy

a history of moral panics  collective cyclical cultural hegemony representation

hostile appeal to the majority (or the perception of it) disproportionate evapourative

Cohen, Stephen 1971, Folk Devils and Moral Panics, Routledge, New York. Hall, Stuart 1978, Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State and Law and

Order, Macmillan, London.

Goode and Ben–Yahuda (1994) five characteristics of a moral panic:

Concern: “heightened level of concern over the behavior of a certain group or category and the consequences that the behavior presumably causes for the rest of society” Hostility: The group is “collectively designated as the enemy” and viewed as evil, anti–social, and deviant. Consensus: A majority of population must believe that “the threat is real, serious, and caused by the wrongdoing group members and their behavior” Disproportionality: Victor writes that the concern is not justified by empirical evidence; that is, “the numbers of deviants are minimal or even non–existent and their harm is very limited or non–existent” Volatility: Moral panics come to prominence very quickly and fade out after a period of time

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Handtiegelpresse_von_1811.jpg

Moral Panics

Movies in the 20s and 30s Comics in the 40s and 50s Rock and Roll and Communism in the 50s and 60s Dungeons and Dragons in the 70s and 80s Video Games in the 90s Social Networks in 2000s

Hollywood Immorality Catholic Legion of Decency William H Hays Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) 1934 Production Code Administration Preproduction Censorship

http://www.flickr.com/photos/army_arch/2729017272/

Many adults think that the crimes described in comic books are so far removed from the child's life that for children they are merely something imaginative or fantastic. But we have found this to be a great error. Comic books and life are connected. A bank robbery is easily translated into the rifling of a candy store. Delinquencies formerly restricted to adults are increasingly committed by young people and children ... All child drug addicts, and all children drawn into the narcotics traffic as messengers, with whom we have had contact, were inveterate comic-book readers This kind of thing is not good mental nourishment for children! Fredric Wertham, Seduction of the Innocent, 1954 cited in Standage, (2006)

http://www.wonderwoman-online.com/goldenage_ww.html

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/images/batman.jpg

Comics Code Authority (1954) Banned: horror themes, the supernatural (undead, werewolves, ghouls, zombies etc) and “sexual peversions”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Spider-Man547.jpg

Restricted the representation of 'respected officials': policemen, judges, government officieals etc.

Technopanics New Media Forms Pathology of Youth

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42182583@N00/2653204173/

Behaviour modification

Doom (1993)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c9/Doom-boxart.jpg

Harris Doom Mods “To most people it may be just another silly computer game, but to me it is an outlet for my thoughts and dreams... I have mastered changing anything that is possible to change in that game, such as the speed of weapons, the strength and mass of monsters, the textures and colors used on the floors and walls, and greatest of all, the actual levels that are used. Several times I have dreamed of a place or area one night, then thought about it for days and days. Then, I would recreate it in Doom … These places may seem a bit on the violent side and, I assure you, some of them are. However, many times I have made levels with absolutely no monsters or guns in them. I have created worlds with beautiful, breath taking scenery that looks like something out of a science fiction movie, a fantasy movie, or even some ‘eldritch’ from H.P. Lovecraft.” Eric Harris essay cited in Crecente (2009)

Celebrity Panic'ers

Jack Thompson Henry Jenkins

Ferguson, Christopher 2008, 'The School Shooting/Violent Video Game Link: Causal Relationship or Moral Panic?', Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, no. 5, pp. 25–37.

Rockstar North GTA: San Andreas (2004)

Hot Coffee   "The disturbing material in Grand Theft Auto and other games like it ... stealing the innocence of our children and it's making the difficult job of being a parent even harder ... I believe that the ability of our children to access pornographic and outrageously violent material on video games rated for adults is spiraling out of control." - US senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, 2005 in Standage (2006)

EC (Early Childhood) E (Everyone)

ESRB (US 1994+)

E10+ (Everyone 10+) T (Teen) M (Mature) AO (Adults Only) RP (Rating Pending) KA (Kids to Adults)

Banned Games (Refused Classification) Dark Sector Manhunt Reservoir Dogs BMX XXX Blitz: The League Postal 2. Fallout 3

Ofice of FILM and Literature Classification (OFLC)

Games cannot be rated as R18+ , instead they will be Refused Classification (RC) (effectively banned) and cannot be sold.

"material promoting or encouraging proscribed drug use" is grounds to refuse classification. (OFLC 2008)

Blogging Task: Moral Panics

Read McCrea, Christian 2006, "Overruled" http://wolvesevolve.wordpress.com/2006/12/04/o Investigate a specific moral panic over computer games: violence, sex, addiction, etc. Idenitfy political interests, social conservatives and other participan . How has the panic played out in the media?