LO4 Task 5 Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues

Impact and Effect on the Audience

Welcome to LO4 Task 5 where we will learn about the impact and effect on the audience, sit back and enjoy the lesson! Were going to learn about some more theory, such as Theodore Adorno and Tessa Perkins and how they relate to Life of Pi, enjoy!

The Hypodermic Syringe theory proposed by (Theodore Adorno 1930) denotes that the media have a negative impact on the audience, that the audience are affected by the negative messages and values they consume. The theory presents the idea that the audience do not only watch the film but are influenced by it. An active audience are more perspective than a passive audience, they tend to question the issues rather than copy their behaviour. They are able to filter out and adapt to content in the media, the theory about active audiences was proposed by David Gauntlett. Passive audience links to Theodore Adorno’s theory about the hypodermic syringe model, as passive audiences are not able to filter anything out and are more likely to be affected by the issues they see, and possibly even copy the them, they could copy such themes as; violence, sexual content, impact in terms of role models and representations and stereotypes. The violence presented in the film would have a negative impact on the audience; especially the passive audience wouldn’t be able to filter out the negative issues and likely to copy the violence. The violence present in the film, is a fight for survival which is understandable and less likely to be copied, but in the case of the start of the film when the animals are fighting, it isn’t needed, there is no reason behind it. Another negative impact of the film is at the very start when the protagonist at a young age is shown disobeying their parents rules by getting close to the dangerous tiger, this could influence a child to disobey their parents.  A positive impact of the film links to Carl Rodgers theory of “Role models”, the role model being the protagonist who is denoted as someone who never gives up throughout the most part of the film, even in the most hopeless situations, this would inspire the audience in a positive way. Another example of a positive impact proposed in Life of Pi is; the relationship between the protagonist and tiger, being a very supportive relationship who help each other out, this could be a positive influence especially for the younger audience.

Representation

The theory proposed by (Stuart Hall 1980) talks about mediation, meaning that representations are made on purpose for the purpose of entertainment and most likely to present stereotypes. Because the characters are fictional and generally not based off true stories, the characters have to have specific personalities pre planned and are generally linked to a stereotype by association. This links to the next theory proposed by Tessa Perkins (1979) and her theory about stereotypes, her theory states that not all stereotypes are incorrect, some are in fact true and prove that stereotypes can have an element of truth in them. She states that even though some stereotypes can be challenged, they are based off some elements of truth. There is one positive stereotype in my film being that the protagonist and the rest of the characters from the first part of the film, all live in India and are seen as ‘Exotic’ to the audience, this is positive because they are sticking to their religion and beliefs, which can be seen as inspiring. Also another positive stereotype would be that the male protagonist is going out and is part of the action even in the most hopeless situation; this can be seen as inspiring and also can be seen as the protagonist being presented as a role model. But also a negative stereotype could be that the protagonist who is of a different ethnicity is ‘pitied’, not because of the colour of his skin, but because of his situation, linking to Tess’s theory that some stereotypes are not all false or challenged because of the reasoning behind the stereotype. There are some stereotypes that are challenged such as that people of different ethnicity are seen as ‘dangerous’ this stereotype is challenged in this film, the protagonist is considerate and caring towards others and poses no threat, apart from when his life is in danger. Also the danger presented by the protagonist is overshadowed by the danger that the tiger in the film presents, compared to the vicious animal, the protagonist poses no threat. All these theories about ethnicity were proposed by Alvarado (1987) who stated that ethnicity connotes ‘exotic, dangerous, humorous and pitied,’ Most of which are challenged in Life of Pi. 

Legal and Ethical

In terms of legal issues, copyright infringement is the use of content that is protected by copyright law, this specifically applies to content that is used without permission and can have certain consequences such as being fined and sued, depending on the severity of the infringement. This can be anything from infringing their right as the granted copy holder to reproduce, distribute, display or perform protected work or to make edits. The film would need to get copyright for all the songs and sound tracks in the film, a very popular song that was presented was Paradise by Coldplay, this was not in fact present in the film but shown in the trailer, this is to draw the audience in and raise awareness, they may not also of added this into the film because it would cost a lot more. Paying for the right to play a song in a film, even though it is only for a very short amount of time it can be very expensive and you only have the right for that specific use. Coldplay’s record label is called Parlophone; so that it is who 20^th century fox would have to pay for copyright permission for that specific use of the content. However for the sound track, Mychael Danna appeared in all the music and therefore their record label would need to be contacted for use of this content even if it was specifically made for this film only. The record label that would be contacted for Mychael Donna is Heart of Space records. These companies and their songs would be referenced in the credits.

In terms of ethical issues, there is only one type of offensive material being violence, this violence is the fight for survival which is understandable, but it is done in a very unnecessary way. The violence in the film has been used to assert their dominance which can been seen as offensive. In terms of any of the other offensive materials present in films such as sex, drugs and language, none of these are present. Because this film is aimed towards teenagers and the younger audience, it would not be suitable for that age range. In terms of the cultural aspects of the film, due to the religion of the protagonist and his family and cast, it wouldn’t make sense for the film to show drugs and alcohol, it would banned for the sake of their religion. So in terms of offensive material, the film doesn’t really focus on it because of the age rating being ‘PG’ and the cultural aspects.

Regulatory Bodies

The BBFC stands for the British Board of Film Classification; it is an independent and non-government body which classifies movies. The certificates awarded to the films depending on their themes and whether they contain offensive materials, ranges from Universal to 18 meaning only suitable for adults. The BBFC rates Life of Pi as a PG, the BBFC classify PG as parental guidance, it is rated this because it would not contain themes that are inappropriate for a child, but can explore challenging issues such as bullying, bereavement or racism. In terms of language, there may be mild language but nothing too serious, in the case of this film there isn’t any bad language. The age rating was never changed for the film, but there was quite a lot of controversy surrounding the issue, on online forums debates were going on from both sides debating whether the age rating should have been rated higher because of the graphic violence and adult themes. On online forums they have deemed the 12+ rating as correct. The difference between Americas and the UK’s age rating system would suggest that the age rating would change for the film, but there is no significant issues that stand out that would change the age rating, so it stays the same for the American rating system as well. The American age rating system is a voluntary system and the majority are parents, which is a smart move as they have both perspectives from the adult and child’s point of view.

ASA stands for the advertising standards authority; they regulate advertisements across all medias in the UK, they set rules for the different advertising platforms. In terms of the CAP codes for the poster, there are certain ones which adhere to the rule set. The first which adheres to the rule set is 02 Recognition of marketing communications, this states that the advertising needs to be clearly on display as an advertisement and doesn’t resemble anything realistic. In the posters the images are manipulated to look non-realistic and the name of the film is clearly labelled, and also at the bottom of the poster it states the details of the film including; the company that produced the film, the actors and the website details. Another CAP code which applies to the Life of Pi posters is 03 Misleading advertising which means that the advertising must not be exaggerated or distorted in any way to look any more appealing that it does. The Life of Pi poster abides by these rules by only showing content from the film and not adding anything not in the film. Any text used on the poster is simply opinion based upon the film; it shouldn’t influence any false advertising.
Thank you for watching, this is the end of LO4 Task 5 and the end of the course! You have now completed the course, you should be very proud of yourself. But remember don't waste your new found knowledge! Goodbye from me!