EFFECTS OF VIOLENCE SHOWN IN MOVIES ON TEENAGERS

A.H.ASRA BANU

BAT/EN/2018/FT/106

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, BATTICALOA

SRILANKA INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED TECHNOLOGICAL

INSTITUTION (SLIATE)

1
 ABSTRACT

This research paper includes an analysis of the Effects of Violent Movies on Teenagers. In

their paper we have discussed what kinds of effects violent movies can have on teenagers and

how these effects can be minimize. Mass media is becoming successful in changing the

culture of our society. Movies whether they are Bollywood, Hollywood or Lollywood, they

are promoting violent culture in the society. Children and Youngsters are getting aggressive

day to day due to these movies. The study have highlighted the issue of increasing violence in

humanity through movies. We have used the method of survey as their research

methodology. A questionnaire for the survey which comprise of fifteen questions is attached

with the research proposal.

2
 CONTENT

1. Background of the Study

2. Main Objective of the study

 Main objective

 Specific Objectives

3. Literature Review

4. Research Questions

5. Significance of the study

6. Scope of the Study

7. Methodology

7.1. Research Design

Figure: Conceptual Model for the study

7.2 Study Population and Sample

7.3. Data Collection Methods

7.3.1. Structure of the Instrument (Questionnaire/ interview)

7.4. Data Analysis and Presentation

8. Limitations

9. Assumptions

10. References

3
 EFFECTS OF VIOLENCE SHOWN IN MOVIES ON TEENAGERS

1. Background Of The Study

The most notable change in our society is saturation of our culture which is done by the mass
media and in this new society, Television, Radio, Movies, Games, Videos, Computers,
Mobiles are assumed to play a dominant role in our lives. From better to worse, media is
having an enormous impact on our beliefs, values, and behaviors.

Movies can be define as an electronic signals of moving pictures, graphics and images that is
combined with balanced and firm sounds with text that used for education, entertainment etc.
The most effective mass media instrument are movies. It is very cheap way to conveying a
message to masses. It can be used as a medium for communication to clarify and inspire their
message. Movies plays an important role in shaping and persuading the world. People widely
influence by the movies. It becomes highly essential in everybody’s life. It is very hard to
imagine a life without them. Children to teenagers and teenagers to old age, everyone easily
and interestingly watch movies. Nowadays, there is a huge trend of movies that have both
aspects positive and negative. It is very difficult to judge whether the movies effect in a good
or bad way, it only depends on how people get it.

Mostly people spend their time on watching TV and Movies, using Internet, Mobile Phones
etc. Today’s people especially teenagers are more influenced by films and movies. They are
more easily grab what they see on screen. They also have all kinds of access because of
innovation in technologies, they download movies from internet. Because of this access
teenagers waste a lot of time in watching movies. They are not mature enough to choose what
they are watching is good or not and thus, watch all kinds of stuff.

Violence is not a new thing but it increases in Pakistani Society. In today’s world, it is
everywhere like in programs, movies, videos, cartoons, and even in commercials too and it is
difficult to avoid it. For Example; Switch on the TV, violence is there and go for a movie,
violence is there. Reality can be inaccurate; if people start living in a fictional world then the
fictional world become their reality. The impact of the violence portrayal that it is applicable
to the audience’s perception and learning behaviors. Now there is new trend in movies to
show violence because of their TRP. Every movie have at least one violent act, which creates

4
harmful impacts on teenagers. Teens are unable to differentiate what is Entertainment
Violence and what is Real Life Violence, so it is our ethical responsibilities to monitor teens
from being exposed to violence that inappropriate for them. Movie makers has neglected to
this thing and unlimited promote violence.

“Violent movies are usually one-dimensional, overvalued

and unrealistic and they are even present in a humorous way.”

They see violence in regular days as it is the element of life and with the time they lose their
ability to understand the victims of violence. They have very less emotional responses on
those who suffer and their level of hostility increases. These types of teens start believing that
the world is full of “meaner and scarier” place and if they start thinking that violence is a
normal behavior then, it become very difficult to change their concept in later on life.

2. Main Objective Of The Study

Main Objective
 The main purpose of this study is to examine how violence in movies effects
teenagers

Specific Objectives
 Understand and examine the role of movies in the lives of teenagers’ fascination for
violence.
 The study pointed to determine the level of violence in all kinds of movies.
 To identify the type and mean of mass media use among the teenagers.
 To determine the most common element use in violent movies.
 To understand the relationship between media violence and aggressive behavior of
teenagers.
 To compare the difference in the attitudes of teenagers between those who are light
viewers and those who are heavy viewers.
 To analyze the differences in the behavior and attitudes of teenagers, those who watch
violent movies and those who watch non-violent movies.
 To evaluate the most common perception of teenagers on the violent movies.

5
3. Literature Review

The purpose of this chapter is to review the empirical literature of different scholars related to
the present study. While locating, selecting and finalizing the problem of the study various
information sources were consulted for example; Books, Journals, Newspapers and Websites.
The focus of this study is to explore whether movies really have aggressive behavior that
creates violence in teenagers or not. The researcher’s attention of selecting violence as a
subject for analysis is, its pervasiveness in teenagers movies as it generates aggressiveness.
The research can be guided by the studies conducted earlier. It also experience from the past
is helpful in showing the effectiveness of the study. Since 1995, thousands of studies, reports,
articles concerning the impact of movie violence have been published a lot of time. Whether
or not movie violence cause increased level of aggression and violence in young people is the
perennial question of Media Effect Research. Some researcher believe that exposure to
violence is harmful and some believe that it’s not. Let’s look what different researchers
assumed about this.

N. Saleem in Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences 2013 recognize that:

Violation, aggression etc. Are the major apprehension in every society. Throughout the past,
many researchers pay attention on its causes and effects and with the passage of time and
with new technology this is become very serious issue. In US or other western country’s
scholars are given great attention to this matter but developing countries like in Pakistan,
their scholars are not very responsive on this problem. This studies find how violent movies
effects teenagers in Pakistan. The result of this study found that many people said that they
use these types of movies as a model for any crime.

BJ Bushman, P Jamieson, IW Bac and Romer in 2013 proposed that:

Many scientists studied that the presence of guns in movies can cause aggression and this
study examine what are the sources of using weapon which is represented in top movies.
Their results found that violence in film is doubled since 19’s to now. These findings suggest
that if our youth don’t use guns after seeing these types films they also exposed to use it
because film producers are providing them not only a reason but also a script too.

6
Dahl and Vigna in 2008 through laboratory experiments found that:

Media violence increase the aggressive behavior. The research exploit different variations of
violence in blockbuster movies to find whether violent acts increases the violent crimes. They
provide casual evidences. Overall, they find that media violence effects people in short run
and there design doesn’t allow them to explore whether it effects on a long term or not.

K.D Browne, C.H - Giachritsis in 2008 concluded that:

This debated is never be ended whether we are in any phase of life that how media effects
people and how these effects can be investigate. This research reviews that fierce images in
TV programs, Movies, Videos, Games and online has substantial effects on people’s
thoughts, arousal and emotions for short time which increases the aggressiveness and
fearfulness especially in boys. These evidences would be inconsistent when it effects
teenagers and young people and also have long term outcomes.

L.R Huesmann in 2007 suggest that:

Disclosure to violence whether shown in TV, Movies, Cell Phones, Games and on Internet
can create behavioral problems. More exposure to violent electronic media can be risky to
child and young people and they start behaving aggressively. Young people behave for a
short run but children behavior is for long run. It is not only risky behavior but also increases
the risk as much as many other factors like Public Health Threats.

Ayesha Abdus in 2001 views that:

Electronic Media with the great advantage of sense of version creates the world for us.
Someone mentions Egypt and images of pyramids and mummies come to our mind, although
we may never have visited Egypt. How do we have such images about things we have not
seen in our life? The simple answer is through the eyes of camera. The camera creates image
for us. Those who watch violent and aggressive movies have a flexible concept of violence.
Why? It is because their evaluation of and their concept of violence changes.

7
The Australian Psychological Society has this to say about media violence in a July 2000
Position Paper:

“For at least 20 years there has been a consensus amongst most of the psychological research
community which actively involved in media research that violence on television contributes
to aggressive behavior, to anxiety about becoming a victim and to callousness with respect to
the impact of violence on others (Pearl, Bourchilet & Lazar, 1982). Studies have
predominantly, but not exclusively, focused on children. The evidence for these links is as
strong as that for the contribution of any other studied contributor to community violence.

4. Research Questions
Research questions are conducted to know how violent movies affect the behavior of
teenagers.
To conduct any research it is important to investigate and answer some special and important
questions. The research questions to be conducted in this research paper would be:
Q. 1: What are the habits of teenagers in watching violence movies?

Q. 2: What are the responses of teenagers toward violence movies?

Q. 3: Are there differences in the behavior and attitudes of teenagers between those who watch
violent movies and those who watch non-violent movies?

Q. 4: Do teenagers try to do those actions shown in movies in the form of violence?

Hypothesis:
In order to visualize the uncertain outcome of this study on the effect of violence shown in
movies on the behavior of teenagers the following hypothesis is made.

1. The teenagers of our society believe that the violence movies and violent images
shown in Pakistani, Indian and Hollywood movies are generating more violence in
society.

Null Hypothesis Are As Given Below:

1. Violence shown in movies leads to aggressiveness and community violence.
2. Action movies show more violence.
3. Teenagers after watching violent movies try to copy the violent images.
4. Movies would be watch without violence.

8
5. Significance Of The Study

The study is significant to those who are effected by violent movies. It helps them to analyze
what are the effects and causes of these movies. This is helpful to those who are going
examine why teenagers are more affected by these fierce films. How it affects their lives and
how they are attracted to them. This is essential because media is the most powerful medium
and it provide information and entertainment to the public and according to some people,
violent movies are only for entertainment and they don’t know how badly it effects the
teenagers. So, the people’s opinion about violence are only shaped by the media. People see
violence on daily basis and it becomes very usual thing in our society. Our youth is also
seeing this and start aggressive and violent behavior as it is acceptable in our society. Basic
intention to choosing this topic is to tell about

 How violent movies effects 0ur teenagers?

 Through these movies, is violence more common in our society?

The main significance of the study is to identify to the reader how much these movies are
creating violence on teenagers?

6. Scope Of The Study

The scope of this study carried out is very vast. It counseled the researcher to identify the
violation in movies effect on youth. These violent movies are getting more vigilance because
they are portraying many issues. At this level of distortion of violence justice system is based
on reality. The emerging technology in these movies would attract more to the teenagers and
they would be more violent. In near future, the ratings of these movies would far more that
fictional dramas because it is captivating the eyes of children and youngsters.

Without Movies and Violence, new generations kids, young and adults are unaccustomed to
life. This research reviews that the recent information and figures about violent movies and
their effects on our youth.

9
7. Methodology

known as Methodology. Methods that re commonly used in the field of Communication

studies are include: Content Analysis, Survey Methods, Interviews, Documentation Reviews
and Focus Groups etc. The most common methods used in the used in the research of media
violence are case studies, surveys and experiments. Each of these methods has its own
benefits and flaws. The researcher have selected the “Survey Method” for the research.

7.1. Research Design

The study adopted a descriptive survey design in studying the relationship between modern
movies and its influence on adolescent behaviours in secondary schools in Uyo metropolis.
The study was carried out among secondary schools in Uyo Urban metropolis in Akwa Ibon
State. Due to time constraints, only schools situated within the metropolis were selected.
These schools selected are both public and government approved private secondary schools.

Figure: Conceptual Model For The Study

10
7.2 Study Population And Sample

A population is a set of individual that met sampling criteria. The target population is the
entire set of population that the researcher would like to make generations about. The
accessible population is the one that meets the criteria established and is also accessible,
considering constrain of time, money, researcher availability. For the study of the problem its
relevant population was consisted of the students of Lahore.

Sampling is a statistical method of selecting a group for analysis from a larger social group
known as the population, the statistical term for all these persons, events or entities that are
relevant to the subject of inquiry. A representative sample is constructed is such a way that it
contains numbers of various significant categories and classification to the same proportion
as they appear in the population. Selection of sample is very important; if we select the
sample properly only then we can draw conclusions about the population. Not all samples are
representative, so it is better to use random sampling techniques. A random sample is selected
in such a way that every number of the population has an equal chance of being chosen.

 Sample Size: The researcher’s sample for the study was 50 students studying at
various discipline of Punjab University both 25 males and 25 females. According to
this design of the study a total number of fifty students were taken on random
sampling basis so that the result could be generalized for the population. A
questionnaire consisting of 15 items was used as tool for data collection. Mostly the
questions were close ended.

11
7.3. Data Collection Methods

The survey was conducted in the classroom location. Before conducting the survey the
researcher introduced himself and informed the boys that their participation is absolutely
anonymous, voluntary, confidential and gave assurance that they could ask questions if they
faced with any difficulty.
Out of 265 distributed questionnaire forms, 228 were returned. However, 49 questionnaire
forms were removed from the data analysis because the questionnaires were incomplete.
Consequently, 216 questionnaires were used in the analysis. Both the return rate and the
effectual response rate were quite adequate and sufficient: 86% and 81.5% respectively.

7.3.1. Structure Of The Instrument (Questionnaire/ Interview)

It is a popular method of data collection, a questionnaire basically consist of a series of

question designed to obtain actual information – information about a particular subject or
issue. It is important to design questions very carefully. A poorly designed questionnaire
makes result meaningless. Questionnaire is the best tool for conducting a research or survey.
Good questionnaire provides the method of collecting data, it helps in determine the range of
variations among the people and also to know the true feelings of people and what is
happening in society. The researcher can easily measure the people’s behavior or reaction
towards a particular problem or issue.

12
8. Limitations

The major limitation of the survey method is that it relies on a self-report method of data
collection. Intentional deception, poor memory or misunderstanding of the question can all
contribute to inaccuracies in the data.

9. Assumptions

Once conducting a survey from 50 students – 25 male and females of different department of
Punjab University, the researchers came to the conclusion that many students prefer thriller
and aggressive movies and these kinds of material in movies create violence in movies.
Through this survey, the researchers examined that teenagers behaved violently after
watching violent movies, without creating any error of biasness subjectivenes. Movies
whether they are Bollywood, Hollywood or Lollywood, they are promoting violent culture in
the society. On the other hand, there are some students who don’t prefer these violation in
movies and real life.

After getting their results of survey the researchers proved their hypothesis they proposed in
the beginning of the research. Their hypothesis was: The teenagers of our society believe
that the violence movies and violent images shown in Indian, Hollywood movies are
generating more violence in society.

Students believe that violence in our society in shaped by movies. A very big amount from
young generation believe in this hypothesis. So, researchers proved their hypothesis.

13
10. References

 Noshina Saleem, Sarfraz Ahmed, Mian Ahmed Hannan and Sana haroon. 2013,
Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences (PJSS). Vol. 33, No. 2 (2013), pp. 243-254
Retrieved on Monday, June 1, 2015
http://www.bzu.edu.pk/PJSS/Vol33No22013/PJSS_Vol33%20No%202_2013_02.pdf

 Brad J. Bushman, Patrick E. Jamieson, Ilana Weitz, Bac, and Daniel Romer. 2013.
Gun Violence Trends in Movies. Retrieved on Sunday, May 31, 2015
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/132/6/1014.short

 Gordon Dahl and Stefano DellaVigna. 2008. Dose Media Violence Increases Violent
Crimes. Retrieved on Saturday, May 30, 2015
http://www.nber.org/papers/w13718.pdf

 Kevin D Browne, Catherine Hamilton-Giachritsis. 2008. The influence of violent

media on children and adolescents: a public-health approach. Retrieved on Saturday,
May 30, 2015. http://web.comhem.se/u45381271/12/sem2/browne05.pdf

 Rowell Huesmann. 2007. The Impact of Electronic Media Violence: Scientific Theory
and Research. Retrieved on Saturday, May 30, 2015
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X07003916

 James D. Sargent, Todd F. Heatherton, M. Bridget Ahrens, Madeline A. Dalton,

Jennifer J. Tickle, and Michael L. Beach. 2002. Adolescent Exposure to Extremely
Violent Movies. Retrieved on Saturday, May 30, 2015
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~thlab/pubs/02_Sargent_etal_JAH_31.pdf

 American Psychological Association. July, 2000. Media Representation and

Responsibilities. Retrieved on May 30, 2015,
http://public.psych.iastate.edu/caa/VGVpolicyDocs/00AustrPsySocMV.pdf

14