What Aret Wo Theoreticaal Pproachews Hich Canb E Appliedt O the Discussiono N Television Violence and Children?

INTRODUCTION

The issueof violencein mediahaving an effect on childrenand the extentto whicb.{

,/ affects them and/or alters their behaviour has been and continuesto be a long debatedo.r5Th... have beenthousands reportspresented of on.jhe.ilsuesincethe 1950s,none of which hasproven i{ rl,{ ..l,nli.rt' (Gurevitch, conclusive. M., Bennet, Curran,J. & Wooltacott, T., J,2005,p.233) i.,' Article 1 of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child defines 'children' as persons up to the age of 18. This definition has shortcomingsat it pertainsmedia effects discussions-however, it was probably not coined specifically with Media Studiesin as

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{k"' / .,mindl The UN definition does not take the different stagesof children's development/h

account. However, children at different ages consumeand internalise media differently. "A child at the infant phasewill not be able to grasp and make senseof things in the same way that the more advancedbrain of a teenagerwoul{ (Buckingham, D. 2003, pp. az-aq(dditionally, the

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more complex issuesof age play a part in this study as maturity is not directly linked to age and younger individuals with a more mature outlook may not react to television violence in the same way that a less mature person of similar age would. t7" V The definition of violence in media is similarly ambiguous.David Trend (2007, p. 3) supportsthe National Television Violence Study, arguing that "not all portrayals of violence are the same." That statement seems to suggest that not all violence is bad: there should be a distinctionbetween'good' violence- that usedfor protectionand discipline* and 'bad' violence - that unprovoked aggression that makes someone want to harm another person. There are however, no clear academic answersto those issues,which is in part the reasonthat studieshave continuedto be inconclusive. "t' ;r i '. i ' '. i

This essay will focus on critically analysing two theories, the Uses and Gratification Theory and...