A THOUSAND CROSSINGS X

Dear Diary...
The Media Exposed
vendredi 10 juillet 2009

Yessss! Finished another essay! (: I'm on an exposé frenzy! (: This is like my second one, or third one if you include the one I written during the Prelims on money being able to buy happiness. haha! Here it is, The Media Exposed.

The computer, radio and television have become commonplace items ever since the start of the 21st Century. This has increased the people’s exposure to materials from the media. Definitely, the improvement of communication technologies and the widespread availability of computers, radios and televisions have made the acquisition of information much quicker and easier. However, with benefits come disadvantages and hidden dangers. One such danger, is the negative influence of the media on children.

Although all registered movies that are produced are screened first by a censorship board which will determine the suitability of the film for whichever age group, there has been an increase in number of films with hidden messages and crude sexual humour in PG (Parental Guidance) rated films. In my opinion, such content will inevitably affect a child’s thinking and perception on sexuality and gender; this will develop to become a significant problem. An example of such a film is the 2009 sequel to Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen. Although it is rated PG, crude sexual humour was strewn all about in the movie. There was a scene where a small robot started dry humping the female actress, Megan Fox’s leg. Another example of such a scene was when John Tuturro described his location as being “the machine's scrotum”, and the camera zooms into two wrecking balls hanging under the robot. I feel that such content do not belong in a PG rated film which families would watch together. Furthermore, titles as such would attract many young boys whom would be misled by such content.

The television has been our source of entertainment for a few decades already, and it still remains as the primary source of entertainment for many. Drama serials especially, attract many audiences. Singapore’s Channel 8’s 2009 drama, “The Little Nyonya” attracted and average of 1 million viewers per episode, which is about 20.3% of Singapore’s TV viewing audience. A point to be noted is that the 1 million viewers included young children. Internationally, early-evening timeslots are usually reserved for popular shows which are suitable for all age groups, since it is unlikely for children to go to bed at seven in the evening. Since “The Little Nyonya” aired at seven in the evening on weekdays, the drama should be expected to be suitable for all audiences. However, scenes of intimacy were present in the drama. A few examples were the rape scene where Zzen Zhang raped Joanne Aw and the scene where Darren Lim and Cynthia Koh were having a tryst. In my opinion, such scenes which depict intimacy or even immoral sexual intercourse should not be aired on national television, lest it misleads young children.

Music is often described as the key to the soul. Well-crafted lyrics allow listeners to relate to the song. However, in recent years when pop music dominates the charts, it can be discovered that lyrics of modern songs contain hidden messages that are negative in content. One such example is “Butterfly” by Jason Mraz. Sexual content can be found camouflaged in the lyrics of the song, “Taking a moment just imagining that I'm dancing with you/I'm your pole and all you're wearing is your shoes/You've got soul, you know what to do to turn me on until I write a song about you/And you have your own engaging style, you've got the knack to vivify/And you make my slacks a little tight, you may unfasten them if you like/That's if you crash and spend the night”. Two other stanzas, “Curl your upper lip up and let me look around/Ride your tongue along your bottom lip and bite down/And bend your back and ask your hips if I can touch/Well they're the perfect jumping up point/Getting closer to your butterfly” and “And all I need to see/You pull your knee socks up/Let me feel you upside down, slide in, slide out/Slide over here, climb into my mouth now” also contain hidden messages which are sexual in content. A study by Dr. Brian A. Primack, a paediatrician discovered that people who are exposed to certain messages in music are more likely to copy or emulate what they here. These messages are what doctors believe to be the cause of the increase of cases of teenage pregnancy and underage sexual intercourse. Therefore, I feel that music has becoming unsuitable for teenagers to listen to due to the presence of raunchy lyrics in popular music.

Despite the presence of so many misleading material present in the material, there still are a few which may be beneficial for children and young teenagers in terms of morals and life lessons that can be learnt from them. Some may even be able to express a child’s views on grown-up issues.

Hannah Montana the movie is an example of a movie which can teach children important life lessons. The movie is about a high school student leading a double life. In the day she is a student, while in the evening, she is America’s top pop star. The movie teaches children to always remember their roots and family no matter how popular or capable they become. The movie may also be able to teach children how to cope with life’s problems in a more mature and reasonable manner.

An example of a drama serial which has educational content is Channel 8’s table of glory. It is a story of a son of a laundry shop owner’s journey to achieving his dream of becoming a professional table tennis player. The drama may be able to influence children to always believe in their dreams no matter whatever opinions others may have. It may also be able to teach children to find a passion in life and work hard to achieve their dreams.

Although most present-day songs contain lyrics with sexual content, Jason Mraz’s “Love For A Child” may be a song that many teenagers whom belong to broken families can be able to relate to. The lyrics of the song write of divorce in a child’s point of view. Therefore this song may in turn be able to allow parents to view divorce in their children’s point of view and think twice before making rash decisions. Thus, some good pieces of music may be able to salvage families with strained relationships.

However, such good movies, drama serials and music are far and few in between. To salvage the situation modern day media is in will become a very difficult task. Therefore a lot more effort should be put in by the government and censorship boards to make public media material more suitable for all audience, especially young children.

In conclusion, unless the government, media corporations, censorship boards, psychologists and paediatricians team up to combat the problem of tainted media, the television, internet and airwaves will never be a place safe enough for young children to spend their time in.

I wonder if this one is better than the Charity one in terms of structure and vocabulary. Hope Mr Tan will mark it soon. ):

Until now, Mr Tan has not returned me the narrative I had written on time. it has already been a month.

Biology test tomorrow, haven't studied, but did a 50 MCQ practice paper that Mr Goh had provided. (:

Au Revoir

yongliang

he closed his diary at {00:04}