The Mean World Syndrome

The Mean World Syndrome (2010)

Media Violence & the Cultivation of Fear

  • Genre: Documentary
  • Release Date: 2010-07-01
  • Runtime: 0h 52min
  • Production Company: Media Education Foundation
  • Director:

Summary

For years, debates have raged among scholars, politicians, and concerned parents about the effects of media violence on viewers. Too often these debates have fallen into simplistic battles between those who claim that media images directly cause violence and those who argue that activists exaggerate the impact of media exposure. Based on interviews conducted with George Gerbner before his death in 2005, the film urges us to think about media effects in more nuanced ways. In contrast to behaviorist models that see media violence as causing real-world violence, and limited effects models that question the impact of media altogether, Gerbner encourages us to move outside the frame of this debate to consider how the repetitive stories media tell constitute a pervasive cultural environment - a landscape of ritualized, often violent images that have the power to cultivate how we see and understand the world.

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Directing Jeremy Earp Director
Writing Michael Morgan Script Consultant
Production Scott Morris Producer
Editing Andrew Killoy Editor
Production Loretta Alper Co-Producer
Production Andrew Killoy Co-Producer
Production Jason Young Co-Producer
Production Sut Jhally Executive Producer
Writing Jeremy Earp Writer