Ethics and Film

Ethics and Film By Alex Shumate

Since the beginning of storytelling on film, movies have caused many ethical debates and discussion from viewers. Movies in its highest art form have the power to persuade or enlighten a viewer on a plethora of ethical topics in the world we live in. In addition, movies also have the power to evoke strong emotions from a viewer in relation to the ethical content. Movies don’t just focus on one specific ethical topic. Many movies have presented the viewer with several different ethical dilemmas.



One example I can think of is the satire comedy “Tropic Thunder” that came out last summer. “Tropic Thunder” is a movie that is a spoof on the film industry. More specifically, it is making a joke on actors who obtain roles simply just to win acting awards. In the film, Robert Downey Jr’s character is obsessed with winning awards for his acting. In order to obtain another acting award, his character (who is white) decides to play the role of a black man and undergo surgery (similar to blackface) to look the part. In an article at dailybreeze.com, it was reported that many people were not as offended by that as they were offended by the use of the word “retard” in the film. Timothy Shriver, Special Olympics chairman and chief executive officer, was one of the several protesters who were against the film for its use of this word



In a Poynter article, Ellen Heltzel sat down to discuss some issues with screenwriter Joe Eszterhas. Eszterhas has been given the reputation as a man who pumps up the level of sex and violence in movies. One of the films he has written is “Basic Instinct,” a film that is well known for revealing Sharon Stone’s genitalia. Ironically, Eszterhas does not believe sex scenes or violent scenes influence a person’s behavior, but the glamorization of smoking in films does. Eszterhas has a full campaign against the glamorization of smoking in films that he has been pushing. More can be read about his campaign here.



Movies can even bring about ethical decisions in regards to religion. An example of this is “The Magdalene Sisters.” This film is about three Dublin girls who become slaves in the Magdalene Laundries, which were established by the Catholic Church. According to an article at Religion & Ethics newsweekly, the Catholic Church is not too pleased with the film. The Vatican condemned it as a “rancorous provocation.” In relation to religion, the topic of gay marriage is also a popular ethical topic in films. Just recently the film “Milk” sparked continuing debates about the legalization of gay marriage. MTV news published an article that talks about how the 70s biopic film is extremely relevant especially in comparison with the passing of Proposition 8 in California.



My point in using all these examples is that there are wide ranges of ethical topics that are used in film. As movies continue to get made, ethical discussions will be used in a movie that corresponds with the time period we are living in. More importantly, these examples show that people’s opinions on ethical topics vary depending on whom you talk to. As I strive to make my short film for my project, I plan on providing my main character with ethical dilemmas. My character will be having lots of internal conflict, as he must make a decision to do what’s right in relation to the lesser of two evils. I don’t know if the audience who watches the short film will agree or disagree with the decision the character makes. I just hope it causes people to think.

Ethics and the Documentary, Andy Gibson

Photo by Jeff Caperton

Ethics and the Documentary

Depending on the type of documentary the director is making, involvement with subjects can be a question of ethics. In the blog, blog.spout.com, the question of involvement is explored. Christopher Campbell looks at the Academy Award winner Born into Brothels in which the premise of the film relies on the interaction between subject and filmmaker. “There has also always been a debate with documentary regarding just how much interaction and intervention is okay.” And because the debate still rages, there really is no answer.  This is a factor that I will have to take into consideration because of my closeness with proposed subjects. I must decide whether to be completely detached from friends who are taking risks or to intervene if a situation arises that compels me to act.

The second source I found was risktaking.co.uk. The site concludes “the perception of risk triggers a cascade of physiological changes that are experienced as high arousal and unpleasant anxiety. This explains why we are motivated to avoid risks, and begs the question why people take risks at all.”  This is the central theme to my proposed documentary. I want to find what triggers these seemingly normal subjects to disregard these symptoms that the brain produces and to go through with their risk taking. A couple of my ideas for subjects were chosen because of their sporting choices.  Risktaking.co.uk says that people who chose to take risks for sport are typically very confident that they have the power to manage the risks involved and that they tend to have friends who also believe the way they do. 

An article by Paul Roberts in source three, psychologytoday.com, exemplifies why I am interested in the topic. Roberts writes that “Researchers don't yet know precisely how a risk taking impulse arises from within or what role is played by environmental factors, from upbringing to the culture at large… and scientists are divided as to whether, in a modern society, a "high-risk gene" is still advantageous.

There seems to be so little certainties in this field that I think it would translate well into a documentary.

I also plan to explore the sense of community in these risk takers. In source four, wright-house.com/psychology/sense-of-community, McMillan & Chavis (1986) explore the sense of community with this analogy that fits perfectly with my subjects.

            Someone puts an announcement on the dormitory bulletin board about the    formation of an intramural dormitory basketball team. People attend the             organizational meeting as strangers out of their individual needs (integration and      fulfillment of needs). The team is bound by place of residence (membership   boundaries are set) and spends time together in practice (the contact hypothesis).      They play a game and win (successful shared valent event). While playing,             members exert energy on behalf of the team (personal investment in the group).       As the team continues to win, team members become recognized and           congratulated (gaining honor and status for being members). Someone suggests       that they all buy matching shirts and shoes (common symbols) and they do so     (influence).

Lastly, an extremely helpful site I found, centerforsocialmedia.wikispaces.com, comments on many different ethical conundrums that a documentary director might face. Marty Lucas writes that the RTNDA ethics guidelines could apply to documentary filmmaker to a point. One point that differs is the paying of participants. Documentary filmmakers sometimes pay their participants and on the same theme often accept funding from someone who may have an interest in the outcome of the final piece.   

Ethics & Music Videos

Ethics & Music Videos by John Lenox Cope

The image to the right is from a music video entitled "Lessons Learned" by Matt and Kim [FADER Label, Popfrenzy Records]. The newly released video is certainly not the first to consist of full nudity, but it is a current example that highlights the issue of ethics and music videos. Though the video is edited for broadcast, it still most likely offends certain people.

Music Videos have caused controversy since their introduction. Whether it be due to violence, drug use, sexuality, or offensive language, music videos have never shied away from pushing limits. Most of the literature concerning ethics in music videos has centered around the portrayal of stereotypes. Steven Seidman published an article titled, "An Investigation of Sex-Role Stereotyping in Music Videos" which was published in the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media in 1992. This is one of many articles published concerning stereotyping in music videos.

Even though fairly little has been written specifically about ethics concerning music videos, it is still common to hear or read complaints about certain music videos via the news. On May 9, 2008, CBC published an article about the 10 most controversial music videos of all time. The videos were chosen based on their violent, sexual, or otherwise objectionable content. Most people probably would not be surprised to see Madonna and Marilyn Manson's videos on this list, but Michael Jackson and Duran Duran have also stirred up controversies with their videos.

I recently attended the South By Southwest Music Festival and Conference in Austin, TX. One of the performers I was able to catch was Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls. She spoke about the video for her single "Oasis" and how it was refused by MTV and NME. The video was refused "due to it making light of rape, religion and abortion." Strangeglue.com posted an article about the video/song and its controversies. I personally find it interesting that certain videos are refused while others that include graphic violence, sexuality, or drug use are aired with little hesitation. It would be interesting to see if the the video and song would receive the same treatment if they were recorded by a more notable artist.

It's impossible to discuss music videos and ethics without discussing YouTube. This is a popular source for many people to watch music videos today. In March the BBC posted an article detailing the blocking of music videos from YouTube. YouTube blames increasing licensing fees for the blocking of the music videos. The idea of licensing and royalties for music videos is a complicated subject but it can't be ignored when discussing ethics. As popular networks like MTV and VH1 show less and less music videos, the internet has become a popular place to view such media. As with other media content, piracy and illegal viewing of music videos has become a concern. Some record labels and artists fear they are losing money due to this trend. With this in mind, Univeral Records and YouTube announced plans for a new music video site.

When I direct a music video for my graduate project, I will keep in mind all of the ethical controversies that surround this particular artform. I don't plan on pushing the boundaries too much with this project, but it is still important to study the role of ethics in relations to music videos.

Ethics and My Study

Ethics and My Study

By: Johnathan Sellers

5/2/2009

Distribution of media programming including music, movies and television has been revolutionized by the iTunes software in recent years. As illegal downloading of copyrighted material including all of these media grew more popular, Apple’s iTunes software was the one of the first to provide a legal alternative to purchase high quality versions of all of these media types digitally and is now considered the largest digital media distributor (Apple's numbers).

The iTunes software has completely changed the media distribution business, changing how people are able to purchase and consume their media. It has also changed how people find out about media they are interested in, as Apple has developed ways to provide users with information on media content that they may be interested in. These features include Apple taking information from users’ iTunes media libraries so that they can make recommendations for media that they feel that particular iTunes user would like and be willing to purchase. Apple has also provided ways for users who are connected to a large network to view other iTunes users content libraries and even enjoy their media.

These features have lead to debates on the web over whether or not it is ethical for Apple to take your personal iTunes library content information and use it to try and sell the consumer more content. It has also led to different discussions of whether further social networking features should be implemented into the software to increase connectivity which will raise additional privacy concerns.

These three links discuss the ethical issues of Apple using customer’s information from an iTunes user’s media library in order to sell more media content to that specific customer. The first is a news article (iTunes news article on privacy concerns) that describes the possible privacy concerns when the new technology was released. The other two articles debate on whether or not the feature is good or bad for iTunes users.

These next two links discuss the further implementation of adding additional social networking features to the software. Some argue for the additional implementation like in this article but others are a little wearier as seen in this article.

The purpose of my study is to examine iTunes consumers to see how they feel about being connected to other users and how they feel about their own privacy using this software. These ethical issues are important and will help shape further media distribution as digital distribution continues to grow both thru the use of iTunes as well as other possible digital distributors in the future.

Image provided by Appleinsider.com

Ethics and Malawian Newspapers

Ethics and Malawian newspapers

By Idriss Ali Nassah

As elsewhere on the African continent, Malawi has made efforts over the past decade to develop a Western-style media that would serve to enhance the country’s young democracy. However, prospects that the Malawian newspaper is in a position to do that look grim. Much of this grim outlook can be attributed to the quality of newspaper journalism. It is commonplace to hear public utterances on journalists in disparaging remarks as biased, unprofessional, unethical and ignorant.

The World Bank estimated that Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world and the media face a number of constraints (http://www.pressreference.com/Ky-Ma/Malawi.html). My study will focus on the constraints of the country’s only two national daily newspapers, The Daily Times and The Nation, both owned by families with strong political ties.

How ethical are journalists in Malawi and what effect does ownership has on this question? Interestingly, what journalists in America debate as matters of ethics is everyday occurrence in Malawi without anyone ever raising concern. The question of free food for journalists, for example. Nathan Kelly posted this question http://groups.poynter.org/members/blog_view.asp?id=190115&post=64848.

“During press conferences, especially those involving sports, journalists are offered food”, Kelly wrote. “Why is food, sometimes a buffet, offered and what are those putting on the conference expecting in return? Does the food subconsciously cause us to be nicer while reporting because we’re full of sandwiches and cookies, even though we try to remain professional?”

In Malawi, the absence of free food at any media event would cause journalists to be nastier in their reporting. And to ensure coverage, it is common practice for journalists to receive transport disbursements and envelopes containing wads of money from companies and organizers of media events. It is a known fact that at some events were no envelopes were distributed to journalists, the reporters became agitated and demanded “allowances” or else there would be no coverage.

The blame can be placed on the owners, not the reporters, because reporters in Malawi receive salaries that are generally a cruel joke.

And then there is the problem of sources planting stories via reporters. This is damaging to the print media but these sources often make these reporters offers they can’t refuse. Perhaps Malawi journalism needs a Jason Blair type of scandal to wake from this huge ethical lapse. If you need reminding, Blair was a young reporter who shook the media when it was discovered that his fabricated stories had found their way into the New York Times. In a remarkable chain of events, the Times published an unprecedented 14,420-word explanation (by its count) on May 11, 2003, with Executive Editor Howell Raines and Managing Editor Gerald Boyd leaving in its wake. http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/new-york-times-media five/story.aspx?guid=%7BF8886DFF-921E-4D52-A2C6-4D5634AFBC36%7D&dist=msr_20.

After that, fair or not, Arthur Sulzberger Jr.'s New York Times became the poster child for everything that was wrong about journalism, specifically its arrogance, its ethical lapses and its apparent inability to police itself.

Greg Mitchell, the editor of Editor & Publisher, posited: "Since the Jayson Blair case broke, many more, although still not enough, newspapers have done or some of these things: 1) expanded their corrections sections; 2) utilized plagiarism-checking programs; 3) formalized their ethics policies; 4) been more forthright in owning up to certain issues, either via an editor's column or an ombudsman."

It was reported on http://community.marketwatch.com/newsjunkie that after the Blair/Miller fiasco, The New York Times took steps to position itself as one of the most credible news organizations in the world, and its quality and depth of its reporting improved.

Malawi is yet to witness a reporter or editor who resigns as a result of ethical lapses. This is largely because such type of misconduct is, if not openly encouraged, them definitely tolerated. Perhaps that will soon change. In neighboring Zimbabwe in February 2000, Andy Moyse, the acting editor of The Standard, a Zimbabwe weekly newspaper, resigned in disgrace after admitting that the newspaper had written a false report (www.globaljournalist.org/stories/2000/09/01/africas-fight-for-ethics/).
Moyse, publisher Clive Wilson and reporter Chengetai Zvauya were found guilty, holding them responsible for reporting the allegations, which turned out to be false. The journalists were fined thousands of US dollars for the offense.

There is no consensus among Africa’s media as to whether the government, or the press itself, should be responsible for ensuring an ethical media.. Veteran Kenyan journalist Philip Ochieng also condemns what he called the “gutter press” for unprofessional conduct, and says it justifies the government’s insistence on regulating the media.

Africa’s media have grown tremendously in the past three decades and need to adhere strictly to professional ethics. Malawi’s newspapers need to play a leading role in their own regulation. That responsibility to ensure an ethical media should start with the owners and management of newspapers.