"How far do changes to the regulation of media reflect broader social changes?"

The purpose of regulation is to protect the public from harmful or explicit content – this is mostly applied to children or venerable adults. Over the years regulation has become more lax with the internet eventually contributing to the idea that information and shows are always available online. This shows the decline of regulation efficiency due to the fact that the internet is less regulated than both film (bbfc) and television (ofcom). The internet is part of reactive regulation as it happens after the information is made public, The bbfc can classify, censor or ban them completely and I part of proactive regulation. And lastly Ofcom is a government lead regulator in charge of television regulation they can use classification and put above 18 content after the watershed, they can fine companies and channels or revoke the channels right to broadcast. The media has more of a conservative type of regulation in place to protect children and vunerable adults to something that may be deemed inappropriate. However the internet and games challenges this due to the fact that they are less regulated because they are readily available at home and film,tv,movies (etc) can now be downloaded by anyone. There should not be one set regulator as they different platforms have dissimilar needs I believe that the media should keep the multiple regulators but become more lax in its regulating due to the fact that we are now more likely to self regulate the PG and the 12A ratings show that they are willing to put some of the responsibility in the public. Regulation is getting harder in an internet based culture due to the accessibility. The bbfc shows the slow liberalization of media regulation for example the evil dead caused a moral panic due to its imitable behaviour in which one of the characters stabs the other in the leg with a pencil aswell as the suggestions to rip off the limbs of e=anyone rising from the dead. This shows the desensitization as the film was originally a classified X at the time of its release but in 2001 was re-released after cuts where made making the filmnow an 18. The imitable behaviour also caused concerns with parents over the copy cat theory as pencils are a common item in most homes. The main cause of regulation is to protect children and this went directly against that ideal cause of regulation and up holds my argument that the media is now more lax then it once was with the fact that the film was banned this will likely make more people intrigued and willing to look for it online .This shows the broader social changes as now have more classification to account for the levels of violence that each age is used to or should be exposed to, however at the beginning of the bbfc there were 4 original classifications unlike the 7/8 we have now. In most instances I believe that due to the explicit nature of the violence we see on a near daily bases and the fact that sex and sexuality is very repressed within the uk that films including sex scenes will always be more likely to receive a higher rating when however in real life the opposite is the problem – sex is less offensive than violence but portrayed in the opposite light. In the context of Deadpool most of the violence is canonical and needed within the film to show the character , this paired with the tagline “ the ‘merc’ with the mouth” also continues this belief. 5o shades of grey on the other hand also had context to the film but as the ‘lifestyle’ of BDSM is less public even in a consensual setting – it likely to be avoided. The desensitization of reactions to violence is a concern with comic films as they are usually targeted at the younger audience so that more merchandise can be sold. The inconsistency comes from the original 50 shades of grey trailers being classified as 15 before its actual release at an 18 even then Deadpool has consistent violence and graphic language throuhgt= out and the explicit scenes form 50 shade equates to less than a fifth of the films 125 minutes. I also believe that this is to stop the public from going into a moral panic over the idea that 50 shades will create perversion with young adults and teens. On the other hand however violence can create catharsis for the viewers so that they can view and not partake in it where as there is a social expectation for sex that can be distorted by these types of films.