Cultivation Theory- Television Grows Fearful Thoughts

In the chapter of Cultivation theory Griffin writes about Gerbner's survey to discover the cultivation differential. Gerbner targeted four attitudes in this survey: Chances of involvement with violence, Fear of walking alone at night, Perceived activity of police, and the general mistrust of people. What Gerbner did was take two groups, the light and heavy viewers and asked them about each category. What he got was the heavy viewers believing that they are more likely to be a victim of violence, they fear that 1 in 10 of them will be of risk of violence on any given day. Light viewers believed that in was more like 1 in 100. Crime statistics actually indicate that 1 out of 10,000 is more likely. Watching shows like CSI and 24 people fear walking alone at night, because the shows make the person believe that something will happen. The other perception is that people who are heavy TV viewers think that police are always out in force patrolling the streets. This is not the case. I can say that this is also not true because my dad is an officer and he often tells me about the lack of police on the streets. The final attitude is that most heavy TV viewers have a general mistrust of people, because of all of the backstabbing going on in most shows that are on TV these days.

In this video from 24, it shows jack and his team entering a suspected terrorist hideout where they end up killing all of the people inside.
This depicts a very violent situation where people are dying and to the heavy viewer they may take this show as being real. they might think that this is actually what happens on a regular basis with our counter terrorism and police forces. This video goes along with the perceived activity of Police. Police normally do not engage in all out firefights with suspects.
This is the problem with people watching to much TV, they gain perceptions of different things which are not substantiated in any way but through TV shows. I do not watch much TV, I probably see about one hour per week for a snowboarding show I watch. To me I can understand why people would have fearful thoughts from TV. If they do not have any other experience than whats on TV, then I think that Gerbner's survey was effective.

The Cultivation Theory- Violence on TV

According to Griffin, the violence that exists in the world around us so many times is connected to what one views on television. Dramatic violence, as Griffin refers to it, is “ the overt expression of physical force (with or without a weapon, against self or others) compelling action against one’s will on pain of being hurt and/or killed or threatened to be so victimized as part of the plot” (Griffin 350). In terms of this theory, Griffin believes that so many of the primetime shows that we watch on a regular basis contain violence, with such examples as Lost or CSI, and that these dramas include an average of five traumatic incidents per hour (Griffin 350-51). By the time one graduates from high school, they on average have observed about 13,000 violent deaths on television (Griffin 351).

In regards to what groups are most displayed in these violent acts, whites account for around 50 percent of the center of these violent acts, and women are outnumbered to men in a 3 to 1 ratio (Griffin 351). In one of my favorite primetime dramas, One Tree Hill, I witness at least five traumatic incidents per hour episode, and many times it is the abuse, or even worse, the death of a character. With such messages being displayed in what is supposed to be a show meant for teenage-aged individuals, it is no wonder such immense amount of violence occurs in our society.

I agree with Griffin that much of the time these violent acts are experienced by female members of the casts of these shows. In the video clip that I chose, one of the main characters, Brooke Davis, is recalling her prior attack by a male individual who previously attacked her, and is now fighting back against him in defense of herself and her foster daughter Sam. Although the message of the episode is in some ways a hopeful one, teaching young women the act of self-defense and standing up for oneself, at the same time the violent acts are still being displayed. So I have to ask, is it better to display these types of acts with a hopeful and inspiring message attached to them, or to not display such acts at all? I think many times these shows and networks feel that their ratings would go down or be non-existent without such action and suspense, but for the sake of preventing such acts from occurring in real life, I almost feel myself that it would be better to approach the issues from a different, less violent, angle.