Understanding the Creative Media Sector (Task 3)

Legal and Ethical Considerations

Whilst making our animation we have to think about different legal and ethical considerations of our sector (film - animation). They range from:

• Social Issues
• Representation of gender
• Representation of religious beliefs
• Linguistic usages
• Accessibility
• Professional body codes of practice
• Worldwide Web Consortium
• Broadcasting Act 1990
• Official Secrets Act 1989
• Obscene Publications Act 1959
• Films Act 1985
• Video Recordings Act 1984
• Race Relations Act 1976
• Human Rights Act 1998
• Licensing Act 2003
• Privacy Law
• Copyright
• Libel Law

Social Issues is how issues relate to peoples personal lives and interactions, such as; crime, education, law, suicide, bullying, gun rights, alcohol laws and so on. Representation of gender is about essential elements of our identity, and the identities we assume other people to have, like stereotypes. A typical male is stereotyped as tough, hard and sweaty. A typical female is stereotyped as fragile, soft and fragrant. Mainstream media is our only source of news regarding anything to do with religion, representation of religion. Linguistic uses are the study of languages, focusing on the system of human communication. Some of the questions ask are what is language? Where is language stored in the brain? How is it learnt? Accessibility is a term to describe a product/device/service which is available to as many people as possible. Professional body codes of practice known as professional ethics is the personal and corporate standards of behaviour expected of professionals. The World Wide Web Consortium is an international community where member organizations, the public and the staff work together to develop web standards. The Broadcasting Act 1990 is an act to make new provision with respect of regulation of independent television and sound programme services. Official Secrets Act 1989 is an act to replace section 2 of the official secrets act 1911; it protects more limited classes of official information. Obscene Publications Act 1959 is an act to amend the law relation to the publication of obscene matter; to provide for the protection of literature as well as strengthening the law concerning pornography. Films Act 1985 is an act to repeal the films act 1960 to 1980, making further provision with respect to the financing of films. Video Recordings Act 1984 is to make provision for regulating the distribution of video recordings for connected purposes. Race Relations Act 1976 is to make provision with respect to discrimination on racial grounds and relations between people of different racial groups. Human Rights Act 1998 gives legal effect in the UK to the fundamental rights and freedoms contained in the European Convention on Human Rights. The rights impact matters such as life & death and rights in your everyday life. Licensing Act 2003 is an act to make provision about the regulation of the sale and supply of alcohol. Privacy Law refers to the laws which deal with the regulation of personal information about individuals which can be collected by governments. Copyright is a legal concept; it gives the creator of an original work exclusive the rights to it. The definition of Libel law is defamation, also known as slander.

The main ones I have highlighted that relate to our group animation are Social Issues, Representation of Gender, Accessibility and Copyright. Our animation shows several Social Issues throughout the growing up of both characters: sex, alcoholic drinks, travelling, marriage and then pregnancy. Representation of gender is used because of how we stereotypical show our characters. The male silhouette is a typical figure, and the female has a typical feminine hair cut which is recognisable by the viewers. As well as this, on the world map we show two dots for where each character is in the world, the female dot being pink and the male dot being blue, a typical colour stereotype to represent each gender. The accessibility of our video will be in the social networking sector, YouTube and either Twitter/Facebook if we wanted to promote it even more. This is because this would be the most successful way for our target audience (aged 16-30) to view it. 

Many different film makers have broken rules resulting in them being banned. A recent ban being The Human Centipede 2, the movie was heavily criticised for showing no attempt to portray any of the victims in the film as anything other than objects to be degraded, brutalised and mutilated for amusement of the main character. The BBFC decided to ban this and describe it as 'unacceptable material' and will not be sold anywhere in the UK legally.

This Bugs Bunny episode was banned because of racist content on Cartoon Network, ABC and WB! Bugs Bunny impersonates a black slave to get past the character Yosemite Sam. Bugs cover is blown when he starts to play ‘Yankee Doodle’ on his guitar, followed by him begging Sam not to beat him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8D93Awa434

 

This Betty Boop advert was banned as well because of drug usage. Although laughing gas is legal, way back it was considered a bad drug as it resulted in unnatural actions. Betty Boop tries to remove the other characters tooth but it doesn’t budge, so she resorts to laughing gas and it is left on so starts spreading out the window and into the street where it affects the public.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9Tb4TMibk0

Bibliography
http://www.w3.org/Consortium/
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/42
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1989/6
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Eliz2/7-8/66
http://www.terramedia.co.uk/reference/law/UK_media_law/FilmsAct1985.htm
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/39
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/17