Policy and Technology Paper Concerns about Violence and Sexual Content in Movies, Music, Video Games, Television Programming and Other Media

It is necessary to say that watching a great deal of violent scenes and aggressive actions affect the future behavior and life of young people who can even commit a crime in the nearest future.
Watching violence in movies, video games and TV programs also can lead to such unhealthy situations as desensitization when young people are less sensitive to real life violence and are aggressive to other people and Mean World Syndrome when young people consider that the world around them is a mean place which is full of dangers. (TV & Movie Violence)
The Interested Parties Involved in the Issue

It is clear that the interested parties involved in the issue concerning violence and sexual content in movies, video games, TV programs and other media are parents, government, court and other organizations such as the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and others. Of course, much depends on the methods they will use to reduce the representation of violence and sexual content in mass media. All the parents should control the number of hours their children spend watching TV programs and movies or playing video games.

Some psychologists recommend to discuss each program, movie or video game their children have watched in order to criticize bad content. The government and court should pay more attention to this issue and certain actions should be taken to limit violence and sexual content in mass media. (Anderson, Berkowitz, 2003)
However, there are also other “interested parties” who protect violence in movies, TV programs, video games and other media. They consider that violence is a form of free expression which cannot do harm to both the children and the adults.

For example, the American Booksellers Organization argues that many of the books and movies which were banned many years ago are considered to be “classics” at present day. Some people are sure that violence in movies is not connected with violence in our society. Many artists and film-makers are sure that various elements of violence in movies attract attention of the public and that people will not watch movies without violence scenes. (Media Violence Debates)

POSSIBLE FINAL OUTCOMES OF THE SITUATION CONCERNING LIMITATION OF THE REPRESENTATION OF VIOLENCE IN MEDIA
It is known that a lot of people are against representation of violence in movies, video games and other media. For example, Janet Reno, an attorney General have already claimed the entertaining industry to limit the representation of violence and sexual content in movies, TV programs and video games. She even demands to legislate anti-violence actions of control. It is clear that the content of movies and TV programing should be thoroughly checked and controlled although such acts are considered to be the acts of censorship and they violate the freedom of speech and press.
Some experts consider that government should not decide what is good and bad in the movies, the viewers should decide it.

It is known that some young people try to imitate violent scenes from the movies. There are a lot of accidents which are connected with negative influence of entertaining media on the youth. However, each person is responsible for his/her life. The government cannot control all the people who watch violent scenes. (Stevenson, 1993, para.3)

It is clear that some people will lose while others will gain in the issue concerning limitation of violence in media. Film-makers will lose because they will not be able to create such colorful films which contain numerous violent acts. Their films will not be so popular because a lot of people prefer to watch films which include murders, crimes, beating, sexual assaults and so on.
There is also another opinion concerning violence in our society. It is known that violent acts were committed long before the invention of TV. There are a lot of violence in the history of any country as well as in the Bible where numerous scenes of torture and sufferings are shown. That is why it is difficult to say that media is blamed for the violence in our society. The members of our society should be blamed for all the violence actions. (Stevenson, 1993, para.5)

The limitation of violence will not change the situation in our society and the government control will not be able to ban all the violent actions in our society. Only the viewer himself can create anti-violent entertainment choosing only those programs and movies which do not contain acts of violence and sexual content. Of course, the government can help to reduce the number of programs which show a lot of violent scenes. In this case the government will gain because most of the citizens of the country will be law-abiding. They will not commit crimes and they will have respect for the law. (Stevenson, 1993, para.4)

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, it is necessary to say that the issue discussed in the paper is an actual one and should be resolved as soon as possible. Violence in movies, TV programs, video games and other media should not be portrayed without consequences. The young people who watch violent actions without remorse and critical views should know that violence in real life will be punished and they should be afraid of committing acts of violence. Due to different technological advancements including special computer effects and other innovations, violence is represented more graphic and more popular today.

The issue discussed in the paper can be resolved only by means of joint actions of the government and court which will reduce the violent and sexual content in media and the viewers who will choose those TV programs and other media which is anti-violent. The US Federal Communications Commission is a governmental unit which is responsible for control over the content of TV programs and other media. Unfortunately, there are no certain laws which will prohibit representation of violence on TV and in other media.