I do not really care what the content of music film clips are. If the production companies want to sell another product then I say fine go ahead and do that. If they use violence, sex, drinking, etc. to get into the heads of people watching then let them do that too.
Some people say it's wrong to show girls wearing the minimum basics of clothing, practically sitting on top of guys who are smoking, drinking or both, but I don't. You could go down the street and see people like that every day.
It may be classed as "bad influences" for the younger generation but hey, you've got to learn what happens in life at some stage. Why's it really matter what age they are? I'd rather find out about the facts of life when I'm nine than when I'm ninety.
Music film clips express how the world is, and there should not be anything wrong with that. People do take drugs. People do have sex. People do go to parties and drink. People do have friends. People do have fun and also get angry.
Why does it matter if we see all that in music film clips? We are all going to experience most of it in our own lives. If a parent doesn't want their child to learn about that until they are older then fine, I do not care, they are not my kids and everyone should be allowed their own opinion whether they are right or wrong.
A music film clip can express the artists' or directors' feelings, emotions and point of view. If he is angry or sad, the setting will usually be at night or somewhere dark and dull. Watching a film clip like that (if it is a good one), could probably even put you into that mood. You could watch a film clip of Nikki Webster's and feel happy and good to be alive but then an Eminem clip comes on and you are down in the dumps, depressed and angry at the world.
So music film clips do have a psychological effect on some of the audience. A denotation is what is actually shown and a connotation is the meaning that the viewer gives to the denotation. For example, a person could see a beautiful, slim model (denotation) and think that she's what everyone should look like (connotation). If the model is seen in every second film clip every week for a few months then the viewer could develop an eating disorder from her connotation to the model. It could also give the viewer money problems, from all the plastic surgery they might think they need.
The same goes for drinking alcohol. Researchers discovered that an increase of one hour each day in watching music videos leads to a 31 percent increase in the risk of drinking over the next 18 months. So what we are looking at is a long term side effect, meaning that watching just one or two music film clips a month isn't likely to make you start drinking excessively or give you psychological problems.
So, when you think about it, younger children aren't really at risk of being exposed to bad influences. More than three quarters of primary school children only watch music film clips when the cartoons aren't on or they pushed the wrong remote control button. And how often does that happen? Not often. Anyhow, when they do actually watch them, I have found that they don't really pay much attention to what they are watching. To them it's just music with pictures to go with it. If we are really worried about the bad influences on children we should be looking at their schools and districts not the film clips.
I asked my seven year old sisters what she wanted to see in a film clip and she said straight away Bob the Builder and dancing. The I asked my ten year old brother and he said sports and skating. We only take notice of what interest us and our age group/sex. That's why film clips have so much variety. Males prefer sexy women such as Kylie Minogue, violence, sports and action such as fight scenes and fast cars. Dancing, friendship healthy body images and relationships are the main things women prefer to watch.
Violence, drugs, sex, drinking, parties and relationships are what keep us interested. We don't want to see people sitting down looking bored and doing nothing. The directors and producers have to show us something we are willing to watch otherwise there would be no point in even making music film clips because no one would watch them. And then we would definitely have nothing to do Saturday mornings. |
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