legal

1. DISNEY: LEGAL & ETHICAL, REGULATORYBODIES
FORM COMPLETED BY:
A) POSSIBLE EFFECTS OF FILM UPON AN AUDIENCE
THEORY/EFFECT EXPLAIN WHAT THIS IS CAN THIS BE AN EFFECT
THAT THE FORCE
AWAKENS HAS ON AN
AUDIENCE? HOW?
HYPODERMIC NEEDLE
THEORY
Thought of by The Frankfurt
school, a group of media
theorists in who looked at the
possible effects of the mass
media. The theory suggests
that the contents of the
media is injected into the
thoughts of the audience who
accepted the attitudes,
opinions and beliefs of the
media without question.
It can affect the force
awakens audience as the
release was advertised
everywhere as it became big
part of popular culture it was
inescapable and therefore
the knowledge of the release
was injected into the
audience so more people
were aware of it leading to
more seeing it.
TWO STEP FLOW Developed by Lazarsfeild
and Katz in the 1940/50s,
there is 2 steps, 1st the
opinion leaders get
information from a media
source, 2nd leaders then pass
on the information with their
interpretation to others. This
allows the audience to be an
active part of society
however it can be debated
that there is more than 2
steps in the flow of
communication.
This can be related to the
force awakens as the 1st
opinion leaders would go and
see the film and then pass on
their opinion that they liked
the film and therefore the 2nd
leaders would go and see it.
USES AND
GRATIFICATIONS
Introduced by Blumler and
Katz in the 1960s they said
there was a choice in what to
watch, they came up in the
uses and gratifications in
1974, diversion, to escape
what is going on in your life,
personal relationships, you
can talk about it and from
relationships with other
people, personal identity,
feeling connected to the
characters and identifying
with them and surveillance,
to learn from what you see.
This can be an effect the
force awakens has on the
audience as the star wars
universe is so in depth and
been going since the original
films that the audience feels
immersed into that universe
with references to other parts
of the universe etc. that it
causes diversion. The film
represents many different
age ranges with the old and
new characters so the
audience relates to one of
them causing personal
identity. The star wars
franchise now stretches over
2 generations with the new

2. and old films so it causes
personal relationships with
sons and fathers etc.
DESENSITISATION we are less shocked by what
the amount of violence,
nudity and death we are
exposed to. As the years go
by we are more and more
desensitised we are.
This relates to the Force
Awakens as there is lots of
scenes of violence so the
audience are exposed to it,
becoming desensitised.
WHAT ARE THE POSITIVE EFFECTS OF THE FORCE AWAKENS ON AN AUDIENCE?
The positive effects are that it shows the ‘good side’, the Resistance winning as Rey defeats
Kylo Ren, ‘bad side’ as he is part of the First Order showing that good is triumphant over evil.
It also has positive representation of female characters as Rey is shown as an intelligent and
brave young woman as she knows how to fix the ships and fly them, she also proves she
doesn’t need saving by males as she comes to Finns rescue when he is injured by Kylo Ren
in the forest and tells Finn he doesn’t need to hold her hand when they are running showing
she is a strong and independent, this positively effects the audience, especially the female
audience. The character of Finn also has a positive effect on the audience as he is a young
black male lead that is seen to do the right thing as he leaves the First Order and joins the
Resistance showing the audience that he is a character with good morals and intentions.
WHAT ARE THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF THE FORCE AWAKENS ON AN AUDIENCE?
The negative effects on of the force awakens on the audience can be that violence and war
are seen as the resolutions to defeating the bad which may impact the audience to think that
it is the only answer.
B) ISSUES OF REPRESENTATION
WHO/WHAT IS BEING
REPRESENTED
WHY HAS THE
INSTITUTION
REPRESENTED THEM IN
THAT WAY
WOULD THIS BE
CONSIDERED A POSITIVE
OR NEGATIVE
REPRESENTATION-
EXPLAIN

3. Race Finn is a black character that
has a leading role and is
represented as a character
that is good and wants to do
the right thing as he leaves
the first order and joins the
resistance.
This is a positive
representation as it is
showing ethnic minorities that
they are also included in the
Star Wars universe and
represents then in a positive
way through Finns character.
Gender Reys character is a young
female that is strong,
independent, brave and
intellect as she knows how to
fix and fly ships and can look
after herself on jaku and wins
fights against kylo ren.
This is a positive
representation as she is
defeating the hegemonic
ideas that females are weak
and need saving by the
males as she can save
herself.
Age Although there are 2 main
generations in the film, the
original older characters and
the new younger characters
the younger ones are
represented as the ones that
are able to fight and save the
day as Poe is the one flying
the fighter ships and Rey and
Finn both fight Kylo Ren,
although Han Solo does join
Finn flying the melenium
falcon he does later get killed
in the film
This is a negative
representation for the older
generation of characters are
they aren’t shown as being
able to save the day anymore
however it is positive s for the
younger generation of
characters as they are shown
as the hero’s which helps the
stereotype that youths are
trouble makers.
Sexuality All the characters are
represented as being
heterosexual and no other
sexualities are represented in
the film.
This is a negative
representation as as
members of the LBGT
community are represented
at all and therefore feel they
can’t connect without
characters or that they don’t
belong as a part of the fan
base or Star Wars universe.
Does the film provide typical mainstream representations or does it offer something that
challenges society?
It challenges the idea in society that women can’t be things such as engineers or strong and
independent enough to save themselves as Rey is able to fix ships and fly them on her own
giving a positive role model for young girls. It also challenges idea of race as Finn is a black
storm trooper which caused controversy however he leaves and joins the ‘good side’ the
resistance and helps them against the first order showing him in a good light. However when
it comes to sexuality the relationships between characters are all shown as heterosexual
giving a mainstream representation.

4. What are the current debates in society regarding representation that could be related to
the film?
A debate related to society that is reflected in the film is women’s role in Hollywood as in
2014 only 12% of on screen protagonists were women and made up only 30% of characters
with speaking roles. This is represented in The Force Awakens as there is a female
protagonist that is strong, brave and able to save herself and be the heroine of the film.
Another issue in society that is reflected in the film is shootings in America, in 2015 there was
372 mass shootings in the US. The use of guns and violence in the film may be seen to
represent gun violence in the wrong way and possible encourage young people to use guns,
showing the use of them in a good light.
C) LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES
LEGAL Explain the issue: Example in relation to THE
FORCE AWAKENS
Discrimination: Discrimination is ‘the
unjust or prejudicial
treatment of different
categories of people,
especially on the grounds
of race, age, or sex’. This
can be explained as the
police treating black
people differently than
white because they
believe they are more
likely to be criminal
because of their race.
The fact that there is a
strong ethnic lead and
female lead in The Force
Awakens means that they
aren’t seen as discriminating
against a certain group of
people such as ethnic
minorities or females
because they are included in
the film.
Copyright: Copyright is ‘the exclusive
and assignable legal right,
given to the originator for a
fixed number of years, to
print, publish, perform,
film, or record literary,
artistic, or musical
material’. If someone
breaks a copyright
contract and claims the
work for their own they can
be sued for it.
Things that are iconic to the
Star Wars franchise such as
light sabers and storm
troopers are copyrighted so
that they cannot be used in
other films that aren’t Star
Wars and be claimed as that
film or other type of medias
own.
ETHICAL –Offensive material Explain the issue: Example in relation to THE
FORCE AWAKENS
Violence/sex/language: Offensive material is ‘any
published or broadcast
There is lots of scenes of
violence in The Force

5. content (such as articles,
photographs, films, or
websites) that is likely to
be upsetting, insulting, or
objectionable to some or
most people’. This any
include nudity, language
and violence. It can be
argued that we are
desensitised to this
because of how much we
are exposed to it in the
media.
Awakens as there is the
battles between the
resistance and the first
order, to retain the kid
friendly feel that younger
children can enjoy star wars
was well as adults it would
have had to been regulated
to make sure the violence
wasn’t too much. However
there wasn’t bad language
and sex in The Force
Awakens so that helped it
keep the younger audience.
Children: Children need to be
shielded from offensive
material such as violence,
nudity and bad language
as they are young and
impressionable members
of society and may take on
the things that they see
into their behaviour.
As Star Wars is owned by
Disney and Disney has a
young target audience of
children the writers, directors
and producers of the force
awakens must be careful to
keep the child friendly brand
of Disney, not including too
much offensive material.
HOW DO THE LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS HAVE AN EFFECT UPON THE MAKING OF THE
FORCE AWAKENS?
They must make sure not to include anything that was already copyrighted in the films such
as brands, music, or key things such as symbols etc. from other forms of media unless they
could be given the rights to do so and also make sure that things from The Force Awakens
were copyrighted before its release that the new ideas and parts of the storyline couldn’t be
taken. The Force Awakens must also not be seen to discriminate against ethnicities, gender,
religions, sexualities etc. so must try and include as many communities as possible and make
sure that no jokes were made about certain communities that could be taken as offensive or
a form of discrimination, some may argue this was mostly achieved with the black male lead
of Finn and the strong girl role model of Rey.
HOW DO THE ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS HAVE AN EFFECT UPON THE MAKING OF THE
FORCE AWAKENS?
The writers, producers and director must be aware of the rating the film is aiming to get and
therefore not include offensive material such as nudity, violence or strong language that
would affect this and offend the audience watching the film and mean that target audience
can’t watch the film because of its content. They must be aware that Star Wars is a Disney
owned franchise and therefore must make the film friendly to this and its young audience
while appealing to the older original audience at the same time, a compromise on this could
be that although there is violence in the film it isn’t enough to detour the child audience and
take away from the Disney brand.

6. D) REGULATORY BODIES
BBFC
Who are the BBFC?
The BBFC are the British board of film classification
What role does the BBFC perform?
They regulate films and their content and give them an appropriate age rating.
Why does the BBFC exist?
To protect the public from content which may have the risk of causing harm and regulate the
changing social attitudes towards media and its content.
What rules does the BBFC set that have to be followed by film institutions?
They say that in terms of discrimination offensive content relating to race, gender, religion,
disability or sexuality will have an impact on the classification decision made. Regarding drugs
no work take may promote the misuse of drugs and glamorises or normalises the misuse of
drugs and if the abuse of substances such as smoking, alcohol or substances is shown in work
appealing to children it will be taken into account for its rating. The feature of detailed criminal
and violent techniques and the glamorisation of weapons such as knifes and behaviour such
as self-harming and bullying will be taken into account of its rating. The use of language such
as expletives with a sexual, religious or racial association as well as derogatory language made
towards minority groups will all be taken into consideration depending on its rating. Nudity with
no sexual context is acceptable in principle at all ratings however is not generally shown in
films lower than a U, nudity show in a sexual context is generally at an adult rating of 18. The
classification system allows progressively stronger portrayals of sexual behaviour as the age
ratings rise however sex works which primary purpose is for sexual arousal is usually only
passed at an 18. The classification decisions will take into account of the frequency, detail and
length of scenes that are seen as threatening, scary or unsettling, especially if it is aimed at
children, for the rating. The amount of violence as well as the nature, works that include
violence as a normal solution, heroes that inflict violence and pain, encouragement of
aggressive attitudes, taking pleasure in pain and the glamorisation of violence are likely to
receive higher ratings.

7. HOW DO THESE RULES HAVE A DIRECT EFFECT UPON HOW A FILM IS MADE?
EXAMPLE 1: (LEGAL)
These rules have an effect on how films are made as they will have to make sure in order to
be given a rating and have the film approved by the BBFC they will have to be aware of the
rules regarding discrimination and other legal issues and make sure that the film sticks to those
rules to get the rating that will make sure their target audience can watch the film and avoid
having to remove parts of the film for this.
EXAMPLE 2: (ETHICAL)
The film makers will have to be aware of the BBFC’s rules regarding sex, nudity, language and
other possibly offensive material as the content in the film may be seen as unethical because
they haven’t obeyed them. This will mean that the films rating is higher excluding a possible
younger audience.