legal and ethical

2. 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 This theory implied that the mass media had a
direct and powerful effect on its audiences. It also
suggests that the media can influence an
audiences thoughts by ‘injecting’ them with
appropriate messages that trigger their desired
response.
The Force Awakens cannot have an influence on
the audience that are watching as now the
audiences are no longer passive and can therefore
not be influenced by a film to believe certain
messages.
TWO STEP FLOW This theory shows that information from the media
moves in two distinct stages. Individuals (opinion
leaders) who pay close attention to the mass
media and its messages receive the information.
The theory refined the ability to predict the
influence of media messages on audience
behaviour. For example social media.
The two step flow theory can have an effect on the
audience as nowadays many members of the
audience have social media which can effect the
way that they see the film. For example fans can
follow the director or the actors involved who may
show behind the scenes which can take away the
effect of seeing the film in the cinema as they may
have seen certain scenes before.
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS Uses and gratifications are the reasons that the
audience watch TV and film, discover by Blumler
and Katz (1974). They found the main 4 reasons we
watch things are for diversion, personal
relationships, personal identity and surveillance.
In The Force Awakens, many of these have been
included to ensure the audience enjoy the film.
The audience gain personal relationships with
characters of a similar age as them and personal
identity when they can see themselves in a
character, for example the older generation
relating with Han Solo. The plot, genre and the
characters also help to give the audience a sense
of diversion and distract them from everday life as
they are in fictional settings.
DESENSITISATION Desensitisation is the way the on-screen action
has an effect on the audience. The more that the
audience are exposed to something such as sex,
violence or death the weaker the effect on the
audience.
Desensitisation has an effect on the audience in
the force awakens as things such as violence have
less of an impact on the audience towards the end
of the film as it happens so frequently throughout.
Meaning that they become desensitised to
violence.

3. WHAT ARE THE POSITIVE EFFECTS OF
THE FORCE AWAKENS ON AN
AUDIENCE?
0 The Force Awakens has many positive effects on the audience, for
example they can build personal relationships with characters.
An example of this would be younger men watching the film
seeing Finn as a brother figure as they might look up to him due
to him being courageous and strong. The audience may also gain
personal identity with certain characters and may see similar
qualities of themselves in a character. For example a young
woman watching Rey may connect with her character because
they have similarities in the way they might act. Furthermore,
seeing a positive role model such as Rey or Poe in the film can
make someone in the audience model their behaviour and copy
what they are doing due to them getting love from other
audience members.

4. WHAT ARE THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF
THE FORCE AWAKENS ON AN
AUDIENCE?
0 There are several negative effects that the film The Force
Awakens can have on the audience mainly due to its genre.
The fact that it is a science-fiction film means that there is
lots of fast paced action scenes which involve a lot of
violence. For young children watching this they may
become desensitised to the violence and think that it is
normal behaviour, making them repeat some of these
actions in real life. In addition to this due to the amount of
violence that is ‘injected’ to the audience, which is the
hypodermic needle theory, it can persuade the audience to
be as violent themselves. People who are the easiest to be
influenced by what they see tend to be people with mental
illnesses or children.

5. ISSUES OF REPRESENTATIONWHO/WHAT IS BEING REPRESENTED WHY HAS THE INSTITUTION
REPRESENTED THEM IN THAT WAY
WOULD THIS BE CONSIDERED A
POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE
REPRESENTATION- EXPLAIN
Race The institution has represented Race to not
have an impact on the way someone is
treated and shows there to be more equality.
This is a positive representation for the film
because it eliminates racism and shows that
there is more equality in the film and the
franchise.
Gender Gender has been represented to be far more
equal by having a female as the main
character. This would attract a larger target
audience as previously Star Wars had a male
dominant audience whereas by having a
female lead it can inspire females.
This again is a positive representation for the
film and gender as it shows that women are
just as strong as men and are no longer
inferior to them. This means that sexism is
less of an issue for the institution.
Age Age is represented to have little impact on the
characters and the way they act in the film.
For example Han Solo is still very much
involved in the action. Many of the audience
tend to relate more to the characters which
are similar age to them, which is why there is
a variety of ages in the film.
I feel this is also a positive representation of
age. This is because it shows that age
doesn’t matter when it comes to being
involved in the action and will make some of
the older members of the target audience feel
much younger when watching the film as they
gain that sense of nostalgia.
Sexuality Sexuality is represented very few times by the
institution. The only times it has been
represented is showing a male character and
a female character kissing. The institution has
done this as the majority of the audience will
be able to relate to this.
I believe that this is a negative representation.
The institution haven’t really shown any
homosexual characters which is a negative
because in society it is accepted and many
people from the audience may not be able to
relate to relationships in the film as a result of
this.

6. Does the film provide typical
mainstream representations or does it
offer something that challenges society?
0 The Force Awakens, in contrast to previous Star Wars films,
challenges society and its norms throughout. This is because the
main lead role in the film is a female character (Rey) which is rare
for many films not just Star Wars films. Her character is shown to the
audience to be very adventurous, strong and powerful. This
challenges society because stereotypically men are seen as stronger
than women and having Rey as the leader and stronger character it
shows to the audience that women are just as strong as men.
0 Another way that the film challenges society is by having the first
black lead character in a Star Wars film. This challenges society
because the character, John Boyega who plays Finn, creates a more
diverse feeling to the Star Wars franchise which hasn’t been seen
before. In a society where there is still a lot of racism around this
challenges the views of some in society massively.

7. What are the current debates in
society regarding representation that
could be related to the film?
0 There are many current debates in society regarding representation which
can be related to the film The Force Awakens. One example of this is the
sexism that is still in society despite not being as bad as when the first Star
Wars film came out in1977. There are still views in society that women don’t
represent being strong and vigorous in the same way that men do. This
relates to the film because by having Daisy Ridley playing the main lead role
in a very fast paced, violent action film it shows that women are just as
powerful as men. This was the aim from Star Wars to try and highlight this to
society.
0 Leading on from this, another debate in society involves racism. Much like
sexism, racism is far better than it was 50 years ago which is why we’ve seen
the first black lead character in a Star Wars film. However, there are still
many views in society that see black people or those of another ethnicity as
inferior to others. This relates to the film because despite having John
Boyega from another ethnicity, there is still a completely unbalanced
proportion between different races and ethnicities.

8. LEGAL AND ETHICAL
ISSUES
LEGAL Explain the issue: Example in relation to THE FORCE
AWAKENS
Discrimination: Many people in society discriminate upon
people from different ethnicities and those
from different cultures. There are also
issues with discrimination towards females.
An example of this in The Force Awakens is
the discrimination towards John Boyega who
plays Finn because of his race. Furthermore,
there has been discrimination towards Daisy
Ridley who plays the lead character of Rey
just because of her gender.
Copyright: Many films can easily breach copyright
laws by taking content from previous films.
This is a big issue for The Force Awakens as
because it was such a successful films, if they
breach copyright laws they will lose a large
amount of money and it will damage their
sales too.
ETHICAL –Offensive material Explain the issue: Example in relation to THE FORCE
AWAKENS
Violence/sex/language: By including scenes that included bad
language, violence and sex it become
offensive to many people and can cause a
decline in the range of target audience.
There is lots of violence involved in The Force
Awakens and this can cause an increase in
the violence of the target audience if done in
the incorrect way. This is because they
become desensitised to it.
Children: Some of the content in films can have a
negative impact on children due to them
not understanding what is morally right or
wrong. This means that children need to be
protected from certain content.
A lot of violence in the film can cause the
children in the target audience to become
violent themselves as they will copy the
behaviour. Therefore The Force Awakens
needed to put an age certificate on it of a 12A.

9. HOW DO THE LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS
HAVE AN EFFECT UPON THE MAKING
OF THE FORCE AWAKENS?
0 The legal considerations have an effect on the making
of The Force Awakens by the institution making sure
that there is no clear discrimination involved, such as
racism towards characters or characters all of the
same ethnicity, which is why John Boyega and Daisy
Ridley have been given the main roles in the film. The
institution also needs to ensure that there they don’t
have any issues with copyright laws by taking content
from elsewhere. This could mean that they lose a huge
amount of money and also the film would do nowhere
near as well.

10. HOW DO THE ETHICAL
CONSIDERATIONS HAVE AN EFFECT
UPON THE MAKING OF THE FORCE
AWAKENS?
0 Ethical considerations would have a huge impact on the
making of The Force Awakens. Firstly, the institution would
need to make sure that there is no offensive material based
on the age certificate of the film. For example because the
film is rated a 12A they need to make sure there is no bad
language or strong sexual scenes as children will be
watching. Leading on from this, the children in the target
audience can’t see too many violent scenes as some of
them are likely to copy these behaviours. As a result of this
the BBFC would need to appoint an age certificate
according to the violence in the film.

11. REGULATORY BODIES
BBFC
Who are the BBFC?
The British Board of Film Classification
What role does the BBFC perform?
They are responsible for the classification and censorships of films
Why does the BBFC exist?
In order to censor films according to its content so that certain ages aren’t exposed to potentially offensive material.
What rules does the BBFC set that have to be followed by film institutions?
“These standards are laid out in the BBFC’s Classification Guidelines which can be downloaded below. The Guidelines detail
what is acceptable at each age category, from U to R18. They also set out the laws and principles which impact on the BBFC’s
work.”
 “to protect children and vulnerable adults from potentially harmful or otherwise unsuitable content
 to empower consumers, particularly parents and those with responsibility for children, to make informed viewing decisions. “
HOW DO THESE RULES HAVE A DIRECT EFFECT UPON HOW A FILM IS MADE?
EXAMPLE 1: (LEGAL)
It means that children and parents aren’t exposed to discrimination in films and that material cannot be copied by
anyone in the audience.
EXAMPLE 2: (ETHICAL)
It protects children from seeing content that they or their parents may find harmful or offensive.