legal and ethical

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
A theory formulated by a
group of theorists at the
Frankfurt School in the
1920s-30s, that implies that
the mass media has a direct
and powerful effect on its
audiences. As if the
population is being injected
from one singular needle
causing an immediate
change in the behaviour and
beliefs of the masses.
This theory does not apply to
the Star Wars fan base as
they are an active and vocal
mass of consumers. The idea
of a passive audience is
unattractive to Disney as a
conglomerate and goes
against everything the Star
Wars franchise believes in.
TWO STEP FLOW Formulated by Lazarsfield &
Katz in the 1940s, the Two
Step Flow is a theory that
entails the distribution of
information in society. It is
thought that the social
leaders are informed and
then they will pass on the info
to the masses but with their
own active interpretation.
When larger and well known
figures in society such as
celebrities and critics use
social media to show their
emotion towards the film the
rest of society will be
informed through their eyes,
the standard of the film and
any aspect that someone
would be able to gage an
opinion of e.g Finn being a
black storm trooper. This can
also apply to friends, family
and word of mouth when
spreading the word about
new releases.
USES AND
GRATIFICATIONS
Theorised by Blumler and
Katz in 1974, the idea that
each person actively
consumes the mass media
for a different reason and
gets a different experience
from it. The four different
types are surveillance
personal identity, personal
relationships and diversion
and these will appeal to
different members of society
for different reasons.
As The Force Awakens has a
very broad target audience
there will be a large range of
different reasons for them all
to watch the same film.
These will fall into the four
categories within the theory
and also overlap between the
different target audiences.
DESENSITISATION A theory that states that the
viewers of today are
Due to the violence within the
film some viewers may

2. becoming less sensitive to
violent and explicit images
displayed by the media and
as a result may act in the
same way in everyday life
and place less value on the
norms of society eg not
punching someone in the
street.
become desensitised to the
idea of fighting another
person and could potentially
act in the same way to their
peers. If they, for example,
had a lightsaber toy, they
may use it to inflict violence
in a similar way to the
actors in the film.
WHAT ARE THE POSITIVE EFFECTS OF THE FORCE AWAKENS ON AN AUDIENCE?
The positive effects on the audience are mainly through the learning of knowledge and
lessons that they can apply to their own lives. For example, the young girls seeing Rey
achieve against the evil side on her own, as well as against powerful male figures, will learn
that they can lead as females and be independent and successful. Another positive effect will
obviously be the enjoyment viewer’s gain from watching the film, through the uses and
gratifications as well as the way the film will bring people together in one common love for
Star Wars.
WHAT ARE THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF THE FORCE AWAKENS ON AN AUDIENCE?
A negative effect for the audience may be the desensitising aspects such as the fighting and
violence between the Resistance and The First Order as enemies and this may negatively
affect the audience in the ay constructing a norm of violence being accepting if you believe
what you are standing up for is right. On top of this, as the audience may be aware of the
politically inspired imagery within the film they may feel pressured or upset by the historical
context of some scenes e.g the storm trooper rally and therefore feel alienated from enjoying
the film in its true form.
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
Race Jogn Boyega, as an actor of
Nigerian ethnicity, has
represented the black
community in order to bring
equality and racial
awareness to the film and
has been represented as an
equal to everyone else so as
to send the message that the
label of being human
overrides the colour of your
skin, an important concept in
contemporary society.
This could be seen in two
different ways as most would
see it as a positive
representation as it shows
equality and acceptance yet
some fans fell ignorant to this
message and complained on
the basis that as he was
playing a storm trooper he
should be a clone of the first
robot, who was played by a
white man. This could be
seen as negative
representation in terms of

3. pleasing the audience yet
only a small minority of
particularly invested fans
struck up the argument and it
was quickly defended by the
actors themselves via social
media.
Gender Daisy Ridley represents the
female gender with an image
of strength, bravery and
independence in The Force
Awakens. The institution will
have represented women in
this way in alignment with
new, contemporary views
and the rise of women in the
film industry.
They will also want to make
the film appealing to a wide
audience e.g both genders
and with a traditionally
predominantly male cast it is
possible that the female
sector may feel ignored and
unrepresented an d as a
result may boycott the film’s
release. By representing a
young and independent
female in the film the female
audience will feel more
inclined to become interested
in the release and therefor a
wider audience will be
targetable.
Age The institution has not
distinguished age as a
determining factor for
representation within the film
as the new and old
characters merge together
effortlessly and focus on
fighting against The First
Order as a unit. This idea of
the blurring of generations
goes further than the screen
as all ages have been
successfully targeted by Star
Wars as it appeals to such
abroad audience for different
reasons. This way all ages
have been brought together
(like in the film) to celebrate
their favourite film series
rather than appreciating
different genres in each
generation.
Within the film it can be seen
that older characters like Han
Solo and Leia guide and
nurture the newer faces to
following the values of the
Jedi and opposing The First
Order. This representation
will be seen as positive and
reminiscent to the idea of
family to those who watch it
as they will relate to this
function of passing down
knowledge.
Sexuality It could be said that the
institution have
unintentionally ignored the
rise in representation of
sexuality in the film industry,
as in today’s contemporary
society it is no longer
considered “taboo” to
represent homosexuality and
That being said there have
been speculations made over
a potential relationship
between Poe and Finn, as
they make such an impact on
each other at the beginning
of the film. It has never been
confirmed nor denied yet this
is the only real representation

4. a normal aspect of life, purely
for the reason that love and
romance is not a prominent
theme in the Star Wars story.
In general relationships do
not deepen further than
friendships excluding maybe
the main protagonists and for
this reason it could be said
that the representation of
sexuality is not relevant to
the film.
of possible homosexuality.
The idea of a gay couple
generated a lot of popularity
online and therefore it is
clearly an area that Disney
and LucasFilm should
consider in developing into
the next film.
Does the film provide typical mainstream representations or does it offer something that
challenges society?
One significant aspect that challenges society is having a lead female role. Historically in the
sci-fi genre and in the past instalments the lead roles have been given to strong male
characters and any female roles are presented as supporting roles yet in The Force Awakens
represents the contemporary image of a strong and independent female through Rey. The
idea that she can survive without the help of a man, assist and save oter male characters like
Finn and fight against largely masculine figures like Kylo Ren. It is characters like these that
society would expect to win and leas the film, much like the heavily male marvel cast for
example, yet in this film Rey holds her own and defends herself bravely.
In terms of typical mainstream representations there are some that society would expect like,
for example, the portrayal of Leia as a wife and lover of Han Solo rather than a part of the
Resistance like the other characters and this idea is similar to what I mentioned before about
females being largely supportive roles. However in regard to love interests there is a
partnership within The Force Awakens that challenges society’s norms, especially in the
world of Star Wars, and that is the close relationship between Poe and Finn. Many fans
speculated them to be the first potentially same-sex couple to be featured in the franchise yet
it has never been confirmed. This idea of a gay partnership challenges mainstream
representations, on top of the difference in the ethnicities of the actors (Nigerian and Latino).
C) LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES
LEGAL Explain the issue: Example in relation to THE
FORCE AWAKENS
Discrimination: Discrimination is when
someone receives
negative attention as a
result of their appearance
or a choice they have
made. An example would
be black people being
targeted by police more
than white people purely
When the public found out
that ethnically Nigerian John
Boyega was playing a
Stormtrooper in The Force
Awakens an online uproar
occurred where some fans
discriminated against the
franchise for casting a black
actor in a role that

5. because of stereotype and
any stigma surrounding
their race.
traditionally would’ve been
played by a white person, as
all storm troopers are
supposed to be clones of
one man.
Copyright: Copyright is a code of law
that is used to protect any
work from being used and
copied by those who do
not own it. Copyright
infringement is when these
rules are broken and
someone work is taken
and use for another
person’s benefit without
permission.
Throughout The Force
Awakens there is a large
amount of violence as it
follows the traditions of the
series like lightsaber duels,
revenge and violent
totalitarian leadership yet
these scenes along with the
growth in technology could
be said to be becoming
more and more graphic. It
also has to be considered
that a new younger
generation of viewers have
been successfully captured
with this new film and
therefore the question of
suitability can be raised as
they may be more sensitive
to the violence as a result of
today’s society.
ETHICAL –Offensive material Explain the issue: Example in relation to THE
FORCE AWAKENS
Violence/sex/language: Explicit imagery in film is a
controversial topic as
some believe it should be
allowed in the name of
artistic licence, dramatic
effect and historical
accuracy, yet others say it
is unneeded and is
creating global problems
like desensitisation. By
making it so widely
viewable young people are
becoming influenced by
the shocking image they
are seeing and are viewing
it as the norm and
acceptable behaviour
when realistically it is not.
As the franchise is such a
large and well-known brand,
it is very popular and
recognised on all platforms
of media. In particular it is
very commonly used online
and on social media like
YouTube and in some cases
video have been made
(such as lip psyching
parodies) by online
entrepreneurs who are trying
to hop onto the band wagon
driven by the popular series.
These videos have,
according to the copyright
laws of Disney and
LucasFilm, infringed the
regulations and have
therefor been filed as
lawsuits and taken down
from the web.
Children: Having a young audience
can be an issue as there
may be topics within the
film that could damage
As The Force Awakens has
a considerably broad target
audience the team will have
needed to be very selective

6. children and with an all
adult production team it
may be difficult to
recognise this until it is too
late. This means that
companies have to be
extremely careful of the
tone and explicit nature of
the images they are
providing.
in the level of violence they
show within the film. An
example would be the death
of Han Solo as it was very
cold-blooded and merciless
and this may upset younger
viewers more than the older
ones due to the fact that
they were father and son.
how do the legal considerations have an effect upon the making of the force awakens?
When making The Force Awakens the team will need to sensitive in the way of how they
present their characters making sure not to unintentionally discriminate against any particular
minority by leaving it out or skimming past its presence in comparison to more dominating
groups eg black representation in comparison to white supremacy through the representation
of The First Order against Finn as an individual who did not share the values of the group.
As a legal consideration Copyright shouldn’t be much of an issue as the Star Wars franchise
is such a large and widely known concept with dominating companies like Disney and
Lucasfilm behind it, yet the production team should still be aware of rivalling series’ like Star
Trek that could cause issues with the law should their finished products overlap in themes,
concepts and plot lines.
How do the ethical considerations have an effect upon the making of the force awakens?
Ethical considerations should be given to the children who will watch the film as, in terms of
violence, the team will need to be aware of the younger audience’s sensitivity when making
The Force Awakens. Fight scenes and specific characters like Kylo Ren will need to be
conducted and monitored tastefully in order to limit the harshness of the violence shown but
still create dramatic effect. Sexual content and explicit language shouldn’t be issues for the
team as those aspects of everyday life do not feature in the plot of The Force Awakens.
D) REGULATORY BODIES
BBFC
Who are the BBFC?
The British Board of Film Classification
What role does the BBFC perform?
It is responsible for the classification and censorship of all films exhibited nationwide.
Why does the BBFC exist?
To protect the British public from seeing damaging or upsetting content and to empower
consumers to make informed viewing decisions.
What rules does the BBFC set that have to be followed by film institutions?

7. The key factors the BBFC review are: Context, Theme, Tone and Impact,
Discrimination, Drugs, Imitable behaviour, Language, Sex, Nudity, Threat and
Violence. These aspects will have to be deemed suitable for age rating of the film.
How do these rules have a direct effect upon how a film is made?
EXAMPLE 1: (LEGAL)
In terms of discrimination the film will need to be void of any illegal discrimination to be
passed by the BBFC and this may be difficult for historical films that cover sensitive topics
and issues that, having arisen in the past, would now be considered discriminatory.
EXAMPLE 2: (ETHICAL)
In order to be deemed ethically suitable for its rating a film will need to be suitable in terms of
explicit material such as violence or nudity. During the production process the creative team
will need to be selective and tasteful in choosing which shits they can use to convey the tone
they wish to yet not be too explicit for their audience.