Media Journal

MEDIA JOURNAL
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(December 01, 2012)
Media Article
Cultivation theory
The cultivation theory was developed in the late 1960s by George Gerbner, the theory of cultivation aimed at presenting a shift from the paradigm that had been presented by Paul lazarsfeld this theory was so popular and it had dominated in the 1940s. The cultivation theory is also called the stalagmite theory or the cultivation analysis. The theory comes up with a suggestion that the media effects occur just like the slow build up of the formations on cave floors which usually take their form after a continuous dripping of limewater from the ceiling above it. The emergence of the cultivation theory came as a result of the increase in television and the major aim of the theory by Gerber was to study the effects the televisions had on the viewers and their perception of the everyday world and how it is like (Richard & Harris, 2009).
The cultivation theory is based on some principles that make suggestions these principle are that the viewing of television is responsible for the shaping of the perception one has about the social realities. This is to state that the kind of issues one watches on the television decides the views one has on the world and how one thinks about the occurrences of events. the other principle of the cultivation theory suggests that the combined effects of the excess television watching by viewers over a certain period that it eventually shapes the views or the perceptions one has on the social realities for single individual that is exposed to the television and it eventually changes the perception for the whole culture as all viewers gain the televised perception. The other principle on the theory is the argument by the cultivation theorist that there are long term effects from the television that are indirect, gradual and small but they accumulate with time and become significant.
According to the views of Gabber what most people saw on television was violence and it led to the perception that the world is full of violence. The definition that was adopted by Gabber for violence was that it is the incursion of over expression of physical force and the compelling of one`s action against their will by threatening or victimizing others and making all this part of a televised plot. Gabber together with his colleagues had studied television for 22 years and they recorded the quantity of violence on randomly selected programs and the finding was that this was stable over time. They found that dramas with inclusion of violence had an average of five violent incidents per hour of viewing. The cultivation theory targeted four major attitudes from the viewers, the chance of being involved with violence the results are that heavy viewers of television reported being involved in violence more that light viewers. The other is the fear of walking alone at night women who viewed violence programs were more afraid than their counterpart males.
The cultivation theory also researched on viewer`s perceived activity of police and the finding was that heavy viewers were beloved to perceive more of the society involvement in law enforcement than the light viewers. The author change of attitude is on the mistrust of people most heavy viewers see the motives of others negatively what gabber called the mean world syndrome. The theory shows that the heavy viewers of television had a negative perception where they viewed the world as a dangerous place. The different aspects of the cultivation theory effects on the television viewers include mainstreaming and resonance. Mainstreaming is process by which television heavy viewers had a result of similar perspective even though they could be of different economical or educational class. In mainstreaming Gabber argued that the television unlike the radios audience that narrowly focuses on matters it seeks broader coverage which influences the viewers in similar manner. Resonance is the means by which television viewers with an actual experience of violence are affected; according to Gabber the view of violence in television revives the memories of the experience of those who were former violence victims.
Televised programming
The televised program watched is the show called revolution. The show is a production from America that is majorly a scientific fiction drama and the plot of the show is the loss of electricity in a city through a phenomenon that disabled power on the planet and all the things that are powered by electricity. The operation of the world seizes to be normal as people are used to electrically powered machines such as cars, jets and computers among others. The people are forced to live in a world without electricity and the government is unable to stay put which leads to its collapse and the eventual occurrence is that the rule of many areas go under the warlords and the militias. The show is based on power hunger as there is the urge by those ruling the militias to acquire the device that is able to reverse the power effect and also the understanding of the effects. The general in charge of the militias is determined to gain power and rule over America and in order to do so there are people who are capable of the power reversal effect and he seeks them in order to use them.
The analysis of the show indicates the violence that the militias are using on the rebels in order to gain control over the Monroe republican. Miles a character in the show was a bus marine corp. and he is one of the characters being pursued by the militias who are headed by their general Monroe Sebastian. The two were best friend in the military and after the collapse of the government due to the power failure they founded the Monroe republic and miles was the commanding gen...