Letter to John McCain

Dear Senator McCain:

Although I currently do not reside in the state of Arizona, my family lives in Green Valley, I went to high school at Sahuarita High School and I will be moving to Phoenix upon my graduation from Brigham Young University this summer.  I am currently student in the School of Family Life at BYU.  My emphasis is Human Development.  This semester I participated in a class on Media and the Family.  Through the course of the class, many issues were presented raging from violent video games to sexualized advertisements to the miss representation of women in the media .  One of the issues that I believe is of extreme importance for the families of Arizona are the current rating systems.  I am writing this letter to express my concern for the current rating systems and to encourage you, as a United States Senator, to help modify the system.

The purpose of movie, video game and television ratings is to provide information on media content to parents that will allow them to make informed decisions about the media that their children use.  A rating system should also help parents protect their children from inappropriate content.  I am concerned that the current rating systems do not accomplish these goals. 

Currently movies, video games and television shows are rated differently.  In addition, the  people giving the ratings to different forms of media are not consistent.   Television programs are rated by the networks, movies are rated by the MPAA and video games are rated by the ESRB.  The lack of continuity is concerning.    It is difficult to understand what the different rating systems mean.  The parents of Arizona and the US as a whole are busy and many (more than 50%) do not use the rating system at all.  I believe that the rating system would be more widely used by parents if there was one uniform rating system, instead of our multiple confusing systems. 

Our current rating systems are age based.  For example, PG-13 ratings should indicate to parents that they should be cautious in allowing their children to view the movie, especially pre-teen children.   Unfortunately, these age based ratings have several problems.  First, they provide a forbidden fruit of sort for children.  Second, many parents do not agree with the ratings that movies are given.  Third, the rating system creeps, when I was a child the F-word was not allowed in a PG-13 movie, now a movie can have up to four uses of the F-word and still be given a PG-13 rating!  Finally, the current rating system does not account for what science has discovered about harmful media.  For example, there is a multiplicity of research indicating that violent media causes increased aggression.  But, the current rating system does not reflect that.

I have presented two problems with the current rating system, first that they are not consistent between different forms of media and second that the aged based system does not work.  I believe that a uniform, content-based rating system would better serve the parents of Arizona and the United States in general.   Instead of PG-13 movies and  T for teen games and TV-Y7 television shows parents need and want to know, if the move, game or TV show has violence, sexuality,  or swearing.  Having a uniform system will decrease the complexity of monitoring media.  Having a content based system will help parents evaluate media more intelligently to make informed decisions about the media use of their children.

As a future Arizona parent, I want our nation to have a rating system that will help me protect my children from content that is inappropriate and be able to help my children select media that is age appropriate.  With a new rating system, that is uniform across media types and content based, Arizona parents will be able to evaluate the movies, video games and television programs that their children watch and make informed decisions about what to allow.  This will only improve the lives of American children and thus improve the future of our country.   

Sincerely,

Bethany A. N. Cline

Brigham Young University Student

Captain America... didn't love it

Last night my husband and I went to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier at the Scera Theater (which is my favorite movie theater in town).  I was expecting the movie to have violence, I mean isn't that what super hero's do... use violence to stop bad guys?  But I was not expecting the magnitude of violence!  There was just so much!

When we got home I asked my husband if I was being over sensitive or if he also thought there was more violence than in any of the other Marvel Avengers movies.  He agreed that there was more, a lot more.  I was especially disturbed/disappointed that there was so much violence in addition to blatant disregard for innocent human life.  But what saddened me the most was how many children there were in the theater who were well below the age of 13, and who were having their minds filled with 2 hours of incredibly violent content.

This trailer does not even come close to depicting the amount of violence that was actually in the film.  I am a HUGE movie lover, and I like almost every movie that I see, but I am not sure that I could profess to liking the new Captain America movie.

Nothing to Post About...

This week has been crazy with the research paper we had due in Media class and I had another one due in Dr. Coyne's socialization class.  Since I have been so busy I feel like I have not used media as much as I normally do.  I thought it would be fun to go back through my week and see how much media I use, even in a busy and seemingly media free week.

1. I read my scriptures on my kindle... so reading a book and using an electronic device
2. I listened to music on Pandora both on my TV and on my computer
3. I watched about 20 minutes of TV each day as a break from homework.

After I finished by big papers, my media habits returned to a more normal routine.

1. I read scriptures on my kindle.
2. I listened to music on Pandora, both on the TV and computer.
3. I watched about an hour or two of TV each day as a break or background noise.
4. I started a new book, well an old new book (I am reading the 3rd Hunger Games, Mocking Jay, for the 2nd time).
5. I used Pinterest twice so far.
6. And of course I get on Facebook at least 3 times a day
7. I used google images for a projects for research with Dr. Yorgason.
8. I graded papers using the independent study website and the learning suite web site
9. I reviewed research papers that were emailed to me for the class I TA for.

I think the list could go on for a long time... but making this list has showed me that even when I think I have had a "media-free" week, I still really use a lot of media!

Pregnancy Body and Good Luck Charlie

In the third season of Good Luck Charlie, Mrs. Duncan is pregnant and has baby boy Toby.  I believe that the actress was also pregnant in real life.

 

I was interested to see how Mrs. Duncan would be portrayed the weeks following the delivery of baby Toby.  I was surprised and pleased that Mrs. Duncan looked like a normal woman who recently had a baby. 

Even if it was only for one episode I was grateful for the bit of reality.  The last thing women need to be worried about right after they have a baby is looking like a super model! 

Grading Papers

I am a TA, and as part of my job I have to grade homework assignments.  A few students turn in a hard copy but most of the papers I have to grade are on-line.

Today as I was grading I was starting to feel irritable and I started thinking about why I might be feeling that way.  I decided that I was annoyed with my computer screen.  I am tired of that kind of media.  I want to stop typing and start writing on a piece of paper.  I want to stop staring at the screen and start looking at a piece of paper.  But that is just not how the world is today... it seems that there are more and more screens and less and less paper.

What do you prefer, a screen or a paper?

Female Friends in the Media

I am taking Socialization Across Childhood from Dr. Coyne and we are doing presentations at an elementary school. My group is presenting on friendship.  Last night I was making a poster for our presentation for the kids to write how to be a good friend.  I wanted to put pictures of movie and TV characters that are examples of friends to make the poster more exciting.  Things were going great I had a lot of pictures, Mickey and Friends, Winnie the Pooh and Friends, Arthur and Friends, Phineas and Ferb, Mike and Sulley, and Lightning McQueen and Mater.  That is a great list, right?

 

Then I realized, none of those pictures were girls!  What the heck?  So I started trying to think of female friend characters that I could put on my poster.  It was so hard!  I found Rapunzel and Pascal, although does a lizard that doesn't talk really count as a friend?  I found Mulan and Mushu, but again, does a person and a animal count?  Then I found Wreck it Ralph and Vanellope Von Schweetz which seems like a solid option, but are there no girl friends with another girl pairs in the media?  I also thought of Teddy and Ivy from Good Luck Charlie.

The fact that it was so hard for me to think of good female friendships in the media made me really sad.  There are all kinds of male friendships, but so few female ones.  Other than the list I just made the only other ones I can think of the three girls from Friends.

 

I know my last two posts have been about females and males in the media.  And I do not mean to be beating a dead horse (which is a horrible saying by the way)... but it is what I have noticed lately.  I can see the under representation of females in the media, and I think it needs to change!

Can you think of any female friendships that are portrayed well in the media?

Tim Allen, the ageless father?

This week I have spent more time in bed and cuddled in a blanket on the couch than I care to admit.  I have been home sick and feeling pretty crappy :-(  So when you are sick, cannot leave the house, your brain feels all foggy and weird what can you do?  Watch TV and movies of course.  So I have done a lot of that.

In the past two days I have watched almost an entire season of Last Man Standing, almost an entire season of Good Luck Charlie and a (semi-weird) ABC Family movie called Princess.  So I decided to blog about what I have taken away from this media overload experience.  The thought I found most interesting is about Tim Allen.  Now, please do not take this as Tim Allen hate...  I love The Santa Clause movies, Jungle 2 Jungle,  the Toy Story movies.  I think I could even be a Tim Allen fan, but that being said there was an episode in Last Man Standing that reminded me of Miss Representation.

      

Towards the end of the season there was an appearance by Jonathan Taylor Thomas.  There was a comical exchange between his character and Tim Allen's character about Tim Allen recognizing Jonathan Taylor Thomas from somewhere... well that somewhere was Home Improvement where more than a decade ago Tim Allen was playing the father of a family of boys.  This made me think of the Miss Representation movie we watched in class because now more than a decade later Tim Allen is still playing the father of a family of teenagers.  The only difference is now it is a family of teenage girls.

Would a female actress in our society today be able to play a mother of teenage boys and then more than a decade later play a mother of teenage girls?  Maybe their grandma or something, but I really doubt that she would be able to play the mother.

What is the difference then?  Tim Allen looks a decade older now than he did on Home Improvement, but we just accept it.  He looks more distinguished now, maybe it is more realistic now.  But what would we say about a woman in his shoes, she looks too old to play the mother again.  Or if you want this part you need to get your face lifted or something.

So am I going to boycott Last Man Standing.  No way, it is funny, I like Tim Allen and as TV shows go it is pretty clean. But what I am going to do is be a little kinder to women on TV. I am going to try to change my perception of aging women.  And  I am going to work on my perception of my self.

Hatin' on Juan Pablo

I love the Bachelor and the Bachelorette.  Can't help it, I just do.  I ended up not watching this season, school, family and church were just too busy.  I really didn't even pay much attention to this season.  But on Monday night the last episode and "After the Final Rose" aired.  I was interested to see who won, see if they were still together, see if they were getting married ect.  I saw that it was "trending" on facebook so I decided to check it out.

Holy cow!  There was a lot of Juan Pablo hate!  Good grief he made people mad, people who do not even know him... hmm...

I remembered back to when he first became the Bachelor.  There were cheers, T-shirts and kind posts by well-wishers.  Well, I guess that is over.  It seems now like everyone hates him. 

Is Juan Pablo a bad guy?  I don't know... we have never met.  Was he "the worst Bachelor ever?"  Again, I don't know I did not watch the show and how do you even decide that? 

I think I just wish that people would be a little more compassionate (or humane) on the internet.  I mean hatin' on someone you have never met and that you watched on a "reality" (ha ha) TV show... would you really say those things to his face (I hope not!).

Mirror Neurons

In the class I TA for (Infant Development) we talked about Mirror Neurons.  The topic is fascinating.  I highly suggest the video we watched during class...

After watching this video and talking about mirror neurons for a few minutes I started to wonder...What about media?  If seeing and doing are the same in our brains, or even just similar what does that mean for violent media? The sexualization of women in media?  Pornography?

Holy cow, our brains are amazing!  This idea made me want to be SO MUCH more careful about what I put in my brain! 

Bullying- Stop It!

I loved the talk from General Conference that is used in this video.  President Uchtdorf powerfully instructed that when it comes to things like bullying, gossiping, holding grudges we should STOP IT!  This new Mormon Message has been going around on Facebook.  During lunch today my husband and I took a few minutes to watch it.  TOTALLY WORTH the time!  Making someone else the brunt of your joke is NOT OK!  Being mean to another person, for any reason, is not ok. 

"The Naked One"

Oh my goodness!  I was babysitting for one of the girls I visit teach last night.  I am not big on kids (especially babies) watching TV, but this family is ok with it so that is mostly what we did.  The 4-year old daughter was controlling what we watched.  She has her own channel on netflix that are all kid shows but when she said "I want to watch the naked one", I was a little concerned.

I had a few thoughts:
1. Maybe I just didn't understand what she actually said...
2. Either way freakin out is NOT the right thing to do...
3. I will just wait and see what the show is.

I am not sure what the name of the show was, but it was one of the stupidest kid shows I have ever seen.  Basically she called it the naked one because it was an episode about a school class going to the pool.  One of the boys jumped in the pool and his swim trunks (which were actually a tiny speedo thing) feel off.  The episode was all about that... and the kid was naked (in a towel) through most of the episode.

Why is that good for kids to watch?  Who came up with that?  I just don't get it sometimes.

Media on a Business Trip

Last week my husband was out of town for 2 days for a job interview.  I decided that would be a great time for me to evaluate my media use. 

First after I dropped him off at the airport, but before his flight left, I called him (to make sure he made it ok through security) and then he texted me right before take off.  Then he texted me again when he landed at his connecting airport and again when he took off on his next flight.  We texted again when he made it to his final destination.  I loved that we could text while I was in class so that I could know he made it safe!

When he got to his hotel we talked on the phone for about 30 minutes.  It is amazing that he was like 2,000 or so miles away but we could still hear each others voices instantaneously.  It was so fun to hear all the things he had done during the day and to be able to tell him about my day.

His first evening gone we did homework and used google chat.  I really like being able to surprise him while he is busy on the computer with an, "I <3 U" or something like that!

Right before bed we used google hang out to video chat.  We had a nice talk and then read scriptures, prayed and said good night.  I loved being able to see his face!  He was also able to give me a tour around his hotel room. Fun!

Our google hang out.

The next day we were able to text after his interview.  He also texted me on his way home to let me know he made it to the airport safely ect.  When it was time to pick him up, it was great to be able to use our cell phones to call each other and decide on a place to meet at the airport.

I really don't like when my husband leaves town, BUT having so many forms of technology and media that allowed us to communicate was GREAT!

How I Met Your Mother

Have you ever watched How I Met Your Mother?  I had never watched it until this semester, when my husband and I got Netflix.  Oh my goodness I wish I would have never started because I am hooked.  It is such a funny show, and now I am dying to know what is going to happen next. (Ok, not like 24 dying to know, but I am interested).  I have been watching it every day since I started, sometimes only one episode but other times more than one.

I have two problems with my new found love/addiction/waste of time:

1. How I Met Your Mother is not the most virtuous of shows.  I would never let my kids (when I have some) watch it, ever.  There are too many sexual innuendos and jokes. So why the heck do I watch it?  Well it is funny, but is that a good enough reason?  Probably not.  It also has a semi-interesting plot line, but is that a good enough reason?  Again it probably shouldn't be.  But here I sit, writing about the show, starting to love the show. Ugh!

2. Yesterday I watched three episodes in a row while folding laundry.  I did not think much of it, I enjoyed the show and the laundry got folded... win win right?  On the surface yes, but when my husband came home I felt like my attitude towards him was tainted by the show (just a little tiny bit, but I still noticed it).  It reminded me of the research Brad Bushman shared on media violence influencing aggression.  So is the show effecting me because it is going to effect me or is it just in large amounts?  Maybe I need to limit how many episodes I watch each day and see if I still think the show is effecting my thinking and attitudes.

I am not sure if I am going to keep watching How I Met Your Mother.  There is part of me that totally wants to, it is just so funny and I really want to know how Ted meets his wife.  But Holy Cow, there are 9 seasons!!  Can I handle, or do I want to put, nine seasons of sexual innuendos, drinking and bad language into my mind?  Because I have learned enough to believe it is going to effect me in some way.

The Noticer

I am reading a wonderful book right now.  My Mom gave it to me for Christmas and I am so glad she did.  The book is called The Noticer by Andy Andrews.  It was published by Halmark.  When I first unwrapped it I was like, "Umm... thanks? What is it?"  I mean I knew it was a book, but I had never heard of it so I was a little leery. 

Man oh man, was I wrong!!  I am three chapters in, and the book is amazing.  I feel like it is changing my life.  I would say that The Noticer is the single most uplifting book I have ever read (except of course for the scriptures).

It is about a man named Jones who goes around giving people "perspective".  He helps them see the answers to the problems in their lives by helping them look at the problems in a different way.

If you are looking for a little perspective, or  if you are just looking for a book that will make you feel good about life... check out The Noticer!

I got a little perspective this week... if you want to read about that check out my blog http://newlywedclines.blogspot.com/2014/02/busy-with-blessings.html?zx=a125b59e9b57c443

A Physiological Reaction

Over the weekend I watched the 90's teenage rom com She's All That. I had never watched it before, but I was fun to take a trip back to the 90's.  

For possibly the first time ever I had a physiological reaction to a movie.  The scene is a little crude (maybe a lot crude depending on your standards) so I will not describe it, but there was a particular scene involving a pizza and I actually gagged!  I have never actually gagged while watching a movie before. I have felt like gagging, but I never actually did it, until last Friday.

Have you ever gagged in a movie?