The Mean World Syndrome Review

This documentary provides an approach to media violence that many people probably have not considered. Instead of the traditional magic bullet theory, Gerbner came up with the concept of cultivation. Gerbner realized that looking for a direct link between media violence and actual violence was the wrong approach. Cultivation focuses on what kind of mind set people have towards different issues based on their media use.  Heavy viewers, he found, developed the mean world syndrome. This means that people believe the world is more dangerous than it actually is.

The film succeeds in conveying how the mean world syndrome is developed through mainstream media. One point that was particularly interesting was the way films are produced. When a film is being made the producers have to consider how the film will fair in a global market. The best way for a film to translate well over seas is to take out dialogue and include more action. This is because violence is a universal language. In addition Gerbner talks about the notion of happy violence. This is violence that is highly entertaining and often has no consequence. One example of this that is not mentioned in the film is the WWE(World Wrestling Entertainment). Wrestlers are constantly slamming each other and inflicting pain, however after the match is over everything goes back to normal.

The films other main point is how the representation of minorities in the media has led to their vilification. For example, the way the news media treats illegal immigrants, implies that they are less than human. This could be seen in the film when the Mexican man was interviewing people that were protesting immigration. They were treating him as if he was an animal, and in some cases verbally telling him so. This same concept extended to blacks as well, but this was really disturbing when it came to Arab representation. Arabs are constantly depicted as villains in films and television. This image pretty much sums up this point.

The best point of the film was that despite fears of crime increasing, numbers show that crime has been on a decline for years. However, you would never guess that based solely on what you see on the news or in movies. This is what Gerbner's study found. The mean world syndrome led people to have these beliefs, when in actuality they were untrue.

Overall this was a very good documentary that did not stumble at any point. The film used an ample amount of statistics to back up its arguments, and used plenty of relatable examples. This was engaging and informative and everyone should watch it. Documentaries like this are one of the only ways to make people realize that what they see is not necessarily an accurate depiction of the real world. 

Overall 9/10