Media Literacy Education

Fedorov, Alexander. Media Literacy Education. Moscow: ICO
“Information for all”, 2015.

maze wanderings, repeated scenes (even the death scene which will never end), imperishable bodies,
timelessness, multiple parallel spaces with sudden disruptions aside, and finally the theme of the “double”
– “are these the characteristic features and natural laws of eternally enchanted places?” (Robbe-Grillet
2005, 14).

Here is the list of A. Robbe-Grillet’s favorite items used in his audiovisual media texts: labyrinth,
water, fire, mirror, crystal glass or other glass vessel (usually falling and breaking into thousand pieces),
key, doorknob, rope (to bind women’s hands), shoe, statue, photo/picture…

All these are a kind of signs without a signifier, related to the permanent process of
destruction/reconstruction.

Audiovisual techniques, iconography. In my opinion R. Barthes noted aptly that in A. Robbe-Grillet’s
works, at least in the form of a tendency, there simultaneously exist: the rejection of history, plot,
psychological motivations and meaning of the items. Hence optical descriptions take on special
significance this writer’s works (Barthes 1993, 1241). At the same time delicate and quaint visuals of A.
Robbe-Grillet’s films contrary to classical realism are always the product of the universe faced and
simultaneously generated by our subconscious and unconscious (value shift and replacement, confusion
of thoughts, turmoil and bewilderment, paradoxical images created by imagination, dreams, visionsm,
sexual fantasies and phantasms, night fears and nightmares), not of the fake, artificial world of everyday
life, the world of the so-called deliberate and conscious life which is just a tasteless, bland, colorless,
vulgar, soothing result of all kinds of our censorship, i.e. different prohibitions: morality, reason, logic,
respect for the established order of things (Robbe-Grillet 2005, 231-232).

One of the important manifestations of the game basis in A. Robbe-Grillet’s novels is also the fact that
the finished pieces of mass production, cliché images of mass culture are placed into the text (Savelieva
2008, 15). The master easily moves the film action onto a book cover or a billboard, and vice versa the
characters depicted on a cover or a billboard become heroes of the narration. Robbe-Grillet seems to
constantly provoke the desire to restore the normal flow of time, to find the source of the narration to
make us fail and realize the futility of these attempts (Alchuk, 1997).

In particular, in L’Immortelle (1963) not episode but cinematic background was chosen as the sole
means of narration. Various parameters of the setting (actors tallness and his position in the frame, his
gestures, camera movement, passage of a supplementary or a car, lighting, etc.) gave birth to a chain of
associations, allowed to draw some parallels, to make oppositions and resort to ingenious junctions which
were almost independent from spatial and temporal continuity (Robbe-Grillet 2005, 225).

In Trans-Europ-Express (1967) the whole action with pursuits, endless traps and false paths,
deceptions and dead ends the characters get into, is merrily, lightly and smartly developed accompanied
by the dramatic and exquisite arias in Russian from La Traviata, skillfully cut and torn into parts by
Michel Fano. There is no doubt that Jean-Louis Trintignant’s intensified, unexpected, subtle and
sophisticated acting contributed to the film’s success with the audience too. However the impressive
box-office was probably also achieved with the help of a cohort of pretty girls (more or less naked),
chained and tied with ropes, and offered to the viewers as victims, in other words as an age-old myth
about a female slave with whom a man can realize his worst and most sinful sexual fantasies, phantasms
of violence (Robbe-Grillet 2005, 235).

The visual sequence of oriental motifs in A. Robbe-Grillet’s works (Eden and After, A Noise That
Drives You Crazy, Gradiva) is well illustrated in his statement:

“Arab and Mongol palaces fill my ears with the echoes of moans an sighs. Symmetrical pattern on
marble slabs of Byzantine churches is reflected in my eyes as women’s hips wide spread, wide open. It
is enough for me to see two iron rings in the wall of an ancient Roman dungeon to imagine a beautiful
female slave chained and sentences to long and slow tortures of loneliness and emptiness” (Robbe-
Grillet 1997, 6).

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Fedorov, Alexander. Media Literacy Education. Moscow: ICO
“Information for all”, 2015.

With all this, despite the irony and evident parody of many sadomasochistic motifs in A. Robbe-
Grillet’s works it is always emphasized that the outcome of the game in many respects depends on the
victim. And then the version that the sadistic fantasies can be merely products of “victim’s” or
“executioner’s” imagination is proposed to the audience.

Anyway, “leitmotiv” visual images appeared from the very beginning in A. Robbe-Grillet’s
cinematographic works: mysterious architecture (for example, facades of buildings with ruined interior),
labyrinths, vague imprints, bifurcation/splitting, “eternal return”, items-rhymes; photos/pictures,
motionless figures making strict compositions; a woman – an object of desire; a woman – captive; threat
of violence, poisoning, blood (or something similar to blood), image/illusion of an act of violence;
car/motorcycle; night road accident; wound as initiation or trace; death, etc., served on the screen in a
shift of reality and dream, creating a feeling of illusiveness of what is happening (Vinogradov 2010, 279,
281). There is no doubt that all this helps the play of audio and visual symbols and signs on which the
montage structure of A. Robbe-Grillet’s media texts is built.

Thus in Eden and After (1970) from the very beginning, in the credits, A. Robbe-Grillet introduces not
the professional identity of those who participated in its creation but a kind of hey images/symbols of the
media text: architecture, composition, makeup, sharp objects, games, adhesives, flowing blood, sexual
violence, labyrinth, murder, card game, distance, theatricality, phantasm, etc. (Vinogradov 2010, 280-
281).

Special role in A. Robbe-Grillet’s media texts is given to visualization of female body which is
constructed as an object even it is not clear of whose desire. It is in the magnetic field of desire (Ryklin
1996, 16), primarily of a man burdened with ironically served Freudian and sadomasochistic complexes.
And all this in the atmosphere of painful charm of the deceptive space of a dream.

The images of the “characters”-phantoms are often given in deliberate static accompanied by off-
screen sound or distanced, cold voice intonations. Here speech loses its semantic and emotional content,
it is deprived of its communicative meaning (Gapon 1997, 75). Moreover, contrary to the tradition the
actors in A. Robbe-Grillet’s films often look at the camera. All these violations of the usual audiovisual
conventions often cause rejection in the conservative part of the audience.

Characters, their values, ideas, clothes, physique, vocabulary, mimics, gestures.
Alain Robbe-Grillet has repeatedly admitted that most of his ephemeral “characters”, “people from the
world of shadows” are murderers, sorcerers and treacherous seducers who penetrated into my dreams so
deeply that their intrusion entails new violation of laws, opens up new depths (Robbe-Grillet 2000). So
there is no surprise that as a rule they have no nationality, no profession, no character, and no name (or
this name is merely a convention, a symbol). In this sense this phrase of the character from La Belle
Captive (1983) seems programmatic: “I have no name, I lost it. I have a phone but it’s out of order. You
can’t get through”.
A. Robbe-Grillet broke the traditional image of a character-personality, a product of education and
environment. Instead in his works appeared “quasi-characters” – phantoms, “doubles”, whose appearance
and disappearance, deceptive unsteadiness is constantly emphasized (audio-visually too). Their behavior
is devoid of psychological motivation and usual logic and depends solely on the author’s will, play and
imagination. They are blurred, vague, inauthentic/false, they are constantly rearranged during the
narration to the point when they even exceed the limits of the originally planned outline. They fall to “a
multitude of characters similar to each other but non-identical to themselves. The characters multiply,
each of them “takes away” a part of a single image. They seem to complement each other, to represent
different manifestations, features of a single character. But these individual components do not form an
integral image, the character breaks, shatters into “splinters” (Savelyeva 2008, 9-10).
Besides in A. Robbe-Grillet’s works there are essentially no such usual concepts as “positive” and
“negative” characters. Also the author does not show his sympathy for any “figure on the landscape”
which is traditional for classical art…
A. Robbe-Grillet’s “characters” never talk about politics or social problems. Here are their typical
phrases-allusions: “The past can be easily changed but facing future we’re always powerless”, “I’ll find

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you whenever I like. Tonight, or maybe never or yesterday… Time does not exist for me”, “Any dream is
erotic”, “If I imagine a handsome blonde rushing on the highway on a big beautiful motorcycle, it will
immediately become a reality”.

The “characters” of A. Robbe-Grillet’s media texts are usually approximately 16-40 years old. Male
“characters” have proportional figures. The women are slender and delicate. Their clothes can be plain
and functional as well as exotic and colorful. In A. Robbe-Grillet’s later films female “characters” more
often appear in “Eve’s dress”…

The impression of the “characters’” shaky uncertainty is emphasized by unnatural acting style:
theatrical poses, gestures, facial expressions (sometimes we can feel their arrogant contempt for the rest
of the world), and often neutral speech tone, without intonation accentuation of words or syllables.

In general the analysis of A. Robbe-Grillet’s audiovisual legacy leads to the conclusion that “the only
meaningful “character” is the viewer, the whole story unfolds in his head, and he imagines it (Robbe-
Grillet, 2005, p.598). This is fully consistent with the basic author’s concept of the master: any media text
does not reflect and cannot reflect external reality, it is its own kind of virtual reality.

Significant changes in the lives of the characters. For Alain Robbe-Grillet it is extremely important
to show how the “characters” unaware of secret passions sleeping in them fall into “unusual, exceptional
conditions, where there are no laws, prohibitions and rules of civilized society, no social barriers and
guarantees (Robbe-Grillet 2005, 241). So they get into mysterious places-labyrinths, car accidents, they
become prisoners, accused, witnesses of mysterious games and rituals, murders…

Originated problem. A. Robbe-Grillet’s “characters” try to get out of the above mentioned extreme
situations, they can investigate the course of events, try to explain something. Because their own life is
often threatened… In other words “anxiety is uncertainty. Freedom creates anxiety. Despair is the lack of
opportunities (Robbe-Grillet 2002).

Searches for the solution of the problem. However as a rule all these attempts draw the “characters”
into a dream maze with the illusory opportunities to get out…

Solution of the problem. In Alain Robbe-Grillet’s works there is no “classical” solution of the
“problem”. Audiovisual fabric of the master’s media texts is non-linear, asynchronous, scattered in time
and space, and it always cannot be unambiguously interpreted.

The studies on the analysis of art house media texts ends with problem and text questions determining
how well the audience has mastered the received skills: “With what media texts known to you can you
compare A. Robbe-Grillet’s audiovisual texts? Why? What do they have in common?”

Filmography

Last Year at Marienbad / L'annee derniere `a Marienbad. France-Italy, 1961. Director: Alain Resnais. Screenwriter:
Alain Robbe-Grillet. Cast: Delphine Seyrig, Giorgio Albertazzi, Sacha Pitoeff and others.

Awards: Golden Lion of St. Mark (Venice Film Festival, 1961). Best Film of the Syndicat Français de la Critique de
cinéma in France (1962).

L'immortelle. France-Italy-Turkey, 1963. Director and Screenwriter: Alain Robbe-Grillet. Cast: Franсoise Brion,
Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, Guido Celano and others.

Awards: Prix Louis Delluc for best debut of the year (1963).

Trans-Europ-Express. France-Belgium, 1967. Director and Screenwriter: Alain Robbe-Grillet. Cast: Jean-Louis
Trintignant, Marie-France Pisier, Nadine Verdier, Christian Barbier, Charles Millot, Daniel Emilfork, Alain Robbe-Grillet,
Catherine Robbe-Grillet and others.

The Man Who Lies / L'homme qui ment. France-Czechoslovakia, 1968. Director and Screenwriter: Alain Robbe-Grillet.
Cast: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Ivan Mistrak, Zuzana Kocurikova, Sylvie Breal, Catherine Robbe-Grillet and others.A

Awards: Silver Bear for Best Actor at Berlinale (1968).

The Erasers / Les gommes. Belgium-France, 1969. Directors and Screenwriters: Lucien Deroisy, Rene Micha. Novel by
Alain Robbe-Grillet. Cast: Claude Titre, Francoise Brion, Georges Genicot and others.

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Fedorov, Alexander. Media Literacy Education. Moscow: ICO
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Eden and After / L'Eden et apres. France-Czechoslovakia, 1970. Director and Screenwriter: Alain Robbe-Grillet. Cast:
Catherine Jourdan, Lorraine Rainer, Sylvain Corthay, Catherine Robbe-Grillet and others.

N. Took the Dice… / N. a pris les des... France, 1971. Director and Screenwriter: Alain Robbe-Grillet. Cast: Catherine
Jourdan, Sylvain Corthay and others.

Re-montage version of Eden and After (L'Eden et apres, 1970).

Jealousy / La Jalousie. German Federal Republic, 1972. Director: Klaus Kirschner. Screenwriter, author of the novel:
Alain Robbe-Grillet. Cast: Ingrid Resch, Michael Degen, Vadim Glowna and others.

Successive Slidings of Pleasure / Glissements progressifs du plaisir. France, 1974. Director and Screenwriter: Alain
Robbe-Grillet. Cast: Anicee Alvina, Olga Georges-Picot, Michael Lonsdale, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jean Martin, Isabelle
Huppert, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Catherine Robbe-Grillet and others.

Playing with Fire / Le jeu avec le feu. France-Italy, 1975. Director and Screenwriter: Alain Robbe-Grillet. Cast: Jean-
Louis Trintignant, Philippe Noiret, Anicee Alvina, Sylvia Kristel, Agostina Belli, Serge Marquand, Christine Boisson and
others.

La belle captive. France, 1983. Director: Alain Robbe-Grillet. Screenwriters: Alain Robbe-Grillet, Frank Verpillat. Cast:
Daniel Mesguich, Cyrielle Clair, Daniel Emilfork, Arielle Dombasle and others.

Taxandria. Belgium-Germany-France, 1994. Director: Raoul Servais. Screenwriters: Raoul Servais, Frank Daniel, Alain
Robbe-Grillet. Cast: Armin Mueller-Stahl, Elliott Spiers, Katja Studt and others.

A Noise That Drives You Crazy / Un bruit qui rend fou / The Blue Villa. France-Belgium-Switzerland, 1995.
Directors and Screenwriters: Dimitri de Clercq, Alain Robbe-Grillet. Cast: Fred Ward, Arielle Dombasle, Charles Tordjman
and others.

Awards: San Diego Film Festival grand prix, USA (1995).

It’s Gradiva Who’s Calling You / Gradiva / C'est Gradiva qui vous appelle. France-Belgium, 2006. Director and
Screenwriter: Alain Robbe-Grillet. Author of the novel: Wilhelm Jensen. Cast: James Wilby, Arielle Dombasle, Dany
Verissimo and others.

Campana de la noche. Canada-Argentina, 2010. Director: Michael Mills. Author of the story: Alain Robbe-Grillet. Cast:
Oscar Farfan, Rene Solas, Tatiana Solas and others.

Case study 2. "The Little School Orchestra'': a Sample of the Hermeneutic Analysis of Media Texts
in Student Audience

Umberto Eco reasonably asserts: Any research of a work structures becomes ipso facto a development
of some historical and sociological hypotheses, – even if the researcher himself does not or would not
realize it. If one is aware of these basic principles of the research method the description of the work
structures turns out one of the most effective means for detecting the interrelations between a work of art
and its social-historical context (Eco 2005, 208).

It needs to be reminded that the hermeneutic analysis of cultural context stands for study of the media
text interpretation process, of cultural and historical factors that may have an impact both on the media
texts authors/agencies and the audience’s viewpoint. The hermeneutic analysis is connected with media
text comprehension by matching with the cultural tradition and reality; penetration into the logic of a
media text; media text analysis based on artistic images comparison in the historical and cultural contexts.
The objective of the analysis is the media system and its functioning in the society, the interaction with
the person, the media language and its use.

Let us take the film The Little School Orchestra (1968) directed by Alexander Muratov and Nikolay
Rasheev as an example of the hermeneutic analysis of media texts in student audience. Following the
methodology worked out by U. Eco, we highlight three ''rows'' or ''systems'' that are relevant to a media
text: the author's ideology; market condition which affected the plot; narrative methods (Eco 2005, 209).

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This approach, in our opinion, fully correlates with the technology of media text analysis (Bazalgette
1995; Fedorov 2010; Fedorov 2012) based on such key concepts of media education as media agencies,
media/media text categories, media technologies, media languages, media representations, media
audiences, since all of them are directly connected to ideological, market and structure-and-content
aspects of media text analysis.

The authors' ideology in the sociocultural context (dominant concepts: media agencies, media
representations, media audiences).

Under the authors we will mean its main creators – film makers, script writers, cameramen and
composers. They conceived and created their film towards the end of the so-called ''thaw'' period when
many people thought that the improved variant of ''socialism with a human face'' was still possible.
However, unlike the majority of Russian films about schooling and youth of the 1960s The Little School
Orchestra was highly improvised. There is no accentuated social aspect here, scrupulous description of
living conditions, talks about politics or ideology and other attributes of Soviet ''thaw'' films…

The market conditions that contributed to the plot, creation of the media text (dominant concepts:
media agencies, media/media text categories, media technologies, media audiences).

The Russian cinematograph of the 1960s was under the impact of the leading world filmmaking
movements of those years – ''cinema-variety'', French and Czech ''New Wave". At the same time, this
influence (both stylistic, visual and plot, thematic) was adapted to the requirements of the Soviet
censorship. In this aspect one should mention the film directed by G. Daneliya and G. Shpalikov Walking
the Streets of Moscow (1965) where the so-called ''current of life'' devoid of any ideological pathos was
created by the authors in the filigree manner at the joint of the drama and comedy genres…

The structure and narrative methods used in the media text (dominant concepts: media/media text
categories, media technologies, media languages, media representations).

The structure, plot, representativeness, ethics, genre modification peculiarities, iconography,
characters can be outlined in the following way:

Historical period, scene: Kiev of the late 1960s.
Setting: city streets, habitable rooms, a school gym used for arranging parties and orchestra rehearsals;
a stadium. A room furnished in the fashion of that time, musical instruments.
Representation of reality: positive in relation to practically all the characters. Contrary to the
established tradition of the Soviet cinematograph of the 1960s the protagonists (school leavers) are shown
practically without any actuals of the ''socialistic mode of life'', and there are no teachers and parents
among the characters. At the same time, there dominate image and music in the film but not words (the
first word in the film is pronounced on the ninth minute of its action). A striking example is the scene
where the major character of the film conducts an excursion in the cathedral: we do not here her words;
we only see her inspired gestures and facial expression accompanied by music. As for the episode of the
cycle race it was shot as a jazz improvisation – with freeze-frames, abstract lines of lights again
accompanied by musical jazz melodies which sound in The Little School Orchestra nearly all the time…
Characters, their values, ideas, clothing, constitution, lexicon, mime, gestures: the characters are
dressed in accordance with the ''conservative'' fashion of the late 1960s and are slim. Their mime and
gestures are sometimes emotional and artistic. Their speech is plain. But they mainly communicate non-
verbally – with jazz melodies.
Significant change in the characters’ life: in June, 1968, the school leavers finish school and like
many other young people they fall in love for the first time…
Incipient problem: choosing a future career, love peripetias.
Search for solution to the problem: an attempt to uphold one's own choice (''Why should I take up
medicine?'' – One of the characters exclaims. ''I want to fly! Why not? This is an occupation for a man!'')
Problem solution: the solution to the problem is given in the end only in an outline – in the form of
collages: some characters are going somewhere; the others are seeing them off…
The famous researcher and media educator A. Silverblatt (Silverblatt 2001, 80-81) worked out a set of
questions for the hermeneutic analysis of media texts in the historical, cultural and structural contexts.

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We will try to apply them to the analysis of The Little School Orchestra according to the basic aspects of
this system:

A. Historical context
1. What does a media text tell about the time of its creation?
a) When did the premier of this media text take place?
The premier of the film could have taken place on one of the central TV channels but the film was
banned by '' higher authorities''. The main reason for the ban was the accusation of the authors for
''excessive'' liberty. The film was brought to Moscow in the autumn of 1968, but they said in Moscow:
''Such musicians made the Prague Spring. Banned''. The film had an extremely clear voice' (Margolit
2010). As a result, The Little School Orchestra lay on the shelf for record 42 years: it was due to
persistent search of film expert E. Margolit who managed to find the banned film in television archives,
that the film was shown to Russian viewers in 2010.
b) How did the events of that time affect the media text?
The film was shot on the decline of the political ''thaw'' in the USSR, however, the media text does not
reflect any political events of that time. Apparently, the media text got under the influence of the stylistics
of ''cinema-variety'', the French and Czech ''New Wave" of the 1960s.
c) How does the media text comment on the events of the day?
The principal feature of the film (which immediately put the censors on their guard) was its
detachment towards political (school-Komsomol) and national contexts. In fact, the characters do not live
either in the USSR or Kiev (though some aspects of Kiev are reflected in the film). They live in some
"average European" city where extravagant ladies walk their pedigree dogs along the park avenues while
a school orchestra is playing jazz at the school leaving ball. And one of the major sixteen-year-old
characters falls in love with a beautiful thirteen-year-old neighbor (she is a restorer and a guide in St.
Sophia Cathedral)…
2. Does the knowledge of the historic events contribute to the media text understanding?
a) media texts created during a certain historic event.
In the 1960s, a number of avant-garde films in point of content and film language concerning youth
came out. The most outstanding films of the Czech ''New Wave'' were the pictures Competition (1963),
Black Peter (1964), and Loves of a Blonde (1965) created by M. Forman. As for the French ''New
Wave'', one can mark out The 400 Blows (1959), Love at Twenty (1962) and Stolen Kisses (1968)
directed by F. Truffaut. Speaking of the Polish cinematograph, the most prominent films were Innocent
Sorcerers (1960) by A. Wajda, Knife in the Water (1961) by R. Polanski, Rysopis (1964) and Walkover
(1965) by J. Skolimowski. However, it is plausible to assume that the crucial influence on the film The
Little School Orchestra was produced by the famous film of Alain Robbe-Grillet and Alain Resnais Last
Year at Marienbad (1961, rewarded the Golden Lion of St. Mark at the Venice Film Festival).
If one concentrates exclusively on Soviet films about youth of the 1960s it is worth mentioning the
films: I am Twenty (1961-1965) by M. Khutsyev and G. Shpalikov, Walking the Streets of Moscow
(1965) by G. Daneliya and G. Shpalikov, The Private Life of Valentin Kuzyayev (1967) by I. Averbach
and I. Maslennikov, Not a Very Lucky Day (1967) by Y. Yegorov, Let's Live Until Monday (1968) by S.
Rostotsky, Manlike Talk (1968) by I. Shatrov, Three Days of Viktor Chernyshov (1968) by M. Osipyan,
etc. Many of these films were notable for social bitterness (Three Days of Viktor Chernyshov) which was
not characteristic of those days but, nevertheless, they came out. But that's just the thing – the above-
mentioned Soviet media texts (more or less) fitted into the sociocultural context of the ''socialism with a
human face'', whereas The Little School Orchestra (1968) directed by A. Muratov and N. Rasheev
breathed the air of freedom, improvised jazz lightness, the plot and image given in watercolours.
Vladimir Chinaev who played the role of the musician on drums in the film wrote forty odd years
later: A mass of reminiscences, feelings. Now, curiously enough, this film-mood is better received that in
the 1960s. It is to be regretted that now it is black-and-white; it was a color film in the original. I
remember S. Paradzhanov liked this film (Chinaev 2010).
– What events occurred when the media text was created?

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It was exactly in 1968 – the period when the film The Little School Orchestra was being made – when
virtually at the same time in Prague and Paris there broke out militant actions of revolutionary-minded
leftists.

The events which took place in the spring of 1968 in Paris are appropriately called an attempt of the
''students' revolution''. Having started with spontaneous student disturbances connected to the
dissatisfaction of Paris cinema goers with Henri Langlois's dismissal from the post of the director (April,
1968), the events very soon - already in May of the same year – grew into a genuine social crisis – with
large-scale demonstrations, mass riots and a general strike under political (Marxist, Trotskyist, Maoist
and anarchist) slogans, with economic demands of a forty-hour workweek and increase in minimum
wages. Eventually, it caused a change of government and a resignation of the most famous French
president – Charles de Gaulle (he resigned on 28 April, 1969). That was also the reason for serious
changes in the French and European society. So, the ''revolutionary'' closure of the Cannes Film Festival
by leftists in May, 1968, turned out a local episode against such a large-scale background…

The reaction of the Soviet authorities (who were on good terms with France and Charles de Gaulle in
the 1960s) to these events was mostly negative. At the same time, Soviet media especially underlined the
negative aspects of the Maoist and anarchist disturbances of May, 1968…

The events in Czechoslovakia where the government began to actively follow the policy of the
European integration since the mid-1960s were not less acute. On 5 January 1968 Alexander Dubček was
elected the First Secretary of Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Since his accession to power the state
censorship (which was a most liberal one among the countries of the socialist camp before) noticeably
slackened; the gateway for public debates was opened. It was even more often told about the usefulness
of a multi-party system and private property, business activity; about the need for freedom of expression,
meetings and movement, etc. (after twenty years it was voiced, almost word for word, already in the
USSR during ''Gorbachev's Perestroika''). Thus, 1968 was the culmination year of the endeavor to build
''socialism with a human face'' in a ''separately taken state''.

Naturally, unlike France, in the case of Czechoslovakia the Kremlin could afford much more than just
criticism and denunciation of this or that event. At first the assault on ''the Prague Spring'' was led in a
''peaceful way'': in the spring of 1968 (on 23 March in Dresden and on 4 May in Moscow) the Soviet
administration openly expressed their dissatisfaction with the democratic changes in Czechoslovakia. The
political pressure on A. Dubček's team got intensified in July-August of 1968. Being convinced that the
reforms concerning ''socialism with a human face'' are supported by broad masses (as well as in France –
students and youth) in Czechoslovakia and it is impossible to "calm down" the rebellious with words, the
Kremlin decided to apply to armed intervention – on the night of 20/21 August 1968, troops were brought
into Czechoslovakia. Naturally, it led to mass protests (including armed) of Czechs and Slovaks against
the occupation. But the forces were too unequal: in April, 1969, (almost simultaneously with Charles de
Gaulle's resignation in France) A. Dubček was resigned from office and a long period of ''crackdown''
was launched in Czechoslovakia…

So, the angry and hard-line response of the cinematographic authorities to the free-flying
improvisation of young characters of The Little School Orchestra in the humanistic spirit of ''universal
values'' in the autumn of 1968 was quite predictable.

– How does the understanding of these events contribute to our understanding of the media text?
It stands to reason that the comprehension of the historical-political context enables one to better
understand the audiovisual imagery of a film. It may be difficult for a person who is unaware of the
historical-political context of the late 1960s to understand why "The Little School Orchestra" was banned
in the USSR.
– What are real historical allusions?
The foreign historical-political background of the late 1960s has been stated above. As for the events
that occurred in the USSR, the second half of the 1960s is known to be the end of the ''thaw" when both
timid attempts of economic reforms and anti-Stalinism rhetoric came to nothing but the censorial grip
became more rigid (the most vivid examples are the prohibition of books written by A. Solzhenitsyn, A.

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Tarkovsky's film The Passions to Andrei (1966), S. Paradzhanov's film Kiev Frescos (1966), A. Alov
and V. Naumov's film A Bad Joke (1966), A. Askoldov's film Comissar (1967) and the film Intervention
(1968) by G. Poloka).

– Are there any historical references in the media text?
Being absolutely politically indifferent The Little School Orchestra precisely mirrored the ''musical
trends'' of the late 1960s: the film characters live by music, their life seems to be dissolved in jazz tunes
and beats of the remarkable music of M. Tariverdiev.
The talks though somehow concerning the social context (the episode in the workshop) are
minimized. The main thing in the film is music and love, improvisation and freedom.

B. Cultural Context
1. Media and popular culture: how does the media text reflect, strengthen, suggest or create cultural:
a) relations, b) values, c) conduct, d) concern; e) myths.
Namely in the second half of the 1960s the era of "recorded" music began in the USSR when broad
masses of population for the first time gained an opportunity to secretly record and listen to western rock
and jazz music which was almost eliminated from the official Soviet media (the radio, television,
gramophone recording). Under the influence of the extremely popular western bands The Beatles, Rolling
Stones, etc. the so-called ''playing and singing groups'' (professional and amateur) sprang up all over the
USSR; jazz groups were revived.
The Little School Orchestra reflects it all very precisely – the major characters – school graduates of
the 10th grade – play jazz with enthusiasm that in many respects defines their attitudes, values and
behaviour. Music can be both a declaration of love and a momentary experience and a symbol of
freedom…
2. Outlook: what world is shown in the media text?
a) What is the culture of this world? People? Ideology?
Contrary to the standards of the ''Soviet society'' there dominate the motives of jazz improvisation,
love, the atmosphere of free flying and admiration for cultural/religious heritage of the past in this world
(the scene presenting an excursion to St. Sophia Cathedral conducted by one of the characters of the
film). The main characters are young – they are from 16 to 30, they are beautiful, charming, musical, and
intelligent. There is neither ideological jabber nor Komsomol meetings, nor edifying speeches of their
teachers and parents (the latter are altogether taken beyond the story).
b) What do we know about the people who belong to this world?
– are the characters shown in a stereotyped manner?
The characters of "The Little School Orchestra" are represented in contravention of Soviet film
stereotypes on the ''school-youth'' theme of the 1960s: they do not reflect on the topic of the revolutionary
heritage (I'm Twenty); they are not absorbed in social problems (Three Days of Viktor Chernyshov) and/or
family problems (Manlike Talk). Though the images of the characters are given in outline it does not
prevent them from getting the viewer's sympathy.
– What does this representation tell us about the cultural stereotype of this group?
If the expression may be tolerated, the ''cultural code'' of the young characters of The Little School
Orchestra is enthrallment with jazz music, love, inner freedom, detachment toward the ''Soviet lifestyle''.
c) What outlook does this world represent - optimistic or pessimistic?
– Are the characters of the media text happy?
– do the characters of the media text have a chance of being happy?
In spite of some minor notes connected to the characters' love peripetias the world of The Little
School Orchestra is optimistic. And its characters hope to be happy (maybe in their illusions)…
d) Are the characters able to direct their own fates?
Yes, in a way, the collage epilogue of the media text testifies to that.
e) What is the hierarchy of values in this outlook?
– what values can be found in the media text?
– what values do the characters embody?

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Music, improvisation, youth, friendship, love are the chief values of the film characters that are shared
by the authors of the media text.

– what values prevail in the end?
– what does it mean to be a success in this world? How does a person succeed in this world? What
behavior is rewarded in the world?
The world of The Little School Orchestra is not concerned about material values, the major characters
are on the cusp of adulthood, success or failure. Actually, in the real Soviet world of the late 1960s one's
success was associated not only with one's promotion up the Komsomol and the party ladder but also
with one's progress in culture and sport, for example. So, the major characters' passion for music,
perhaps, gave them a chance to advance…
It should be noted that A. Silverblatt's methodology corresponds to basic approaches of the
hermeneutic analysis of audiovisual, space-and-time structure of media texts. There are some associative
links between the screen and the viewer's experience (life and aesthetic); the emotional empathy with the
characters and authors of the media text begins with intuitive, subconscious appreciation of the dynamics
of the audiovisual, space-and-time artistic image of a scene. Then follows the process of its analysis and
synthesis – ascertaining the meaning of frames, angles, shots, etc., their synthetics, combination,
comprehension of ambiguity, expression of one's personal attitude…
For instance, it is possible to recall the space-and-time dynamics of the audiovisual image of one of
the first scenes in The Little School Orchestra obviously shot in the style of a most famous masterpiece of
the French ''New Wave'' – Last Year at Marienbad (1961) directed by A. Robbe-Grillet and A. Resnais.
At first we see figures geometrically put and placed in the interior space, and then – a picturesque city
alley shot from the top view: it is full of elegant ladies with dogs strolling towards each other, one of the
dogs carrying the owner's umbrella. The geometry of the figures placed on the landscape is again
scrupulously adjusted and thought-out. The people sitting on benches seem to have stooped dead in the
freeze-frame. A jazz improvisation is being played… In this way the authors boldly introduce the
audience into the image world of their media text…
This is a sample of how one can verbally analyze a media representation of the seen and heard flow of
sound-and-visual images which can be given in a more detailed way, including the light-and-color
solution, mise-en-scène, actors' plastique and mime, use of certain details. Thus, one should interpret not
only the psychological and emotional but also the audiovisual, space-and-time contents of the artistic
image in this episode, its culmination meaning… In other words, from a more or less linear interpretation
of the narrative scheme we proceed to an associational, polyphonic one. The events, characters, the
artistic and musical solution are perceived as a unity, holistically.

Filmography

The Little School Orchestra. USSR (Ukrtelefilm), 1968. Directed by Alexander Muratov and Nikolai Rasheev.
Screenwriters: Vladimir Zuev, Alexander Muratov, Nikolai Rasheev. Cameraman: Oleg Martynov. Composer: Mikael
Tariverdiev. Art director: Galina Shabanova. Cast: Galina Shabanova, Svetlana Smechnova, Sergei Vlasov, Victor Totski,
Vladimir Khodzitski, Vladimir Chinaev and others.

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APPENDIXES

APPENDIX A

Table 12. Comparative Plot Structure Analysis of the Basic Parts of the Film ‘Planet of Storms’
(1961) and Its American Screen Transformation

Basic Planet of Storms. Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet. Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric
parts of USSR, 1961
the plot USA, 1965 Women. USA, 1968

1 Prologue: the report of TASS on the Prologue. The American space Prologue: the chronicle of

Soviet spaceships flight to Venus. station. The spaceship is lost after its outer-space flights accompanied by

One of three Soviet spaceships on collision with an asteroid. the speaker’s text. The information

the way to Venus suffers a wreck about the failure of the maiden

catastrophe and is lost … flight from the Earth to Venus in

1998: the spaceship was lost. Half

a year later…

2 The crews of the remaining two The crew of the American spaceship The American space flight-control

vessels decide to land on the surface and the administration of the space center ‘Marcia’. Takeoff and

of Venus. Takeoff and landing on flight-control center consider a landing on Venus of the first

Venus of the first spaceship in a possibility of landing on Venus. spaceship (two astronauts and a

special capsule (two astronauts and Some members of the crew (two robot).

a robot). astronauts and a robot) land on the The Venus landscape – a stony

The Venus landscape – a stony surface of Venus. surface, igneous rocks, water,

surface, igneous rocks, water, plants The Venus landscape – a stony plants resembling cactuses.

resembling cactuses. surface, igneous rocks, water, plants

resembling cactuses.

3 The contact with the first crew is The contact with the first crew is Following the first crew the second

lost. The second spaceship with lost. The second spaceship with spaceship with three astronauts

three astronauts decides to land on three astronauts decides to land on decides to land on Venus. All the

Venus. Only one astronaut remains Venus. Only one astronaut remains members of the crews are men,

on the Venus orbit – Masha. on the Venus orbit – Marsha. there are no women aboard.

4 The second spaceship lands on the The second spaceship lands on the The crew of the first spaceship is

Venus surface. The astronauts hear Venus surface. The astronauts hear attacked by dinosaurs of the

odd howling sounds. odd howling sounds. human height. The astronauts

defend themselves by shooting.

5 Landing of the second crew of the Landing of the second crew of the The second spaceship lands on the

astronauts on the surface. Something astronauts on the surface. Venus surface. The astronauts hear

like a huge carnivorous flower with Something like a huge carnivorous odd howling sounds.

tentacles tries to capture one of the flower with tentacles tries to capture

astronauts. The rest of the one of the astronauts. The rest of

astronauts manage to rescue him. the astronauts manage to rescue him.

6 The crew of the first spaceship is The crew of the first spaceship is Landing of the second crew of the

attacked by dinosaurs of the human attacked by dinosaurs of the human astronauts on the surface

height. The astronauts defend height. The astronauts defend . Something like a huge carnivorous

themselves by shooting. themselves by shooting. flower with tentacles tries to

capture one of the astronauts. The

rest of the astronauts manage to

rescue him.

7 The crew of the second spaceship The crew of the second spaceship The crew of the second spaceship

starts out to search for the first crew starts out to search for the first starts out to search for the first crew

on the air-cushion go-anywhere crew on the air-cushion go- on the air-cushion go-anywhere

vehicle. They come across a anywhere vehicle. They come vehicle. They come across a

gigantic dinosaur on their way and across a gigantic dinosaur on their gigantic dinosaur on their way, but

take its blood sample. way and take its blood sample. they pass it by – they should not be

sidetracked from the purpose….

8 The crew of the first spaceship falls The crew of the first spaceship falls The crew of the first spaceship

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ill with a fever because of the ill with a fever because of the falls ill with a fever because of the

damaged costumes. It starts raining. damaged costumes. It starts raining. Thdeamaged costumes. It starts raining. The

The astronauts and the robot hide astronauts and the robot hide astronauts and the robot hide

themselves in a cave. themselves in a cave. themselves in a cave.

9 The captain of the second spaceship The captain of the second spaceship The crew of the spaceship hears

radios form the cabin of the radios form the cabin of the strange sounds…

go-anywhere vehicle the command go-anywhere vehicle the command

to the robot: to give medicines to to the robot: to give medicines to

the astronauts. The robot executes the astronauts. The robot executes

the command. the command.

10 A flying reptile attacks the go- A flying reptile attacks the go- Young half-naked blondes sleep

anywhere vehicle. The astronauts anywhere vehicle. The astronauts on the Venus sea coast. Then they

shoot at the pterodactyl. The go- shoot at the pterodactyl. wake up… they communicate non

anywhere vehicle sinks into the sea. -verbally – by telepathy.

11 Astronaut Masha who is on the Astronaut Marsha who is on the The crew of the go-anywhere

Venus orbit reflects on how to act: Venus orbit tries to contact the a vehicle discusses the possibility

whether to stay or to fly in search of stronauts. Then she negotiates with of life on other planets and the

her colleagues. From the Earth the administration of the space existence of extra-terrestrial

comes the command to stay on the station. civilizations.

orbit.

12 The astronauts of the second The go-anywhere vehicle sinks The blonds sail on the sea waves,

spaceship discover an octopus, a into the sea. The astronauts of the catch fish by hand, and eat them

sculpture of a dragon with a ruby second spaceship discover an straight away…

eye, and a rock in a cave octopus, a sculpture of a dragon A flying reptile appears in the sky…

underwater. with a ruby eye, and a rock in a

cave underwater.

13 The astronauts of the first spaceship The astronauts of the first spaceship The captain of the second spaceship

recovered. The robot switches on its recovered. radios from the cabin of the go-

radio anywhere vehicle the command to

– American jazz sounds. the robot: to give medicines to the

astronauts. The robot executes the

command.

14 The go-anywhere vehicle gets The go-anywhere vehicle gets A flying reptile appears in the sky…

ashore. The astronauts light a ashore. The astronauts light a It attacks the go-anywhere vehicle.

campfire and discuss the possibility campfire and discuss the possibility The astronauts shoot at the

of life on other planets and the of life on other planets and the pterodactyl. The go-anywhere

existence of extra-terrestrial existence of extra-terrestrial vehicle sinks into the sea.

civilizations. civilizations.

15 The crew of the first spaceship The crew of the first spaceship The blonds see the dead flying

fetches up at the flow of igneous fetches up at the flow of igneous reptile ashore. It happens to be

volcanic longwall. The astronauts volcanic longwall. The astronauts their Godhood. The blonds are deter

climb onto the robot for it to carry climb onto the robot for it to carry mined to take revenge for their

them to a safe place. The robot them to a safe place. The robot killed God.

starts to overheat and tries to throw starts to overheat and tries to throw

off its riders. They manage to off its riders. They manage to

switch it off. switch it off.

16 The crew of the go-anywhere The crew of the go-anywhere The astronauts of the second

vehicle rescues the astronauts. vehicle rescues the astronauts. spaceship discover a sculpture of

The robot perishes in the burning The robot perishes in the burning a dragon with a ruby eye and a

longwall. longwall. rock in a cave underwater.

17 The astronauts have a short talk The astronauts have a short talk. The blonds mourn over the

. One can hear a bravura Soviet song about pterodactyl in front of its stone

the planet of storms. sculpture.

18 The go-anywhere vehicle The go-anywhere vehicle One of the astronauts sees an

approaches the spaceship. The approaches the spaceship. The octopus underwater. Two blondes

astronauts listen to Masha’s astronauts listen to Marsha’s watch it all from their hiding place

radiogram in the spaceship. They radiogram in the spaceship. They unobserved.

suspect that she violated the order suspect that she violated the order

and decided to land on Venus. and decided to land on Venus.

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19 An earthquake and rain start. An earthquake and rain start. The blonds bury the pterodactyl in

Masha radios that she is still on the orbMit.arsha radios that she is still on the orbthite. sea. They learn that some

odd creatures in strange costumes

and headpieces were noticed

underwater.

20 One of the astronauts incidentally One of the astronauts incidentally The go-anywhere vehicle gets

discovers a female bas-relief in the discovers a female bas-relief in the ashore. The astronauts light a

cracked rock (found by him earlier cracked rock (found by him earlier campfire and talk about

underwater). underwater). extra-terrestrial civilizations.

21 The space rocket with the astronauts fliTehse space rocket with the astronauts fliTehse blonds seeking revenge use

away. away. their magic to cause a volcanic

eruption.

22 The camera shows the dull Venus The camera shows the dull Venus The recovered crew of the first

surface. Unexpectedly a reflection surface. Unexpectedly a reflection spaceship fetches up at the flow

of a young woman similar to the of a young woman similar to the of igneous volcanic longwall. The

image in the stone bas-relief image in the stone bas-relief astronauts climb onto the robot for

discovered by the astronauts discovered by the astronauts it to carry them to a safe place.

appears in the water. Mysterious appears in the water. Mysterious The robot starts to overheat and

music sounds… music sounds… tries to throw off its riders.

They manage to switch it off.

23 Epilogue. The voice-over sounds. The crew of the go-anywhere

vehicle rescues the astronauts.

The robot perishes in the burning

longwall.

24 The astronauts have a short talk.

25 Again the blonds sleeping on the

seashore. Having woken up they

discover the remains of the robot.

26 The go-anywhere vehicle

approaches the spaceship.

27 The blonds pray and sand rain on t

he aliens to kill them.

28 One of the astronauts incidentally

discovers a female bas-relief in the

cracked rock (found by him earlier

underwater).

29 The space rocket with the astronauts

flies away. The blonds follow it with

their eyes.

30 Having realized the uselessness of

the former godhood that failed to

kill the aliens with the longwall

and rain the blonds destroy the

sculpture of the dragon and replace

it by the remains of the robot – their new

godhood.

31 Epilogue – an astronaut’s

monologue.

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Children and Media Violence

Violence is an increasing problem in modern society. For example, the increase of violence among
Russian youngsters is extremely dangerous: about 32,000 of Russian teenagers commit a violent crime
every year (Ovsyannikov, 2001). Most Western research concerning violence in the media suggests that
there is a connection between presentation of violence in the media and violence in society (Federman,
1997; Cantor, 2000; Potter, 1999; 2003; Slaby, 2002 and others).

The report of the American “National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence”
noted the “weakness of the network codes, particularly the lack of effective sanctions and the absence of
control over the number of violent programs. Legislative hearing in the Congress and Senate of the United
States Government heard repeated demand for the reduction of televised violence” (Gerbner, 1988, p.9).
American Psychological Association (APA) concluded: there is absolutely no doubt that those who are
heavy viewers of this violence demonstrate increased acceptance of aggressive attitudes and increased
aggressive behavior (Wilson, B.J. and others, 1998, p.16).

I agree with J.Goldstein’s definition of media violence production: “We regard violent
entertainment as descriptions or images of fighting, bloodshed, war, and gunplay produced for the purpose
of entertainment, recreation, or leisure. Violent entertainment includes murder and horror stories; comic
books, television programs, films, and cartoons depicting war or fighting; video games with martial-arts
and military themes; toy weapons and military materiel; and aggressive spectator sports, like boxing and
wrestling” (Goldstein, 1998, p.2).

It is clear that the problem “children and media violence” exists in all modern society as well.
Today children may be regularly exposed to:
- violent TV programming (through broadcast, cable and satellite);
- violent films (throuth cinemas, videocassettes, DVD, Internet websites);
- violent audio texts (traditional radios, Walkman radios, CD players, mobile phones and Internet
websites);
- violent interactive video games (through TV and PC monitors, portable devices, Internet web sites,
mobile phones);
- violent toys, games, and other devices directly related to violent media programming (Slaby, 2002,
p.311).

The American researcher J.Cantor wrote: “There certainly appear to be correlation between the rise
of violence depicted in media and the rise of violent acts and crimes committed by juveniles in this
country. The United States has the most violent adolescent population out of all 20 developed nations on
Earth” (Cantor, 2000, p. 91). She uncovered a dramatic correlation between media violence and crime.
When asked what their favorite movie was, the same fifty one percent (51%) of adolescents who
committed violent crimes claimed that their favorite movie contained violence (Cantor, 2000, p. 91).

The other scientist concluded: “ media violence can teach adolescents social scripts (approaches to
solving social problems) about violence; it can create and maintain attitudes is society that condone
violence; constant exposure to media violence can lead to emotional desensitization in regard to violence
in real life; the social, political, and economic roots of violence are rarely explored, giving the impression
that violence is mainly an interpersonal issue” (Slaby, 2002, p.310).

P.David (Secretary of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights) writes: The theme of the child and media is typically a challenging one
as it closely combines three major aspects of children’s rights: access to provision, protection and
participation. This multidimensional nature of the right to information is generously recognized by the
Convention on the Rights of the Child in its article 17, which explicitly refers to many other provisions
recognized by this human rights treaty. Therefore, a decade after the adoption of the Convention by the
UN General Assembly, the child’s right to information remains one of the most complex provisions to be
implemented by states (David, 1999, p. 31)

Article 17 of The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child aspires to encourage the
mass media to disseminate information and material of social and cultural benefit to the child; encourage

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the development of appropriate guidelines for the protection of the child from information and material
injurious to his or her well-being. The convention states the right of children for information, but also for
protection from information that might threaten their well-being and personal development. In societies
that heavily expose children to media, the healthy development of democratic institutions and civil society
can be greatly influenced by the impact of media violence on children’s behavior and perception of
society. An emphasis on this particular aspect of societal regulation of children’s media viewing is
strongly recommended by UN and UNESCO.

Unfortunately, The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has not succeeded in
modern Russian society with regard to the media-screen (television, cinema, video, mobile phones, PC-
games) because scenes of hard violence persist on all Russian cinema, television and Internet screens. The
infringement of the Rights of the Child on the Russian screen is a very important problem and Russian
pedagogues should not only attract societal and governmental attention to it, but should also provide
training and education about children and violence on the screen.

Western scientists have researched the theme “Children and Violence on the Screen” but this theme
is new and original to the modern Russian sociocultural situation. Consequently, Russian science currently
conducts little research on this theme. For example, we do have sociological research results from Dr.
K.Tarasov (Moscow) who tested Russian pupils on the subject of “Violence on the Screen”. He writes
that: “a questionnaire survey, conducted by the Research Institute of Cinema Art among 510 students
from 9th to 11th grades (14-17 years old) of 30 Moscow schools (52 classes) in late 1995, showed that with
respect to violent films the young viewers formed three groups. The first (55%) comprises “hyperactive”
consumers of violent fare. Half or more of the films they had seen in theatres or on television and video
during four weeks prior to the survey contained violence. The second group (11%) includes “active”
adherents to aggressive films. Violence is included in one-third of their chosen film repertoire. The third
group (24%) constitutes young people with “moderate” attachment to movie mayhem” (Tarasov, 2000,
p.5).

The Russian situation is different from that of the West because throughout Russian media history
scenes of violence on the screen have existed without strict censorship. My content analysis of all
features films and serials produced in Russia during the 1990s-2000s (3687 films and serials) shows that
1123 (30,4%) contain violent scenes. Completed content analysis of violence on Russian television during
one week indicates that serious and graphic violence in news and so-called reality-programs (about
murder, crime, and accidents) is aired around the clock. The analysis also shows that fiction series and
films with serious and graphic violence are most often broadcast after 10 p.m., but also relatively
frequently during prime time when children are watching.

I created the test “Russian Children and Teenagers and Media Violence” and have surveyed 450
Russian children and teens (age from 7 to 17). The research was supported under a grant funded by the
Program of Individual Research of The John and Catherine MacArthur Foundation (grant N 03-77894-
000-GSS).

The information I obtained helped me:
- take into consideration the real preferences of children and teenagers;
- pay attention to concrete films, television programs, genres, and themes that are popular and thus have
maximum moral and psychological influence;
- quantify the students who are attracted and repulsed by scenes of violence on the screen;
- reveal main factors attracting children and teenagers to scenes of violence on the screen (entertaining
function, function of identification, compensatory function, function of recreation, professional
directorship, outstanding acting, outstanding special effects, etc.). The results are necessary for comparison
with written papers and discussions in order to state the self-evaluation of the audience’s preferences and
real motives as revealed in the course of the full research;
- reveal main reasons to dislike scenes of violence on the screen;

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- learn about teenage enthusiasm for acting in a violent scene in the media. The results confirmed the
children's answers concerning their positive or negative attitudes towards media violence; and
- determine the opinion of teenagers concerning reasons for violence and aggression in society, the
influence of media violence upon the increase of crime, and the prohibition of violent media scenes (with
reference to their future children).

To sum up the analysis of this test one may conclude that the influence of media violence on
Russian children and teenagers is rather perceptible. About 17% of children and teenagers (age 7-17) are
positive about its demonstration, and 35% of children and teenagers not having a clear opinion on the
matter. They like films, television shows, and computer games containing scenes of violence, and they like
violent characters (including “bad guys”). About 49% of Russian cheildern and teenagers claimed that
they are not attracted by media violence. Only 26,7% of children and teenagers discuss and share their
opinions with their parents. Teenagers practically never include teachers as interlocutors for their media
preferences. Therefore the influence of Russian schools upon the relationship between teenagers and
media violence is, unfortunately, zero.

This cannot help but evoke alarm, since violence on the screen penetrates into Russian society
more and more since 1990. It can be safely said that in Russia the Convention of Child's Rights concerning
mass media is not working. There is no effective system of age ratings for watching and selling cinema,
video, or PC-game productions. In spite of the efforts of some teacher-enthusiasts, the media education at
schools, colleges, and universities remains relatively poor. Russian children have developed very little
understanding of the impact of violence upon themselves.

Of course, “there will still be violence in the media, as in life, because there is evil in the world and
human nature has its shadow side” (Thoman, 1995, p.127). But I hope the dissemination of “children and
media violence” researches’ results to broad groups (state policymakers, TV/filmmakers, teachers,
students and parents, press readers, members of associations for media education/literacy, etc.) will spark
an interest in this topic and contribute new sources of information and fresh approaches.

I believe that the comparison of the Russian and American experience regarding media violence,
standards for rating Russian media programs, and a course of study on media violence for students will
have a significant impact upon Russian society, will raise Russian societal and governmental attention to
the infringement of the Rights of the Child on the Russian screen, will help to mobilize Russian society
against unnecessary violence in the media, will raise the level of responsibility expected of those who
disseminate violence on the television, cinema, video, PC-games, etc., and will decrease the atmosphere
of Russian social indifference to this problem.

References

 Cantor, J. (2000). Mommy, I’m Scared: Protecting children from Frightening Mass Media. In: Stoughton, C. Media
Violence Alert. Zionsvill, IN: Dream Catcher Press, Inc., p. 69-85.

 David, P. (1999). Children’s Rights and Media: Conciliating Protection and Participation. In: Feilitzen, C. von and
Carlsson, U. (Eds.) (1999). Children and Media: Image, Education, Participation. Goteborg: UNESCO International
Clearing House on Children and Violence on the Screen, p.31.

 Federman, J. (Ed.) (1997) National Television Violence Study, Volume 2. Santa Barbara: University of California,
Center for Communication and Social Policy, 53 p.

 Gerbner, G. (1988). Violence and Terror in the Mass Media. Paris: UNESCO, 46 p.
 Goldstein, J. (Ed.) (1998). Why We Watch: The Attractions of Violent Entertainment. N.Y., Oxford University Press,

270 p.
 Ovsyannikov, A.A. (2001). Declaration of Humanitarian Value in Contemporary Russian Society. In: Teaching Social-

Humanitarian Disciplines in Russian higher Education: Conditions, Problems, and Perspectives. Moscow: Logos,
p.17.
 Potter, W.J. (1999). On Media Violence. Thousand Oaks, CA – London: Sage Publication, 304 p.
 Potter, W.J. (2003). The 11 Myths of Media Violence. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publication, 259 p.
 Slaby, R.G. (2002). Media Violence: Effects and Potential Remedies. Katzemann, C.S. (Ed.). Securing Our Children’s
Future. Washington D.C.: Brooking Institution Press, p. 305-337.

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 Tarasov, K. (2000). Film Violence: Attraction and Repulsion. In: News from The UNESCO International
Clearinghouse on Children and Violence on the Screen. N 2, p. 5.

 Thoman, E. (1995). Media Literacy Education Can Effectively Combat Media Violence. In Wekesser, C. (Ed.).
Violence in the Media. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, p. 127-129.

 Wilson, B.J., Smith, S.L. and others. (1998). Content Analysis of Entertainment Television: The 1994-95 Results. In:
Hamilton, J.T. (Ed.). Television Violence and Public Policy. Michigan: The University of Michigan Press, p.105-147.

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Russian Cinematography and the Theme of Violence

Russian society and state censorship has historically treated violence on the screen more tolerantly
than erotic or pornographic scenes. Violence on the Russian screen first frequently appeared in detective,
mystery, and criminal dramas and melodramas in the 1910s. Since the 1920s screen violence in Russia has
been concentrated in war films and so-called “historical and revolutionary” drama and adventure films.
Mystery and horror films were completely excluded from the Russian screen. This pattern continued until
the middle of the 1980s.

Since the beginning of “perestroika”, Russian censorship has gradually lost power. Russian
filmmakers are beginning to address genres and themes that were previously forbidden. The number of
films containing violent episodes is growing steadily, as is the degree of realism in its representation. From
the beginning of the 1990s, in the epoch of “reforms”, violence became a basic attraction in Russian
thrillers, criminal dramas, and horror and detective films.

I conducted a content analysis of the Russian film repertoire of the 1990s-2000s. The purpose of
the analysis was to measure the number of Russian films from the 1990s-2000s that included scenes of
violence (fights, beatings, murders, executions, shots of dead people, accidents, etc.). The data from this
content analysis is in the Chart 1.

My calculations show that as many films including the word “death” in their titles were produced
from 1990 to 2010 as were produced from 1919 to 1989! Many aggressive words, such as “murder”, “kill
“, “war”, “enemy”, or “shoot” appear in the titles of Russian films of the 1990s-2000s. The amount of
violence is impressive: on the average 30,4% percent of Russian feature film/serials productions contain
scenes of violence.
Of course, violence episodes do exist in such artistic films as The Inner Circle by A.Konchalovsky,
Krustalev, the Car! by A.German, and others. If violence, alas, is an integral part of Russian life, then art
has the indisputable right to reflect this on the screen. In fact, Russian “art house” not only represents but
also condemns violence. However, my content analysis of the Russian film repertoire of the 1990s and
begin of XXI century shows that the bulk of “film violence” has a low artistic level (and low commercial
potential): The Wolves in the Zone, Hunting the Souteneur, Charged by Death, etc.

Chart 1. Violence in the Russian Feature Films in the 1990s-2000s

Year: Number of Russian Number of Russian Russian films/serials with
feature films and serials: films/serials with scenes scenes of violence (%):
of violence:
1990 300 29,3%
1991 213 88 47,9%
1992* 189 (166 + 23) 102 41,8%
1993 161 (146 + 15) 40,4%
1994 97 (83 + 14) 79 28,9%
1995 67 (58 + 9) 65 43,3%
1996 54 (42 + 12) 28 22,2%
1997 64 (43 + 21) 29 26,6%
1998 79 (58 + 21) 12 22,8%
1999 74 (43 + 32) 17 29,7%
2000 88 (46 + 42) 18 25,0%
2001 155 (59 + 96) 22 23,2%
2002 156 (61 + 95) 22 13,5%
36
21

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2003 147 (75 + 72) 38 25,8%
2004 197 (83 + 114) 57 28,9%
2005 223 (82 + 141) 65 29,1%
2006 258 (106 + 152) 56 21,7%
2007 288 (146 + 142) 99 34,4%
2008 290 (162 + 128) 79 27,2%
2009 298 (194 + 104) 96 32,2%
2010 289 (160 + 129) 94 32,5%
Total: 1123 30,4%
3687

* from the 1992 year the lists also include full-length fiction video / TV movies and serials.

The majority of the hundreds of Russian films of the 1990s-2000s did not reached the “big
screen”, but nearly all were broadcast on television and many were shown in prime time (8 to 10 p.m.).
Prime time is the most accessible viewing period for children. So while erotic 9 1/2 Weeks was shown at
midnight in Russia, many channels still played violent films in both the morning and evening.

For example, the very popular Russian television series Cops (Menty: The Street of the Broken
Lanterns) contains some very real murders, fights, and close-ups of dead bodies. This serial is broadcast
during prime time. Of course, this is an accessible time for Russian children.

The genre spectrum of the Russian films containing episodes of violence was rather wide in the
1990s and begin of XXI century: dramas, detective films, thrillers, horrors, melodramas, parables,
parodies and even comedies. Content analysis has shown that the basic plots of violent Russian films are
the following:

1. Terror in the army and prisons. A common man enlists in the army (variant: is thrown in a prison, an
asylum, etc.), where he sees severe violence (Cane Paradise, Ivin A, Do - One!, 100 Days till the
Demobilization, etc.). The action of these films, as a rule, takes place in unattractive interiors, such as dirty
cells, half-destroyed buildings, and flooded cellars. The Russian army is shown as a typical model of the
state, where violence is the main instrument of power. This is very good material not only for realistic
dramas, but also for gloomy parables, pathological visions, and shock visual images.

2. War terror. People at war in a “trouble spot”, where violence becomes their livelihood (Caravan
of Death, Afghani Break, To Survive, The War, etc.).

3. Criminal terror & the revenge of good guys. A man with big muscles returning home from the
army (Afghanistan, Chechnya, etc.). He discovers that gangsters/mafia run the whole city/village. These
“bad guys” kill/rape his friend/sister/girlfriend/relative. The brave “good guy” fights the bad guys.
Violence (murders, explosions, etc.) ensues. Variant: Gangsters, maniacs or terrorists hijacking a ship
(bus, plane, train, circus), terrorizing the passengers and the crew (A Mad Bus, Gangsters at the Ocean,
Countdown, etc.). But the hero takes his revenge on the serial maniacs, gangsters, killers, aggressive drug
addicts, and other “bad guys”.

4. Criminal terror and bad/good cops. A dangerous gang or murderer devastating a city in which
the police are powerless (Satan, Snake Spring, The Contract with Death, Brigade, etc.). Alternatively,
rather than an “independent” murderer, the killer may be a hired hitman (Dead Line, Brother, etc.).
Occasionally we encounter a revival of the traditional detective plot: a criminal vs. an honest policeman
(Kamenskaya).

5. Holocost terror (From a Hell to a Hell, etc.)
6. Sexual violence as a part of Russian life. In these films, the protagonist’s sexual relationships of
are on the verge of sexual violence. Some very talented people have produced Russian movies of this sort,
including N.Hubov’s The Body. He reproduces an atmosphere of provincial Russia with great accuracy.
He describes a poor and hopeless life: A “normal” love between a young girl and her boyfriend transforms

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into crime. The boy rapes his girlfriend together with his friend, and the girl subsequently takes her
revenge.

7. Mystical terror. Vampires attacking defenseless people (Drinking Blood, Family of Vampires,
Witch, etc.).

8. Violence as humor (such as exists in Quentin Tarantino’s films). The problems of morals are
rejected as ridiculous and old-fashioned (The Sky in Diamonds, The Body will be in the Ground..., Mom,
don’t cry!, Hitler Kaput!, etc.).

9. Communist terror. The heroes of the film endure executions and violence in concentration camps
and prisons. The styles of communist terror films are rather diverse: traditional realistic, grotesque, ironic,
etc. Some of these films produce a very shocking impression upon the audience (Khrustalev, the Car!).

The prevailing models of the contents are:
- Mass terror during war, such as communist terror: the communist regime deforms and transforms
people into hangmen and victims. This is especially evident in pictures about mass terror of Caucasians in
the 1940s (Cold, The Road on the Edge of Life, etc.);
- A common man trying to avoid politics and to stay impartial becomes a victim of terror, only then the
“enemies of the Soviet state” and realize that everything they believed in was nothing but a understanding
the anti-human essence of the communist authority; (variant: people, sincerely believing in communist
ideas and Stalin, experience the horrors of being lie (The Inner Circle, Burnt by the Sun, Khrustalev, the
Car!, Children of Arbat, Facination of Evil);
- “Revolutionary terror”. The “ideological terror” attracts people with aggressive thirsts for power and
people with mental diseases who desire to leave a bloody trace through history (The Killer of the Emperor,
Trotsky, Romanov: The Tsar’s Family, The Rider Named Death).

10. Violence in relation to children. Having received freedom, the Russian cinema has produced
many hard and violent films about children. The action in these films often takes place at school or in
prison. Such films are filled with scenes of dark restrooms, violence, drug addiction, and cruelty. In one of
these films a tutor in an orphanage, aware of the unofficial laws, chooses not to notice fresh blood on a
mirror in a children's bedroom. In another a strong bully terrorizes a weak child. Twenty years ago,
Russian movie-goers enjoyed sentimental stories about thoughtful and tender tutors. But nearly every other
film about children and youth made in the 1990s-2000s was an indictment. On the Russian screen there
are terrible images of hostile state houses, where the teachers are only additional tools for the violence.

Of course, other genre of films may contain violence. But these pictures are not intended for
preschoolers and children under 10 years of age with sensitive psyches. Therefore it would be better to
show these films on television after 10 p.m.

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Russia’s Violent Television Programs

Just how frequently is violence shown on Russian television? At what time is it shown? Is screen
violence accessible to the child audience? I have tried to answer these questions through an analysis of the
repertoire of a week’s television programming. Except for STS, many Russian television channels include
television news programs (3-8 times per day) containing scenes of violence (murder victims, accidents,
military actions, terrorism, etc.). There are also special programs specializing in criminal topics: violence
and victims of violence, bloody details of accidents etc. Some night programs are replayed in the morning.
These include The Police Station, Crime, Crime: Frank Confession, Road Patrol, Petrovka, 38, and
others.

Programs average 15-20 minutes in length, but in total approximately six hours are dedicated to
special “criminal programs” on Russian television channels! These are some examples of “criminal
programs” that Russian children watch in the morning and daytime. Monday: Close-ups of children’s
corpses. Tuesday: Again, strangled and murdered corpses are shown on the screen. This time four dead
bodies are shown, including a close-up of a murdered gangster. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday ...
more dead people.

I monitored special Russian television programs dedicated to criminal themes over seven days
(from Monday, January 10th , 2000 to Sunday, January 16th , 2000 and from Monday, September 29th ,
2003 to Sunday, October, 5th , 2003). My recorded data are presented in the tables below.

Chart 2. Perediocity of Violent Special Television Programs in Russia (2000)

Violent TV-program: TV-Chennel Day of Time of Violence Programs
Week
The Police Station RTR (Russia) 6am – 12pm – 6pm – 11pm after 11pm
Crime NTV Mon-Sun
Mon-Sat 12pm 6pm
Road Patrol TV-6
Petrovka, 38 TVC Mon-Sun Yes No No Yes
Mon-Fri
Yes Yes Yes No

Yes No Yes Yes
Yes No Yes No

Chart 3. Perediocity of Violent Special Television Programs in Russia (2003)

Violent TV-program: TV-Chennel Day of Week Time of Violence Programs

The Police Station Russia Mon-Fri 6am – 12pm – 6pm – 11pm after 11pm
Road Patrol Russia Mon-Fri
Petrovka, 38 TVC Mon-Fri 12pm 6pm
Criminal Russia First Channal Mon
Man and Law First Channal Mon, Thu Yes Yes No Yes

No No No Yes

No Yes No No

No No No Yes

Yes No Yes No

As one can see from Chart 2 and Chart 3, different Russian channels broadcast special criminal
programs - including documentary films of victims of violence and accidents - practically all week long.
They do this not only in the evening, but also in the morning and afternoon. These programming periods
are quite open to the junior audience.

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Chart 4. Violent Images and Victims of Violence on the Russian Screen in Special “Criminal TV-
Programs” (2000)

Телепередачи и каналы: Realistic images of violence and victims of violence
(corpses, wounds, including close ups of the victims of
The Police Station crimes, human blood, etc.)
Crime
Road Patrol Mon Thu Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun
Petrovka, 38 No No No Yes Yes No No
Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Yes Yes Yes No No No No

Chart 5. Violent Images and Victims of Violence on the Russian Screen in Special “Criminal TV-
Programs” (2003)

Телепередачи и каналы: Realistic images of violence and victims of violence
(corpses, wounds, including close ups of the victims of
The Police Station crimes, human blood, etc.)
Man and Law
Petrovka, 38 Mon Thu Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun
Yes Yes No Yes No No No
No No No No No No No
No No No No No No No

The analysis of Charts 4 and 5 shows that almost every day a special “criminal” television

program broadcasts shots of real corpses, victims of accidents, and murdered people. For example, in
Crime (NTV) on January 10th and 13th, 2000, close-ups of bloody corpses were shown. Two dead bodies in
pools of blood were shown in The Police Station in the program January 13th, 2000, as well as close-ups of
more corpses in a program from January 14th, 2000. Similar documentary shots were shown on Road
Patrol (TV-6) on January 1st, 10th, 11th, and 13th, 2000.

I emphasize that it would be perfectly acceptable if criminal television programs were shown to

adults and after 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. Adults should have independent choice. But I have already argued,

they are accessible to young children in the morning and afternoon as well.

Certainly, some scenes of violence are shown in usual television news in Russia. But these are not

so frequently or aggressively shown as in special “crime-programs”.

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Television, Film Repertoire, and the Problem of Media Violence

The third part of my research is dedicated to monitoring violence in Russian television’s film
repertoire. There are dozens of films and serials each week (mainly from the US, France, and Latin
America) containing all kinds of violence. “Violence dominates U.S. exports. We compared 250 U.S.
programs exported to ten countries with 111 programs shown in the U.S. during the same year. Violence
was the main theme of 40% of home-shown and 49% of exported programs. Crime/action series
comprised 17% of home-shown and 46% of exported programs” (Gerbner, 2001, p.135).

The majority of films containing realistic images of violence are shown after 10 p.m., thus avoiding
the child audience. However, similar productions often occur during “children's time”. The following is
the television film repertoire between January 10th and 16th, 2000 between the hours of 6 a.m. and 11 p.m.

Monday: On the whole the repertoire of leading Russian television companies did not contain
serials and films with excessive violence. If violence occurred in the course of a plot, it was represented in
an unrealistic manner (for example, in the serial Murder, She Wrote). The famous hit Highlander (ORT, 7
– 11 p.m.) is almost completely composed of violence. Certainly, violence in Highlander lacks horrifying
realism - it is violence from fairy tales and legends. Also, the protagonist personifying Good wins the
battle over Evil. Nevertheless, in the US this film was rated "R" (Restricted). Similarly, the “fantasy”
serial The Legend of William Tell was shown from Monday till Friday on TV-6 during “children’s time” (5
till 5:40 p.m.). In this serial there was a great deal of violence (battles, duels, fights, murders), but it
lacked realistic detail.

Tuesday: At 9:45 p.m., RTR (Russia) showed a Hong Kong martial arts film. There were many
fights and much violence, but without realistic detail.

Wednesday: RTR broadcast another Hong Kong martial arts film from 9:45 p.m. till 11:45 p.m.
This film contained scenes of violence, but without much realism.

Thursday: From 8:45 p.m. till 10:00 p.m., NTV showed a thriller of Richard Donner’s Assassins
(1995) with Sylvester Stallone. This film presented many murders, but also portrayed a killer as the “good
guy”. Many Stallone action films are “R” rated, but the Russian NTV presented them openly to small
children.

Friday: Each Friday at 9:45 p.m., ORT ran the American detective story serial Colombo. The serial
contained scenes of violence.

Saturday: At 7:50 p.m., NTV showed the first part of “Bondiana”: Dr. No. In America, Bond films
are generally rated "PG" (Parental Guidance).

Sunday: From 12:05 till 2 p.m., ORT ran a Russian film about the Civil War: Winner (1976). This
is a traditionally Soviet picture, and its violence against “public enemies” is portrayed as a “dictatorship of
the proletariat”. From 7 till 9 p.m. ORT played author Luc Besson's cut of The Professional, a thriller with
great violence. This film ran with age restrictions in America and Europe, but ORT broadcast the picture in
"children's time”. It should be also noted that the leading female character is a young girl. In the morning
(8:15 – 9 a.m.), NTV replayed the previous night’s presentation of the Canadian television serial Nikita.
The same channel from 8:50 to 9:50 p.m. ran the Russian criminal serial Cops-2. A close-up of a dead
woman and man is included in the opening credits of each part of this popular television serial.

Certainly, relative to the violence in crime documentaries, the violence in feature films does not
seem as horrifying or shocking. That is, we can always say to a child: “Don’t be afraid, it’s not real - it’s
cinema! He’s not a gangster, and he’s not a policeman - he’s an actor”.

However, the negative influence on the psychology and mentality of minors is significant. Recent
Russian research has shown that:
“The video and the television menus of school age children are rather monotonous: every third film is an
action or a thriller, and every fifth is erotic. (...) The characters’ purposes and motives are rather different
from that of the “home and family”. These purposes and motives include satisfaction of the libido (41%),
murder (17%), and self-defense (17%) (...) Such values as friendship, law, and honor are represented by

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only 3%. (...) The abundance of violence suggests that violence is the only way to solve conflicts. The
authors observed the reaction of children during a showing of the violent film “Art of Death”. This film
contains various sorts of murders. (...) Younger children watching experienced shock. I think it is clear
that scenes of violence have a harmful influence on children. One feature of a child's mentality is that
information received from the screen is perceived as a real. Both in games and in reality, children
frequently imitate what they have seen, including violence “acquired” with help from the media screen. As
a result they may perceive violence as an acceptable social model of behavior and as a means to solve
problems. One may or may not agree with these conclusions, but one cannot deny the horrifying statistics
of child and teenage cruelty and criminality, nor the fact that an overwhelming majority of criminal
minors cited “screen examples or analogies” among the motives for their crimes. (...) In Germany,
Sweden and other countries of Europe, special laws protecting children from violence on the screen have
appeared. In Russia there are still no protective measures of this kind” (Abramenkova, 1999, p.7).

My content analysis of one week’s television programming is quite representative of the present
situation. Many Russian sociologists, film historians, and journalists share my point of view.
A. Vartanov writes:

“Realistic details not only have a depressing impact on millions of viewers - they quite often
provoke a thirst for revenge. (...) In one release of Today (a news program on the Russian private
television channel NTV – A.F.), journalist V. Grunsky emotionlessly describes the terrible scenes from
Chechnya. In one shot, a Chechen soldier shoots the hand of a hostage. In the next shot the man pleads for
help. In the third, the Chechen terrorist chops off the man’s head. I must confess, it is terrifying for me
even to retell it - not to mention to watch it. Yet still a civilized and diligent television company such as
NTV shows this hard violence” (Vartanov, 1999, p.12).

I. Naidenov writes:
“The corpse of a Chechen soldier - a close-up on his body - crushed under a concrete wall. A
victim of an explosion in Moscow… Programs such as “Road Patrol”, “Accidents of The Week”,
“Criminal Russia” and others fill domestic television channels and enjoy high ratings. They speculate on
a phenomenon of human sub-consciousness - attracting the viewer to the violent plots. The interactive
interrogations show that the viewer would prefer to watch a collision of trains in India to an artist’s
exhibition (...). Television programs like Road Patrol show details of murders, transport accidents and so
on, such as you cannot see on a European channel” (Naidenov, 1999, p.1).
E. Ivanova writes, "Our television channels, mildly speaking, at any time demonstrate programs,
commercials, feature films that distort or hurt the gentle mentality of a child and create a cold, aggressive
man" (Ivanova, 1997, p.28).
K. Tarasov writes:
“As a biological creature, man is extremely sensitive to real violence. Therefore many viewers are
excited by episodes of violence, and in them an almost instinctual fascination arises (Tarasov, 1997, p.77).
Teenage crime in Russia is becoming a national crisis and many lawyers label low-standard action films
as the catalyst (Tarasov, 1997, p.78). Young viewers can be conventionally divided into three typological
groups. "Highly-active" consumers of media violence constitute the first group, which accounts for 55% of
Russian youth. Of the films this group watched during four weeks, half or even a majority contained scenes
of violence. The second group is characterized by an “aggressive film-diet” and is made up by 11% of
young viewers. In the third group, young men and women who watch a “moderate” proportion of screen
violence constitute 24% of the whole. (...) The percentage of "highly active" consumers of screen violence
is 62 among boys and 50 among girls” (Tarasov, 1997, p.78-79).
Should we react by banning television programs and films with criminal themes, and at the same
time proscribe the sale of video-CD, DVD, and CD-ROM disks with games based on violence? Certainly
not. An adult audience has a right to know what the state of crime is in Russia and abroad. But violence on
the screen should be not open to children under 10-12 year ages with gentle and sensitive mentalities.
Hence, films and television programs that include violence, accidents, and wars should be shown at

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nighttime and should not be replayed in the morning and daytime.
Russia today experiences many problems, but it is necessary to spare more effort in order to protect

childhood’s peaceful illusions and to not destroy its fragile well-being. Thankfully, our children under ten
are usually indifferent to our political and economic crises. They deserve to watch animated cartoons and
cheerful comedies in “children's time” - not of criminal horrors.

References
Abramenkova V. (1999). Mom, Daddy, and Video. In: Trud. May 28, p.7.
Gerbner, G. (2001). Communities Should Have More Control over the Content of Mass Media. In: Torr, J.D. (Ed.). Violence in
the Media. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, pp.129-137.
Ivanova E. (1997). Kid at the Screen. In: Trud. Oct. 17, p.28.
Naidenov I. (1999). Operation "Provocation". In: Kultura. N 35, p.1.
Tarasov K. (1997). Violence in Cinema: An Attraction and Pushing Away. In: Test by Competition. Moscow: Scientific Institute
of Cinema Publishing House, pp.74-97.
Vartanov A. (1999). The People and Anti-People. In: Trud. Sept. 16, p.12.

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Russian Children and Media Violence

Description of the Test
This is one of the first studies of media violence in modern Russia. A public debate about Youth
and Media Violence exists because Russian television channels frequently show violent films and
television programs. I compiled survey data from 450 (7-17 year old) Russian students of Taganrog's high
schools and Taganrog State Pedagogical Institute:
- 7-8 age: 150 students were questioned, 82 boys and 68 girls;
- 12-13 age: 150 students were questioned, 71 boys and 79 girls;
- 16-17 age: 150 students were questioned, 80 boys and 70 girls;
I used a multiple choice (“closed”) form of survey because most teens, as a rule, are not able to
state their points of view concerning media preferences precisely or quickly. Also, a “closed” form test is
easier and takes less time to complete. The test was conditionally divided into 3 parts (Appendices: Results
of the Text “Russian Children, Teenages and Media Violence”):
1. Media Violence: Students Orientations and Preferences;
2.Children and Teenagers’ Attitude Toward Media Violence: Reasons and Results; and
3.Children and Teenagers and Media Violence: Situational Tests.
Part 1. Media Violence: Students’ Orientations and Preferences
Children and Teenagers were given a list of forty Russian and foreign films, about half of them
popular comedies and melodramas containing no violence. In the other half (thrillers, horror films,
criminal and war epics), violence often played a major role. Since these films are often shown on
television and are available on video, we can suggest that teenagers who are attracted to violence will
prefer this latter, more violent half;
By analogy to this, I compiled a list of popular computer games among youth. I assumed that a
teenager who favored games filled with fights and shooting (Doom) would not mind seeing violence on the
screen;
After an indirect clarification of children and teenage attitude towards violence on the screen, I
proceeded to the direct questions. Through these questions it was possible to learn which films, television
shows, and video/computer games of which countries, genres, and themes contained the most violence.
From a sample of forty countries, many African, Asian, and South American countries were absent
because their film or television industries did not reach the Russian market.
Having learned the audience’s knowledge of which genre-theme components most often
accompany scenes of violence, I continued with questions concerning the most popular movie characters
among children and teenagers. For that purpose, the film list was solely violent productions. Were a chils
or teenager to prefer American thrillers and horror films, then among his favorite characters would be such
heroes as the Terminator or Rambo;
By knowing a teenager’s favorite characters, I supposed that among the most likable character
traits were power. A number of students who made such a choice would like to resemble their hero in
behavior and world outlook.
Part 2. Children and Teenagers’ Attitude Toward Media Violence: Reasons and Results
1. Through direct questioning we quantified the students who were attracted and not attracted to
scenes of media violence. If in the first part of the test teenagers preferred violent films, violent
computer/video games, and violent protagonists (such as the Terminator or Rambo), then the test-taker’s
answer to this question would be positive.
2.With reference to the preceding query’s answer, children and teenagers chose factors that
attracted or repelled them to the scenes of violence. One may presume that the entertainment value of a
show or recreation would attract, and that fear of blood, violence, and crime would repel.
3. Proceeding from numerous observations in cinema theaters, we assumed that children and

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teenagers attracted to media violence would frequent cinemas together with friends (three or more).
4. We then asked questions concerning motives for watching violence on the screen and concerning

the psychological state afterwards. Given the psychology of children and teenagers (aspiration to self-
affirmation, appearing mature, etc.) one could not expect a majority of the children and teenage audience
to confess that they become sad or bitter upon witnessing media violence. More often, children and
teenagers emphasized that it does not influence them.

5. It is natural that children and teenagers (29%) claim to not remember scenes of violence nor to
discuss them, but if they do discuss them they prefer to do so among friends. You know, the psychology of
a teenager does not allow him to consider his parents as interlocutors.

Part 3. Children and Teenagers and Media Violence: Situational Tests.
1. In this part of the test, children and teenagers faced hypothetical game situations. Some of the
questions may seem trivial - for instance, a question about naming pets. Yet these were purposefully
included so as to relax the children and teenagers between more serious questions.
2. On of the questions asked which videotape or DVD a teenager would take with him to a desert
island. This question to some extent duplicated the questions in Part 1. A child or teenager who has, even
only in his imagination, just one film at his disposal for a long period of time may may somehow change
his preferences. That is, a person who prefers watching violent films would not necessarily choose to keep
Rambo on a desert island.
3. Another question directly asked children and teenagers' reactions to scenes of violence on the
screen. This question intentionally repeated a question in Part 2 because it was presumed that children and
teenagers who liked scenes of violence on the screen would not switch off the television when violence
was shown.
4. Such is the case with the question, in which a child or teenager was asked about his interest in
acting in scenes of violence on the screen. It was presumed that a child or teenager who disapproved of
violence on the screen would not act in a violent film production.
5. The next question generated a discussion of reasons for and influence of aggression and violence
in society, as well as and the prohibition of violence on the screen. This question was also aimed to affirm
the answers to previous parts of the test: a person who enjoyed watching scenes of violence on the screen,
probably would not point at such violence as the reason for increasing crime in real-life, nor would be pay
attention to its influence nor wouldn't demand censorship.
6. The last question asked the age at which children should be allowed to watch scenes of media
violence. Children and Teenagers who enjoy violence on the screen chose the lowest age possible or were
against any prohibitions whatever.
The Main Aims of the Test
1. To determine the degree of popularity of violent media productions (films, television shows, and
computer games). The obtained information helped me to take into consideration the real preferences of
childrens and teenagers and to pay attention to the films, genres, and themes that are popular and thus have
a maximum moral and psychological influence.
2. To determine to what extent children and teenagers associate productions of different genres,
countries, and themes with media violence. The results I obtained explained the teenage approach to mass
media culture and the ability to distinguish between different genres and themes.
3. To reveal the primary traits of popular movie characters - including those whom they would like
to resemble. I was careful to take into consideration new fashions and trends and to pay attention to
popular films and heroes.
4. To quantify the students who are attracted to scenes of media violence. This number should
coincide with the number of students who prefer heroes of bloody thrillers and horror films.
5. To reveal the main factors attracting childrens and teenagers to scenes of media violence, such as
entertaining function, function of identification, compensatory function, function of recreation,
professional directorship, outstanding acting, and outstanding special effects. The results are necessary to

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compare with written papers and discussions in order to know the audience’s self-evaluation of its
preferences and real motives.

6. To establish the motives for disliking of scenes of violence on the screen. (This is also important
for the special “Media Violence” course.)

7. To find out with whom childrens and teenagers prefer to watch scenes of media violence, and to
ascertain the communicative results and consequences of such shows. This is important for a comparison
of the audience's self-evaluation with the results of the test on the whole.

8. To find out to how stable students’ current media preferences regarding violence are.
9. To find out the type of child and teenage reaction to scenes of violence on the screen. The
results confirmed students’ answers to the main question of Part 2 of the test concerning their attitudes
towards on-screen violence.
10. To learn about the imaginary readiness of childrens and teenagers to act in a violent scene in a
film. The results confirmed students' answers concerning their attitudes towards on-screen violence.
11. To determine children and teenagers’ opinion of the reasons for violence and aggression in
society, of the influence of media violence upon the increase of crimes, and of prohibition of scenes of
violence on the screen (including with regard to their future children). The analysis of the results will also
confirmed tendencies revealed in the first two parts of the test.
Results of the Test

450 students were questioned, aged 7-17 years, 233 boys and 217 girls from Taganrog Schools N
12, 27, 36, 37, 38, Taganrog, Russia and first course students from Taganrog State Pedagogical Institute.
The author wants to acknowledge Irina Chelysheva, Ph.D., member of the Russian Association for Film
and Media Education for her help in the organization of the process of questioning the teachers.

Of course, media violence is not so popular (for children and teenagers) as screen comedies. But
this is the list of films with scenes of violence, the main characters are like the students (in total): Nikita
(14,89%), Rambo (12,44%), Terminator (10,67%).

The same situation took place concerning teenage attitude toward violent computer games. Tetris
took first place (26.67% picked it) and didn't contain any violent scenes. Doom, on the other hand, was
based on violence and enjoyed 7,75%. (I must point out that in Russia not every family has a computer, so
chils and teenage access to computer games is still rather limited.)

An analysis suggested that children and teenagers know which countries produce the most violent
screen productions. The United State was the primary production centers. Childrens and Teenagers pointed
out that violence on the screen in the 1990's-2000s also became common in Russian media. It is notable
that no European country was identified by children and teenagers as a leader in on-screen violence. This
may be explained not only by the “peaceful” character of European screen production, but also by the
practically absence of regional Russian contact with productions from European countries (except Italy
and France).

Russian children and teenagers distinguish well the genres and themes of screen violence: action,
horror, criminal, war, science-fiction, etc. An analysis produces even more interesting results: some of
Russian children and teenagers liked “good” characters in such films as Rambo and Terminator, as well as
“evil” characters of films containing violent scenes – Pulp Fiction, Natural Born Killers, etc. Among the
character traits teenagers admired were “power”, and “kindness”. “The mind” gathered (in total) only
5.11% of children and teenagers’ votes.

A comparative analysis showed that there was some difference between teenagers' favorite films
and their protagonists.

Children and teenagers (in total) would like to emulate the movie characters mentioned above in
behavior (18.22%), profession (15.11%), and in the manner of dreee (15,11%).

The data show that about 51% of the children and teenagers were attracted or passive to media
violence, about 49% had a negative attitude toward the violence. A comparative analysis proves that the

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self-evaluation of teenagers corresponds to their real screen preferences. None of the violent films or
computer games couldn’t overcomes the limit of 40% popularity…

The test I made revealed factors that influence teenage perception and estimation of on-screen
violence. Among the factors that attracted teenagers were: entertaining function, acting, direction,
recreation, special effects, and action dynamics. But a high rating of the actor's skill does not demonstrate
that all children teenagers who made such a choice are good judges of a film’s artistic value. Quite often a
teenager who were entertained by a film also claimed that the performance and directors' work was good.

My research also shows that some of those children teenagers who were ”not attracted” by media
violence, actually make quite another choice. There are the reasons for disliking media violence: first
among the most common reasons was the “disgust towards seeing blood and crippled people”, “hatred
toward violence of any kind” and influence on the increase of crimes.

My research confirm a known truth: children and teenagers prefer to watch television and discuss
together with their friends. According to the research result – about 45% the audience discuss it regularly.
Such is the case with on-screen violence. Parents acted as interlocutors in both cases with 26% of children
and teenagers. Among the reasons for watching on-screen violence teenagers rated “nothing else to do” as
an “ok”, “good” and “bad” mood.

The main types of psychological states in which teenagers find themselves after they watched on-
screen violence: 10% of them claimed that their psychological states did not change, but many students
confessed that they became in disorder or in depression.

The majority of the audience while assuring that their psychological states remained the same,
were not inclined to remember the on-screen violence. But in total 54% of children and teenagers pointed
out that media violence stayed in their memories for a long time.

My reserach suggests that despite liking or passive to media violence, not all of the 49% children
and teenagers would to go to a desert island with only a videotape of Rambo or Termitator. The first place
in screen preferences was taken by the American fantastic comedy Back to the Future.

As for the violent films, the highest number of total votes was received by Nikita (9.55%). The
number of children and teenagers who continue to watch a film despite on-screen violence should
correspond to the number of students who answered “yes” to the question of attraction to violence.
Likewise, the number of teenagers who avoid on-screen violence should correspond to the number of
teenagers who answered “no” about media violence. This is precisely what occurred.

The research shows the data reflecting child and teenage attitude toward acting in on-screen
violence. The data shows that only 15.55% of the students remained negative about on-screen violence and
absolutely would not act in violent scenes. It is my opinion that to a large degree the economic situation in
Russia explains these results.

As for the reasons behind violence and aggression in society, teenagers claimed that violence is in
the nature of all humans and also mentioned psychological diseases. The research data confirm this
orientation of the audience: 22.22% believed that only psychologically sick people can possibly be
influenced by on-screen violence. 5.33% considered this influence unimportant, and 38.39% of children
and teenagers think that showing on-screen violence leads to an increase in real-life violence. Such a
scattered spectrum of view points can be explained perhaps by the fact that the attitude of children and
teenagers toward media violence is not yet final, and that this is why some of them sometimes answer
differently to similar questions.

Children and teenagers who were attracted to on-screen violence no doubt wanted zero restrictions
concerning on-screen violence. 24.00% of children and teenagers wanted violence to be proscribed from
the screen and 32.44% thought that only the most cruel films and television shows should be banned.
According to the data 56% of children and teenagers wanted some kind of restriction for media violence.
There was a great disparity of opinion concerning age restrictions for watching on-screen violence
generally and age restrictions for future children.

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Assuming the role of a censor, children and teenagers considered it possible to ban on-screen
violence for all children (12.67%), to not let children under 10 watch it (33.78%), and to not let children
under 15 watch on-screen violence (33.33%).

33.78% did not want their children to watch violence until they were 10, and 33.33% did not want
their children to watch violence until they were 15. And only 10.22% of children and teenagers were ready
to let their children watch on-screen violence at any age.

From an analysis of the test one may conclude that the influence of media violence upon Russian
children and teenagers is rather significant. About half the teenagers were positive or passive about its
demonstration: they enjoyed films, television shows, and computer games containing media violence and
they admired the characters - including “bad guys”.

Some childrena and teenagers were not sure about their opinion of on-screen violence, although
they claimed to not be attracted by it. The influence of Russian schools upon the child and teenage
relationship with media violence is minimal. All this can't but evoke alarm, because since the 1980s-1990s
media violence has begun to penetrate into Russian society more and more. It can be safely said that in
Russia the Convention of Child's Rights concerning mass media is not working. There is no effective
system of ratings for watching TV, films and selling DVDs, videos or PC-games. In spite of the efforts of
some teacher-enthusiasts, the media education at schools, colleges and universities remains relatively poor.

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Russian Teachers’ Attitude towards the Problem of Media Violence*

* The author wants to acknowledge Irina Chelysheva, Ph.D., member of the Russian Association for Film
and Media Education for her help in the organization of the process of questioning the teachers.

The problem of the media violence has been gaining more and more importance during the recent
years. While many of my researches and articles were dedicated to how the violence scenes on the screen
are perceived by the young audiences, This time I was interested to learn the teachers’ attitude to this
problem. 57 secondary school teachers from Taganrog City (Russia) took part in the study. The gender and
age differentiation is shown in Chart 6.

Chart 6. The number of the teachers questioned, their age and gender

Teachers’ Ages: Number of teachers Number of teachers (%) Number of women teachersN:umber of men
teachers:
21-30 10 17,54
31-40 12 21,05 73
41-50 11 19,30 84
51-60 12 21,05 74
61-70 12 21,05 75
Total: 57 100,00 10 2
39 18

Chart 7 gives us a general idea of the teachers’ attitude towards violence in media.
If we take a look at the generic numbers, according to them, the number of teachers who get
attracted by the scenes of violence on the screen, is slightly over 10 per cent, while the number of those
who are opposed the screen violence is 7 times more - 74%.
However, the analysis of the age groups of the teachers reveals that there are twice as many
teachers who accept violence on the screen in the age group of 31-40 (25%), and accordingly, less people
who are against it (58%). In the age group of 21-30 the voices are divided evenly- 50% to 50%.

Chart 7. The teachers’ attitude toward media violence

Teachers’ Age/Gender Number of Teachers Number of Teachers Number of Teachers
( in %) who are attracted (in %) who are not (in %) whose opinion is
21-30 /total by the scenes of violence not definite
21-30 /male on the screen attracted by the scenes of
21-30 /female violence 40,00
31-40/total 10,00 66,67
21-30/male 0,00 50,00 28,57
21-30/female 14,28 33,33 16,67
41-50/total 25,00 57,14 25,00
41-50/male 25,00 58,33 12,50
41-50/female 25,00 50,00 18,18
51-60/total 0,00 62,50 25,00
51-60/male 0,00 81,82 14,28
51-60/female 0,00 75,00 16,67
8,33 85,71 20,00
20,00 75,00 14,28
0,00 60,00
85,71

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61-70/total 8,33 83,33 8,33
61-70/male 0,00 100,00 0,00
61-70/female 10,00 80,00 10,00
All age groups /Total 10,17 70,17 19,30
All age roups/male 11,11 61,11 27,78
All age groups/female 10,26 74,36 15,38

The gender analysis of the Chart 7 data shows that on the whole, women teachers are less inclined
to watching violence scenes, although in some age groups (e.g. from 21 to 30 years old) the number goes
up to 14%. So, the “pros” of the screen violence are more often to be found under the age of 40, and their
number is slightly more among men (although to my mind, the difference in 1% cannot be considered as a
significant).

According to the similar study among the children and teenagers, there were 17% of the violent
programs fans. Thus, although the teachers in general turned out to be more “peaceful” compared to their
pupils, the gap between their preferences is not that big, as it seems to some teachers. It is in fact just 7%
(17% for students and 10% for teachers).

Chart 8. Factors Attracting Teachers to the Media Violence

Teachers’ Factors Attracting Teachers to Media Violence:
Age/
Entertaining FIadcetnotrification FInafcotromr ation FaCcotmorpensa- Recreation Dynamics/ Professional dirOecuttisntganding Outstanding Special
Gender Effects
tory Factor Factor speed of acting
0,00
action 0,00
0,00
Число учителей (в процентах), указавших данные факторы: 25,00
25,00
21-30 /total 30,00 60,00 20,00 0,00 20,00 20,00 20,00 0,00 25,00
9,10
21-30/male 0,00 66,67 0,00 0,00 0,00 33,33 33,33 0,00 0,00
14,28
21-30/female 42,86 57,14 28,57 0,00 28,57 14,28 14,28 0,00 16,67
20,00
31-40/total 41,67 16,67 16,67 33,33 25,00 33,33 25,00 25,00 14,28
25,00
21-30/male 75,00 25,00 25,00 25,00 25,00 50,00 25,00 25,00 50,00
20,00
21-30/female 25,00 12,50 12,50 37,50 25,00 25,00 25,00 25,00 15,79

41-50/total 63,64 36,36 27,27 27,27 27,27 54,55 27,27 27,27 16,67

41-50/male 50,00 25,00 25,00 25,00 50,00 75,00 25,00 25,00 15,38

41-50/female 71,43 42,86 28,57 28,57 14,28 42,86 28,57 28,57

51-60/total 33,33 25,00 25,00 16,67 25,00 33,33 41,67 41,67

51-60/male 20,00 20,00 40,00 20,00 20,00 60,00 40,00 40,00

51-60/female 42,86 28,57 14,28 14,28 28,57 14,28 42,86 42,86

61-70/total 33,33 33,33 41,67 16,67 8,33 25,00 33,33 25,00

61-70/male 0,00 50,00 50,00 0,00 0,00 50,00 50,00 50,00

61-70/female 40,00 30,00 40,00 20,00 10,00 20,00 30,00 20,00

All age groups / 40,35 33,33 26,31 19,30 21,05 33,33 29,82 22,81
Total 33,33 27,78 16,67 22,22 55,55 33,33 27,78
33,33 25,64 20,51 20,51 23,08 28,20 23,08
All age groups/ 33,33
male

All age groups/ 45,59
female

These data show that the main factor that contributes to attracting the teachers to screen violence
scenes is the entertainment (40%). Other factors (Identification Factor; Information Factor; Recreation
Factor; Dynamics of Action; Professional Directing; Outstanding Acting; Special Effects) got the ratings
from 20% to 33%. Gender differences on this level of general results are not significant, the main one

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being the bigger percentage of men teachers (55%) compared to women teachers (28%) who liked
dynamics of action. There are some differentiations of opinions inside the age groups, however the small
number of teachers within one age group (10-12 people) does not allow us draw any major conclusions.

Entertainment was the leading factor in the student’s reasons for watching violence, too. Moreover,
in contradistinction to teachers, pupils did not attribute much importance to the skills of a director,
informational factor of media texts.

Anyway, both teachers and students agree on the main point - entertainment - is still the leading
factor drawing people to media violence.

Chart 9. Reasons for Resentment against the Media Violence

Teachers’ Age/Gender Motivations for not liking media violence:

Hatred toward Disgust towards Not wanting to Belief that violence Fear of violence
violence of any
kind seeing blood and experience on the screen of any kind

crippled people negative emotions increases violence in

real life

Number of Teachers in % who gave this reason:

21-30 /total 20,00 50,00 30,00 70,00 10,00
21-30/male 0,00
21-30/female 28,57 0,00 0,00 100,00 0,00
33,33
31-40/total 25,00 71,43 42,86 57,14 14,28
21-30/male 37,50
21-30/female 54,55 58,33 58,33 83,33 16,67
25,00
41-50/total 71,43 50,00 75,00 100,00 0,00
41-50/male 25,00
20,00 62,50 50,00 75,00 25,00
41-50/female 28,57
41,67 36,36 45,45 81,82 27,27
51-60/total 50,00
51-60/male 40,00 50,00 25,00 100,00 0,00
35,09
51-60/female 42,86 57,14 71,43 42,86
22,22
61-70/total 58,33 66,67 83,33 16,67
61-70/male 41,02
61-70/female 60,00 60,00 100,00 0,00

All age groups / 47,14 71,43 100,00 28,57
Total
58,33 66,67 100,00 25,00
All age groups/
male 50,00 0,00 100,00 50,00

All age groups/ 60,00 70,00 100,00 20,00
female
54,38 56,14 80,70 19,30

44,44 50,00 88,89 5,55

58,97 58,97 82,05 25,64

The analysis of the Chart 9 gives a rather clear vision of what is the most repulsive about scenes of
violence for the teachers. First of all, it’s their belief that the screen violence does effect the growth of
crimes in society (80%). After that there are such factors as the disgust at the sight of blood, gore, graphic
images of violence; unwillingness to experience disturbing emotions; fear of any kind of violence.

Maximum gender differences emerge in the question of fear of violence (25% of women and 5% of
men), and resentment of any kind of violence (41% of women and 22% of men), which corresponds to the
“braver” men’s status in any group of the people participating in the study.

Teachers from 41 to 70 are the most strongly resentful towards media violence. The same age
group is the most convinced that the screen violence has an impact on the growth of violence in real life.

The comparison of the teachers’ and students’ opinions shows that the last are more tolerable
towards screen violence. Only 21% of students (compared to 80% of teachers) think that it affects the

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violence in society. The gore disgusts 25% of the students (54% of teachers). Experiencing the unpleasant
emotions is a reason of not-watching the violent episodes for 18% of the students (56 % teachers).

The data of Table 10 tells us that generally teachers watch programs/movies with violent content in
the company of their partners/spouses (65-70%). Further on follow: watching alone (35%), with
children/grandchildren (30%), with students (21%), with parents (10%) and with strangers (3%).
Noticeably, men tend to watch violent programs by themselves twice more as women. Not a singe woman
teacher marked strangers (e.g. in a movie theatre) as companions to watch movies with violent content.

Younger teachers in the age range of 21 to 30 do not watch scenes of violence with their children
(logically considering their age) or students (0%). Elder teachers (61-70), on the contrary, are more
oriented on watching them together with their children (the latter being adults of 30-40 years old).

I’d like to remind that the similar study was made for the students of various age. Comparing their
answers with the teachers’ answers, we can notice the common grounds among these two groups: the most
desirable company for watching violent programs are friends, both for the students and for the teachers.

Chart 10. Whom do the Teachers Usually Watch Violent Content Programs with

Teachers’ The type of company with whom teachers prefer to watch on-screen violence:
Age/ Alone
Friends Girlfriend/ Parents Students Children/ Strangers
Gender
Boyfriend/ Grandchildren

Spouse

Number of Teachers in % who gave this type of company:

21-30 /total 40,00 60,00 50,00 10,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
21-30/male 66,67
21-30/female 28,57 66,67 33,33 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
25,00
31-40/total 50,00 57,14 57,14 14,28 0,00 0,00 0,00
21-30/male 12,50
21-30/female 36,36 75,00 66,67 25,00 25,00 16,67 0,00
50,00
41-50/total 28,57 100,00 50,00 25,00 50,00 25,00 0,00
41-50/male 41,67
41-50/female 60,00 62,50 75,00 25,00 12,50 12,50 0,00
28,57
51-60/total 33,33 72,73 45,45 18,18 36,36 36,36 18,18
51-60/male 50,00
51-60/female 30,00 50,00 50,00 25,00 25,00 50,00 50,00
35,09
61-70/total 85,71 42,86 14,28 42,86 28,57 0,00
61-70/male 55,55
61-70/female 58,33 75,00 0,00 16,67 33,33 16,67
25,64
All age groups / 80,00 100,00 0,00 20,00 40,00 0,00
Total
All age groups/ 42,86 47,14 0,00 28,57 42,86 0,00
male
All age groups/ 83,33 83,33 0,00 16,67 50,00 0,00
female
100,00 100,00 0,00 0,00 50,00 0,00

80,00 80,00 0,00 20,00 50,00 0,00

70,17 64,91 10,53 21,05 29,82 3,51

77,78 66,67 11,11 22,22 33,33 11,11

66,67 64,10 10,26 20,51 28,20 0,00

Further answer differ a lot. In contradistinction to teachers, students do not like to watch media
production containing violence being alone (4,9% of students vs. 35% of teachers, 7 times less). But the
most significant point is that only 4% of the students (compared to 21% of teachers) are ready to watch it
together with their teachers. Even in the age group of 7-8 year-olds, only 12% are eager to share this
experience with their teacher.

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Chart 11. Psychological Reasons for Watching Scenes of Violence on the Screen

Teachers’ Age/Gender Teachers’ motivations for watching on screen violence:

Good Mood Low Spirits To Irritate the Others Normal Mood Other Reasons

Number of Teachers in % who gave this reason:

21-30 /total 0,00 10,00 0,00 50,00 10,00
21-30/male 0,00
21-30/female 0,00 0,00 0,00 66,67 33,33
8,33
31-40/total 25,00 14,28 0,00 57,14 0,00
21-30/male 0,00
21-30/female 18,18 25,00 0,00 66,67 0,00
25,00
41-50/total 14,28 25,00 0,00 50,00 0,00
41-50/male 8,33
41-50/female 20,00 25,00 0,00 75,00 00,00
0,00
51-60/total 8,33 45,45 0,00 36,36 0,00
51-60/male 0,00
51-60/female 10,00 25,00 0,00 50,00 0,00
8,77
61-70/total 57,14 0,00 28,57 0,00
61-70/male 16,67
61-70/female 50,00 0,00 41,67 0,00
5,13
All age groups / 40,00 0,00 40,00 0,00
Total
All age groups 47,14 0,00 42,86 0,00
/male
All age groups/ 41,67 0,00 50,00 0,00
female
0,00 0,00 100,00 0,00

30,00 0,00 60,00 0,00

31,58 0,00 54,38 1,75

22,22 0,00 55,55 5,55

35,90 0,00 53,85 0,00

The analysis of data of Chart 11 shows that teachers usually watch scenes of violence in a normal
psychological state (54%). Low spirit follows with 31%, and good mood with 9%. It is worth mentioning
that the gender difference is first of all revealed in the fact that men teachers more often watch media
violence being in the good mood, while women teachers - in the bad mood.

The same tendency is seen in the students’ answers: normal mood (50%), low spirit (27%).
However, there are three times as many pupils (compared to teachers) who prefer to watch violent scenes
in a good mood (20%), that probably is not surprisingly for young people to be in a good mood overall
more frequently than for adults.

Violence on the screen does not evoke joyful feelings in a single teacher (4% of students). Most
frequent answers were “isolation” (19% of teachers and 9% of students), Then follow “depression” (17%
0f teachers and 13% of pupils), “excitement” (15% of teachers and 13% of students), aggression (3% of
teachers and 8% of students), desensitization (about 2% of teachers and 8% of students). 19% of teachers
said: «My psychological state doesn’t change”…

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Chart 12. Types of Psychological States That Occur After Watching the Violent Scenes

Teachers’ Psychological states in which teachers find themselves after watching on-screen violence:
Age/
AggressioJnoy Isolation Depression Excitement Disorder Agitation Indifference Desensitization Psychological state
Gender doesn’t change

Number of Teachers in % who gave this type of their psychological state:

21-30 /total 10,0 0,0 10,0 10,0 10,0 20,0 10,0 20,0 0,0 20,0

21-30/male 0,00 0,0 33,3 0,0 0,0 0,0 33,3 33,3 0,0 33,3

21-30/female 14,3 0,0 0,0 14,3 14,3 28,6 0,0 14,3 0,0 14,3

31-40/total 8,3 0,0 8,3 25,0 8,3 25,0 0,0 0,0 8,3 25,0

21-30/male 0,0 0,0 25,0 25,0 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0 50,0

21-30/female 0,0 0,0 12,5 25,0 12,5 25,0 0,0 0,0 12,5 12,5

41-50/total 0,0 0,0 18,2 18,2 18,2 18,2 0,0 0,0 0,0 27,8

41-50/male 0,0 0,0 25,0 25,0 25,0 25,0 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0

41-50/female 0,0 0,0 14,3 14,3 14,3 14,3 0,0 0,0 0,0 42,9

51-60/total 8,3 0,0 33,3 25,0 25,0 8,3 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0

51-60/male 20,0 0,0 40,0 20,0 20,0 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0

51-60/female 0,0 0,0 28,6 28,6 28,6 14,3 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0

61-70/total 0,0 0,0 16,7 8,3 16,7 33,3 0,0 0,0 0,0 25,0

61-70/male 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0 50,0 0,0 0,0 0,0 50,0

61-70/female 0,0 0,0 20,0 10,0 20,0 30,0 0,0 0,0 0,0 20,0

All age groups / 3,5 0,0 19,3 17,5 15,8 19,3 1,7 3,5 1,7 19,3
Total
All age groups/ 5,5 0,0 27,8 16,7 11,1 11,1 5,5 5,5 0,0 22,2
male
All age groups/ 2,6 0,0 15,4 17,9 17,9 23,1 0,0 2,6 2,6 17,9
female

In other words, almost 3 times more of the questioned students that the teachers confessed the rise
of aggressiveness, and 4 times more - the desensitization reaction. Although the reaction of isolation and
unaffected psychological state is twice less frequent among the students. Thus, the students are more apt to
changes in emotional state in response to screen violence.

It is worth noticing that men teachers reported their likeliness to feel an aggressive mood or
indifference more often that women, while women teachers were most inclined to feel sad or agitated.

Chart 13. The Teachers’ Reflection on the Scenes of Media Violence

Teachers’ On-screen violence On-screen violence On-screen violence are
Age/ are forgotten immediately are remembered for remembered for a long
a short time only time
Gender

21-30 /total 20,00 Number of Teachers in % who gave this variant: 40,00
21-30/male 33,33 40,00 0,00
21-30/female 14,28 66,67 57,14
31-40/total 16,67 28,57 41,67
21-30/male 25,00 41,67 25,00
21-30/female 12,50 50,00 50,00
41-50/total 27,27 37,50 36,36
36,36

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41-50/male 25,00 25,00 50,00
28,57 42,86 28,57
41-50/female 8,33 33,33 58,33
20,00 40,00 40,00
51-60/total 0,00 28,57 71,43
8,33 41,67 50,00
51-60/male 0,00 50,00 50,00
10,00 40,00 50,00
51-60/female 15,79 38,60 45,61

61-70/total 22,22 44,44 33,33

61-70/male 12,82 35,90 51,28

61-70/female

All age groups /
Total
All age groups/
male
All age groups/
female

As we can see from the Chart 13, almost half of the teachers remember the violent scenes for a
long time, and only 16% (men twice as many as women) forget them right after the program’s over.

There is a striking similarity in the answers of teachers and students here. 54% of students
remember screen violence for a long term period, and only 16% are able to forget them soon. The
difference between boys/girls and men/women answers are similar, too.

Chart 14. The Attitude of Teachers Towards Talking about Scenes of Violence on the Screen

Teachers’ On-screen violence is never On-screen violence is discussed On-screen violence is
Age/
discussed sometimes discussed regularly
Gender
21-30 /total Number of Teachers in % who gave this variant:
21-30/male
21-30/female 20,00 80,00 0,00

31-40/total 0,00 100,00 0,00
21-30/male
28,57 71,43 0,00
21-30/female
8,33 50,00 41,67
41-50/total
41-50/male 0,00 50,00 50,00

41-50/female 12,50 50,00 37,50

51-60/total 27,27 54,54 18,18
51-60/male
51-60/female 25,00 50,00 25,00

61-70/total 28,57 57,14 14,28
61-70/male
61-70/female 0,00 58,33 41,67

All age groups / 0,00 80,00 20,00
Total
All age groups/ 0,00 42,86 57,14
male
All age groups/ 16,67 66,67 16,67
female
0,00 100,00 0,00

20,00 60,00 20,00

14,03 61,40 24,56

5,55 72,22 22,22

17,95 56,41 25,64

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These results led us to the following conclusion: 1) the time duration of the violent images
lingering in one’s mind is determined by gender, not by the age; 2) almost half of the surveyed teachers
and students remember the scenes of violence they’ve seen on the screen for a long time and only 16% of
both of the groups do not remember them afterwards.

Only 14% of the teachers never talk about the violent scenes they have seen (women outnumber
men by 3 times here). And the quarter of the surveyed teachers discuss these episodes regularly. The age
range of teachers who are most likely to discuss the screen violence (42%) are 31-40 and 51-60. Less
likely - 21-30 years old.

Thus in general teachers talk about the screen violence much less frequently than their students
(25% of teachers vs. 46% of students). Moreover, in comparison with the students, the number of teachers
who totally ignore the issue is twice more.

Chart 15. Most Frequent Interlocutors of the Teachers when Discussing the Media Violence

Teachers’ The type of company with whom teachers prefer to discuss media violence:
Age/
Friends/ Parents Students Children/ Strangers
Gender Spouses
Grandchildren
21-30 /total
21-30/male Number of Teachers in % who gave this type of company:
21-30/female
31-40/total 70,00 20,00 20,00 0,00 0,00
21-30/male
21-30/female 100,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
41-50/total
41-50/male 57,14 28,57 28,57 0,00 0,00
41-50/female
51-60/total 91,67 33,33 50,00 33,33 8,33
51-60/male
51-60/female 100,00 25,00 50,00 25,00 0,00
61-70/total
61-70/male 87,50 37,50 50,00 37,50 12,50
61-70/female
All age groups / 72,73 27,27 54,54 45,45 27,27
Total
All age groups/ 75,00 50,00 50,00 50,00 25,00
male
All age groups/ 71,43 14,28 57,14 42,86 28,57
female
41,67 0,00 25,00 66,67 16,67

60,00 0,00 40,00 80,00 40,00

28,57 0,00 14,28 57,14 0,00

58,33 0,00 33,33 66,67 16,67

100,00 0,00 50,00 100,00 0,00

50,00 0,00 30,00 60,00 20,00

66,67 15,79 36,84 43,86 14,03

83,33 16,67 38,89 50,00 16,67

58,97 15,38 35,90 41,02 12,82

Comparative analysis state that on the whole teachers prefer to watch and discuss scenes of
violence in the company of their spouses or friends (65 to 70%). In descending order follow the
children/grandchildren as the possible interlocutors (30% - to watch together, and 44% to talk about it
afterwards), students (21% for watching, 37 % for discussion), parents (10% for watching and 16 for
discussion) and strangers (3% for watching and 14 for discussion).

There are 30% more men than women who are eager to discuss the screen violence with their
spouses or friends.

Teachers between the age of 31 and 50 are more likely to discuss this issue with their students, and
those between the age of 51 and 70 - with their children/grandchildren.

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Comparing the answers of the pupils and the teachers, we can note the evident similarity in the
leading type of the company for the discussion of scenes of violence on the screen – friends (57% of
pupils). While only 12% of the pupils are eager to discuss them with their teachers…

In the teachers’ opinion, main reasons for the aggression and violence in society are the
psychopathologies (35% - 27% of women and 38% of men) and “screen violence” (35%). 23% (men
outnumber women by 7% here) prone to think that the main reason is the material inequality of people.
And only 12% (3 times more men than women) say that violence is in human nature.

I would like to point out that according to the students’ survey, psychopathologies are the main
reason for violence, too (37%). There were 28% (less than the teachers by 8%) of those who blamed
violence in media. However students who thought that it’s in human nature outnumber the teachers by 7%.

Agreeing on the main reason for violence in society being the psychopathologies (which is to my
mind rather exaggerated), teachers and pupils disagree on the other issues. Teachers pay more attention to
the material factor. Their concern about the spread of violence on the screen is also greater.

70% of the teachers that took part in the survey believe that violence on the screen does lead to the
increase of crimes in society. Only 10% (men teachers under 40 mostly) think that media violence
influences the crime rate to a small degree, and 16% (more women than men, and more teachers under 30)
think that it impacts just the increase of crimes by mentally sick people. 3% deny any affect of screen
violence ( twice as much men as women). Not a single teacher said that violence on the screen makes
audience be disgusted at violence.

Chart 16. Teachers’ Opinions about the Reasons of Violence and Aggression in Society

Teachers’ Teachers’ opinions about the reasons for violence and aggressions in society:
Age/
Psychological deviaMntesdia violence Inherent to the Material Other reason
Gender human nature inequality
0,00
21-30 /total Number of Teachers in % who gave this reason: 0,00
21-30/male 0,00
21-30/female 70,00 20,00 10,00 0,00 00,00
31-40/total 0,00
21-30/male 66,67 0,00 33,33 0,00 0,00
21-30/female 0,00
41-50/total 71,43 28,57 0,00 0,00 0,00
41-50/male 0,00
41-50/female 41,67 33,33 25,00 16,67 0,00
51-60/total 0,00
51-60/male 25,00 25,00 25,00 25,00 0,00
51-60/female 0,00
61-70/total 50,00 37,50 25,00 12,50 0,00
61-70/male 0,00
61-70/female 27,27 36,36 18,18 18,18 0,00
All age groups /
Total 25,00 50,00 25,00 0,00
All age groups/
male 28,57 28,57 14,28 28,57
All age groups/
female 25,00 41,67 8,33 41,67

20,00 40,00 20,00 60,00

28,57 42,86 0,00 28,57

25,00 41,67 0,00 33,33

0,00 50,00 0,00 50,00

30,00 40,00 0,00 30,00

35,09 35,09 12,28 22,81

27,78 33,33 22,22 27,78 0,00

38,46 35,90 7,69 20,51 0,00

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The majority of students also believed that media violence leads to the increase of violence in
society (though comparing to teachers, there were twice as less students). 22% of pupils are sure that
screen violence affects crime rate to a minimum. But the most serious difference in opinions provoked the
question about the reverse effect of the screen violence. 11% of students think that it does make people
disgust any violence, though there were no teachers who agree on that.

The conclusion is that, with the dominating opinion among both students and teachers that screen
violence increases real violence in society, there are twice as many teachers than students who believe that.

The analysis of Chart 18 shows that the majority of teachers (38% without significant differences
by gender) think that only the most violent programs should be banned. 24% of the teachers (twice more
women than men) oppose any violence on the screen. The same number of people does not oppose
violence on the screen but on condition that children could get no access to it. 10% (men under 50 mostly)
suggest that violent movies/programs should appear after midnight only and for adults only. Just 2% of the
teachers (men from 31 to 40) say that things should not be changed. And nobody agreed to the thesis that it
would be all right even if the amount of violence on the screen increased.

As for the students, majority of them also thought that only the most violent programs, films,
computer games should be prohibited/ censored. Their opinion almost coincides with the teachers’ in
percentage (32% of pupils and 38% of teachers). The number of the advocates of the total prohibition of
screen violence (24%), and those who think it may be shown late at night only, is also about the same as
within the teachers’ group. However there is 8% less of students who think it would be better to isolate
children from the screen violence. But the greatest difference is that there are 5 times more students who
believe things can remain as they are, and what is even more striking- almost every tenth pupil think that it
will not hurt to have more violence on the Russian screen.

It is obvious from the data that no one wishes his or her children/grandchildren to see violence
from birth. Moreover, 30% would like to forbid their children to watch this kind of production at all. At
the same time many teachers agree to let their children watch violent scenes from the age of 18, 15, and
10. Older the teachers are, more strict they become about age restrictions. The students were more liberal
in this question (concerning their future children). Thus, there were 12% of those who would prohibit for
their future children to see violence, and 10% of those who would let see it from an early age.

Chart 17. Teachers’ Opinion about the Influence of the Scenes of Media Violence and the Increase of
Crime in Society

Teachers’ The type of teachers’ opinions:
Age/
Media violence undoubtedly
Gender leads to an increase in crime
Media violence leads to
a small an increase in crime
Media violence does not lead
to an increase in crime
because crimes existed
before the invention of
cinema and television
Media violence leads to an
increase in crime among
those with psychotic
behavior
Media violence does not lead
to an increase in crime
because it disgusts people

Number of teachers in % who gave this reason:

21-30 /total 50,00 20,00 0,00 40,00 0,00
21-30/male 33,33 33,33
21-30/female 57,14 14,28 0,00 33,33 0,00
31-40/total 58,33 16,67
21-30/male 50,00 25,00 0,00 28,57 0,00

16,67 8,33 0,00

25,00 0,00 0,00

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21-30/female 62,50 12,50 12,50 12,50 0,00
81,82 9,10 0,00 9,10 0,00
41-50/total 100,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
41-50/male 71,43 14,28 0,00 14,28 0,00
75,00 8,33 0,00 16.67 0,00
41-50/female 60,00 20,00 0,00 20,00 0,00
85,71 0,00 00,00 14,28 0,00
51-60/total 83,33 0,00 0,00 16,67 0,00
51-60/male 100,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
80,00 0,00 0,00 20,00 0,00
51-60/female 70,17 10,53 3,51 15,79 0,00

61-70/total 66,67 16,67 5,55 11,11 0,00
61-70/male
61-70/female 71,79 7,69 2,56 17,95 0,00

All age groups /
Total
All age groups/
male
All age groups/
female

Chart 18. Teachers’ Attitude towards the Problem of Prohibition of Media Violence

Teachers’ Teachers’ attitude towards prohibition of media violence:
Age/
Media violence should be
Gender proscribed because it make
people aggressive
The current levels of on-media
violence are acceptable
Only the most violent scenes
should be proscribed
There may be violent scenes on
the screen, but inaccessible for
children
There may be violent scenes on
the screen but only for adults
and after midnight
Further media violence won’t
do any harm
Other opinion

Number of Teachers in % who gave this variant:

21-30 /total 20,00 0,00 50,00 0,00 30,00 0,00 0,00
21-30/male 0,00 0,00 0,00
21-30/female 28,57 0,00 33,33 0,00 66,67 0,00 0,00
31-40/total 8,33 8,33 0,00
21-30/male 0,00 25,00 57,14 0,00 14,28 0,00 0,00
21-30/female 12,50 0,00 0,00
41-50/total 18,18 0,00 41,67 25,00 16,67 0,00 0,00
41-50/male 0,00 0,00 0,00
41-50/female 28,57 0,00 50,00 25,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
51-60/total 25,00 0,00 0,00
51-60/male 20,00 0,00 37,50 25,00 25,00 0,00 0,00
51-60/female 28,57 0,00 0,00
61-70/total 50,00 0,00 45,45 27,27 9,10 0,00 0,00
61-70/male 100,00 0,00 0,00
61-70/female 40,00 0,00 50,00 25,00 25,00 0,00 0,00
All age groups /Total 24,56 1,75 0,00
All age groups/male 16,67 5,55 42,86 28,57 0,00 0,00 0,00
All age groups/female 28,20 0,00 0,00
41,67 33,33 0,00 0,00

40,00 40,00 0,00 0,00

42,86 28,57 0,00 0,00

16,67 33,33 0,00 0,00

0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00

20,00 40,00 0,00 0,00

38,60 24,56 10,53 0,00

38,89 22,22 22,22 0,00

38,46 25,64 7,69 0,00

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Chart 19. Age that Teachers Find it Appropriate for their Children/ Grandchildren to Watch Programs
with Violent Scenes

Teachers’ The types of teachers’ opinions:
Age/
From birth From the age From the From the age Forbid a child to watch violence
Gender of 10 age of 15 of 18 no matter how old he/she is

Number of Teachers in % who gave this variant:

21-30 /total 0,00 30,00 10,00 20,00 40,00
21-30/male 0,00 0,00
21-30/female 0,00 42,86 0,00 33,33 66,67
0,00 25,00
31-40/total 0,00 25,00 14,28 14,28 28,57
21-30/male 0,00 25,00
21-30/female 0,00 27,27 41,67 25,00 8,33
0,00 50,00
41-50/total 0,00 14,28 25,00 50,00 0,00
41-50/male 0,00 0,00
41-50/female 0,00 0,00 50,00 12,50 12,50
0,00 0,00
51-60/total 0,00 0,00 45,45 27,27 0,00
51-60/male 0,00 0,00
51-60/female 0,00 0,00 25,00 25,00 0,00
0,00 15,79
61-70/total 57,14 28,57 0,00
61-70/male 0,00 16,67
61-70/female 25,00 41,67 33,33
0,00 15,38
All age groups / 20,00 40,00 40,00
Total
All age groups/ 28,57 42,86 28,57
male
All age groups/ 0,00 50,00 50,00
female
0,00 50,00 50,00

0,00 50,00 50,00

24,56 33,33 29,82

16,67 38,89 27,78

28,20 30,77 30,77

So in conclusion, let’s summarize the findings:
- students are more tolerant on the whole than the teachers to media violence (men outnumber
women);
- entertainment is the leading factor attracting audiences to violent scenes in both groups;
- watching violent programs in a good mood is typical for students three times oftener than for
teachers;
- both students and teachers are most likely to watch and discuss violent scenes together with
friends;
- students do not like to watch violent programs alone;
- 1 in 5 teachers is eager to watch violent content media with their students, 1 in 3 teachers is ready
to discuss it with the students;
- on average, 1 in 10 students would like to share this activity with the teacher;
- students talk about violence on the screen twice as much as teachers;
- 3 times more students than the teachers reported that their aggressiveness increases after the
violence seen on the screen;
- images of the screen violence linger in girls’/women’ mind longer than in boys’/ men’;
- about half of the respondents reported that they remember scenes of violence for a long time;

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- both the majority of students and teachers tend to believe that media violence affects the increase
of crimes in society;

- one third of teachers and students agree that the most violent media texts should be banned;
- quarter of teachers and students think it is necessary to prohibit all violence on the screen;
- 5 times more students (vs. teachers) think things should remain like they are now, and 1 in 10

pupils consider that even more violence can be shown.

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Computer/Video Games: Media Violence and Russian Teenager Audience

Based on unpublished research of J.L.Sherry, L.Bensley & J.Van Eenwyk (Bensley, Van Eenwyk,
2000, p.4) created the conclusion about the main video games/children theories:

- “First, psychological social learning theory suggest that at least some aggression is learned by
observing and then imitating a model who acts aggressively. Aggressive video game characters, similar to
TV characters, might serve as models for aggressive behavior. (…) according to this theory, observing and
then producing violence in a video game would be expected to increase aggression.

- Second, an arousal theory predicts that if the video game player has an aggressive disposition or is
angered, then playing an arousing video game might cause increased aggression due to a generalized
increase in energy and intensity. According to this theory, violent video games would be expected to
increase aggression only in the presence of anger from some other cause.

- Third, a cognitive theory of priming suggests that violent video games will activate related
cognitive structures, making it more likely that other incoming information would be processed in an
“aggression” framework, possibly increasing aggressive behavior. For example, according to this theory,
someone for whom thoughts of aggression have been evoked might be more likely to interpret an
ambiguous behavior as aggressive and respond accordingly.

- Fourth, catharsis theory suggest that violent video games can provide a safe outlet for aggressive
thoughts and feelings. Fifth, drive-reduction theory suggest, similar to catharsis theory, that violent video
games may be useful in managing aggression. According to this theory, highly stressed or frustrated
individuals may play violent video games in order to re-establish emotional equilibrium, thus reducing
“real-life” aggressive behavior.

Integrative model based on the notion that a combination of priming and arousal effect best account
for greater aggression effects in the short term, which weaken as initial arousal wears off”.

Videoand computer games are relatively recent invention, being first introduced in the 1970s. But
in a 1996 survey of teenagers, 68% of boys and 30% of girls included “playing video games” among their
non-school activities (…) both boys and girls favor games with violent content, with boys preferring
games involving human violence, and girls prefeting fantasy or cartoon violence” (Bensley, Van Eenwyk,
2000, p.3). We can find the same conclusion in the work of E.F.Provenzo (Provenzo, 1991): 40 of 47 most
popular video games in 1988 included violence as a major theme.

The research of American scientists “established that for pre-school and early elementary school
aged children, playing video games that have aggressive themes leads to increased aggression or
aggressive play during free play immediately following the video game. We did not find consistent
evidence that video games increased aggressive behaviors of teenagers or young adults” (Bensley, L., Van
Eenwyk, J., 2000, p.27). However I agree with J.Goldstein – some “players who like video games with
action/adventure or martial-arts themes, for example, are not necessarily attracted by the violence. These
games have other features that appeal to players – their engaging fantasy, challenge, and simulation,
scorekeeping, feedback, graphics, and sound effects” (Goldstein, 1998, p.213).

J.Goldstein (Goldstein, 1998, p.61) presents the reasons for play with war/violence toys:
Biological/Physiological (to discharge energy; to achieve a desired level of arousal/simulation/excitement;
”hard-wired” tendency to practice adult skills and roles); Psychological ( to engage in fantasy/imaginative
play; to experience “flow”; in response to priming/salience of violence; to come to terms with violence,
war, death; to achieve a desired emotional state; to experience and express intense emotions; to see justice
enacted; to control and resolve conflict satisfactorily; to practice strategic planning; to set goals and
determine effective means for accomplishing them; to gain a sense of mastery; to experience intimacy;
Social/Cultural (direct modeling by peers or family; indirect modeling: influences of media, marketing; to
belong to a group; to exclude oneself from a (negative reference) group (e.g. parents, girls, boys who
disapprove of these games); rewards and encouragement for such play; salience within a culture of war,

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violence; to wield power; to affect others; to elicit a predictable reaction from parents/teachers; to sample a
variety of adult roles; as a reflection of cultural values – dominance, aggression, and assertion.

Of course all these tendencies are very typical and for Russian children audience.
20 years ago, Russian children spent much of their time with VCRs. They watched American
blockbusters from pirated videocassettes of terrible quality. But now there are no deficit American films
and good technical quality DVD in modern Russia. The different television channels show from morning
to night show dozens of foreign thrillers, melodramas, comedies and horrors. Today, Russian children
from low-paid families spend many hours in computer clubs, where they play video games for a relatively
small charge. Children from richer families play these games at home.
But what games do they play?
I undertook a special content analysis of 87 video games which circulate in Russian computer
clubs in Taganrog City (Russia). These are the results of the analysis:
1) practically all video games available for visitors to computer clubs (the visitors are nearly all
teenagers) contain interactive criminal, military, fantastic and sporting (for instance, car races) subjects;
2) only 17.24% (15 of 87) of video games did not contain any scenes of violence;
3) 55.17% (48 of 87) of video games contained episodes of various murders (Doom, Young Blood,
Final Doom and others);
4) 39.08% (34 of 87) of video games contained many elements of fights and different degrees of
cruelty (Kensei, Hercules and others);
5) 35.63% (31 of 87) of video games included images of catastrophes (X-COM, Resident Evil 1 and
others);
6) As a whole, 82.75% (72 of 87) of video games contained at least one type of screen violence
(murders, fights, or catastrophes). Many games presented the violence in several types and combinations
of fights, murders, tortures, catastrophes, etc.;
7) The primitive video games (“shoot”-“fire”) are the basic repertoire of computer clubs. The more
complex games - so-called “strategies” and “quests” - are less common.
Next, I organized the questionnaires for the 76 visitors to Taganrog’s computer - schoolboys aged
from 7 to 17 years old. The results confirmed my preliminary observation that vast majority of visitors are
boys (73 persons). The amount of schoolgirls playing video games in computer clubs was only 3.94% (3
persons). However, the girls’ video game preferences did not differ from the boys’ preferences.

Chart 20. The age range of schoolchildren who play video games in the computer clubs

№ Age of computer/ Number of Percent of

video game users schoolchildren Schoolchildren

of this age of this age

1 17 years 3 3.94%

2 16 years 8 10.52%

3 15 years 10 13.15%

4 14 years 10 13.15%

5 13 years 11 14.47%

6 12 years 10 13.15%

7 11 years 6 7.89%

8 10 years 9 11.84%

9 9 years 4 5.26%

10 8 years 4 5.26%

11 7 years 1 1.31%

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An analysis of Chart 20 shows that the teenagers from 12 to 15 years of age are the main visitors to
computer clubs. The younger children (from 7 to 9 years of age), usually living under more parental
supervision, form the minority (from 1 to 5 percent). Practically all visitors to computer clubs play games
containing scenes of violence (83%).

Chart 21. Themes of video games attractive to schoolchildren

№ Age of video game Number of schoolchildren Nthuismber of popular video Number of popular video games

1 users: age and percent games containing not containing without
2
3 schoolchildren this age: elements of violence: elements of violence:
4
5 17 years 3 (3.94%) 5 3
6
7 16 years 8 (10.52%) 11 8
8
9 15 years 10 (13.15%) 13 11
10
11 14 years 10 (13.15%) 16 6
Total:
13 years 11 (14.47%) 17 10

12 years 10 (13.15%) 14 7

11 years 6 (7.89%) 10 3

10 years 9 (11.84%) 14 9

9 years 4 (5.26%) 7 4

8 years 4 (5.26%) 4 4

7 years 1 (1.31%) 2 1

76 113 66

An analysis of Chart 21 shows that the number of popular video games containing elements of
violence, is higher than the number of the video games not containing elements of violence in all age
groups. Moreover, children from 11 to 14 years of age prefer video games with murders, fights and other
hard elements of violence (Doom, Final Doom, Resident Evil, and Mortal Kombat).
Undoubtedly, the problem of violent computer games’ influence on shaping teenage consciousness can be
not considered simple. To play violent video games and to understand real-life violence are quite
different.

References

 Bensley, L., Van Eenwyk, J. (2000). Video Games and Real-Life Aggression: A Review of the Literature. Olimpia,
WA, 47 pp.

 Provenzo, E.F. (1991). Video Kids. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Renewing the Mind of the Media
(1998). Washington D.C.: United State Catholic Conference, 36 pp.

 Goldstein, J. (Ed.) (1998). Why We Watch: The Attractions of Violent Entertainment. N.Y., Oxford University Press,
270 pp.

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Electronic & Digital Media & Russian Children: The Problem of Law Regulation

In March, 2001 Russian Ministry of Culture has published “The Guidance on Age Classification of
Audiovisual Products” (The Guidance, p.2-3) in which main principles of regulation, demonstration and
distribution of audiovisual products have been designated.

The Russian agencies and distributors of audiovisual media texts must use the following age ratings
system:

 For general audience (audiovisual media text does not contain violence and cruelty, profanity and
expressions offending morals);

 Parental guidance for children under 12 years (parents can consider some audiovisual materials
improper for children; media text may contain profanity, mild violence without demonstration of
bloodshed, the brief image of accidents, naked bodies, mild scenes of mysticism and horror);

 No children under16 years (audiovisual media text may include a verbal mention or the evident
image of suicides, death, crimes, violence, cruelty, mild sex, drug addiction, alcoholism and other
"adult" plots, strong language;

 No audience under 18 years (media texts for adult audience only; the obvious and realistic image
of violence, drug addiction, alcoholism, sex, coarse language).

By the opinion of Russian Ministry of Culture, the given classification is intended “to protect
children and teenagers from audiovisual products that can harm their health, emotional and intellectual
development, and to respect the opinion of an adult audience disturbed by cruelty and violence and its
influence on society members against their will” (The Guidance, p.2).

The general principles of application of the given document include full freedom of choice and
media viewing for an adult audience under the condition of sufficient protection of children and teenagers,
and also prohibition of products promoting “war, violence and cruelty, racial, national, religious, class and
other exclusiveness, pornography – according to the article 29 of the Constitution of the Russian
Federation and article 31 of Bases of the Legislation of the Russian Federation about Culture” (The
Guidance, p.2). For example, “The Guidance on Age Classification of Audiovisual Products” (The
Guidance, p.3). forbids public distribution and demonstration of scenes of:

 sexual violence over children;
 unjustified details of a sadism and excessive violence and cruelty, especially concerning children

and animals, episodes of a partition of victims, tortures, murder in especially fanatic ways; with
close-ups of tormented people and animals;
 violence over corpses;
 methods of manufacturing and application of weapons and devices for tortures;
 glorifying chauvinism and national exclusiveness, the racism, propagandizing wars and conflicts,
appeals for the violent overthrow of existing political regime;
 pornographic contents, namely – naturalistic detailed fixing of stages of the sexual acts and the
graphic demonstration of naked genitals during sexual contact only for excitation of sexual
instincts of spectators outside of any art or educational purpose; the naturalistic image of group
sexual actions;
 containing the detailed instructions or encouragements to a crime and violence, and drug abuse.
Apparently, many definitions of the quoted document are rather dim, indistinct, that in practice
complicates the specific classification of media texts and legal regulation in the media sphere. However
worst of all, the requirements of the given document are simply not executed in practice in the majority of
Russian regions. The prospering piracy market of audiovisual production makes it possible for a child or a
minor teenager to buy or rent a videocassette, computer game, DVD, Video CD with an “adult” age rating.
Moreover, media texts, not intended for children's audience media texts, are shown on many Russian TV
channels in a day time and early evening without any restrictions.

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