Discuss this statement referring to video nasties and the impacts of technological, social, political contexts of the early and mid 80's
To an extent there is reason to why this statement is true. Morally films then did have to be censored to protect the younger audiences of 12-16 year olds who are the main viewers of these films, although the films were banned and illegal to have, it didn't stop people of young ages to get a hold of them. All that made this happen was the release of the home video (VHS). Distributors of these films were people who own sweet shops to get the youth to buy a film even though they know it was illegal. The Government couldn't do much to stop this because know matter how much they tried to stop and censor most video nasties, there was always a way for people to get the video nasties and sell them all. This became such a big problem that Government forces raided these shops, but this was still all in good natural for the upper class end of the filming and political viewers to protect the littler working and middle class citizens. With the conservatives and also Mary Whitehouse, they had the intent that it was there job to protect all of society from the inimitable behaviours in some films. Conservatives also did this to try and cover up the economic aspect and cover up the moral decline.
Government with all there power and authority cannot censor out all the video nasties due to the new technologies that were just coming up at that time. VHS made all this possible by making films cheaper for families to get films and also have a bigger verity of choses because they can get any film they want. In 1984 there was the release of the Video Recordings Act 1984 (VRA) which was promoted to try and censorship video nasties by putting them though some test and evaluate if they are deemed illegal for the public to watch or if they were to violent, gory or inimitable if the youth got a hold of this. A film that was a big influence for this act to start up was Evil Dead. This was an act placed in by Government to try and protect the society but this was only put in place after they were pressured by pressure groups to try and censor off the video nasties. Even with this act still in placed, it didn't stop people from getting the films and watching and sharing. Everyone done it for the thrill and experience of watching a film that was banned in the country. And this was all due to the technological evolution.
This all seemed to be creating moral panic within the Government, mainly the conservative side, which Mary Whitehouse and Margret Thatcher both used there power to try and protect society because they thought it was there moral right to do so. Both woman wanted video nasties to be banned from all television but deep down they knew know matter how much they tried, that due to new release of technology, wiping out the whole country of video nasties was a figment that they would never reach. But none the less they both were fighting and Thatcher was complaining that the video nasties was a threat to the society they lived in, but by the way that they have been doing this, more and more video nasties were being produced because all the stir and in a way, marketing, it is making people want to buy and watch them more because it was the thing that was wrong and it became a trend for people to go and watch it. The media was also further forced against this by Whitehouse who was backing her conservative party and she was reenforcing the family aspect of the video nasties. And although Mary Whitehouse and Margret Thatcher were against all of video nasties, they had never themselves watched a video nasty.
Now in this time there was the factor of the VHS just being released for the public, this enabled anyone and everyone to view what they wanted, when they wanted, even younger people. Even with the fight to censor all video nasties, with this released of VHS it basically became impossible to stop people from watching it. Plus if you tell someone you can't watch something, there more likely to go out of there way to watch it. The effect censorship would of made would be to stop the youth audiences from being exposed to graphic gore and psychological effects that it could lead, an example of this what be 'I Spit on Your Grave'. Now because of VHS, the media then started to get involved to try and maybe stop people from buying one so that they can protect the younger audiences that shouldn't be watching them in the first place. But with the way that they did it, it started to create a moral panic. This then got the public all worked up and started to believe that all video nasties were evil, but by this it was then giving the Government all evidence needed to ban all video nasties and this then gave the Government more power than they already have so they can control watch people watch. But still no matter how much they tried, the power of piracy through VHS prevented Government from having complete control over what everyone watched.
Overall you could agree to the statement, because of newer technology, the VHS, it has motivated the Government to try and censor films to protect the younger ages. And also not just from younger ages, because of the inimitable behaviour that you find in video nasties, you would have to try and keep them away from the mental challenged who could try to inimitate scenes from the films. But you could also have a disagreement to this by say you could just let people decide for themselves if they want to watch it or not, give people the free will to judge a film themselves. Why go along with what the Government and Mary Whitehouse think when they haven't even watched the video nasties themselves.
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