TV? Or Cult? My take on Cultivation Theory

Cultivation Theory is a social theory developed by George Gerbner and Larry Gross, which examined the long-term effects of television on American audiences of all ages. The purpose and reason behind this theory was to identify and track the cultivated effects of television on its viewers. The motivation behind this theory arose due to the concern of the effects of television programming, violence in particular, on the attitudes and behaviors of audiences.

            Cultivation Analysis plays on this theory and asses the various aspects of how the media has come to play a major role in society. The overall concern behind Cultivation Theory and Analysis is that violence on TV will: frighten, shock and disturb the public, forcing them into a state of anxiety and nervousness about reality. Confuse, fool and motivated people to do stupid things because they saw it done on television. And/Or motivate audience members to be more violent and hostile towards the world.

            Cultivation Theory in many respects has observed many effects that TV has had its followers. For one, TV has shaped the attitudes of many people into frightful, scared and anxious perceptions of reality. I have bared witness to this effect first hand: My mom is a catastrophist when it comes to the safety of her children. I know this is out of love, and ‘they’ say that it’s better to be loved too much than never at all, but my mom relays everything she sees on the news to my siblings and me. If there is sex offender that has been caught she will freak out because she interprets the news report as saying, “We caught another one, but don’t leave your house because the are millions upon millions of sex offenders and rapists out there.” One could only sympathize for someone who reads so much into the news. And besides my mom, I know that there are plenty of people out there who are like this, maybe a little less severe, maybe more, but the point is, this is a result of the effects of the television, and reinforcement for the cultivation theory. Another good example of this is America’s reaction to Orson Well’s reproduction of War of the Worlds in 1938.

            If you are not familiar with this incident, well it is hilarious. Orson Welles, an actor/filmmaker in the early ages of film, went on the radio in 1938 and read H.G. Wells’ “War of the Worlds.” People listening to the radio paniced, they didn’t understand that it was just an act and they thought aliens had come down from space and were attaching the United States. Classic!

Another effect that television has television (radio, the web, ect.) has on the public

observed by cultivation theory is that of desensitization. This describes the concept that

once viewers are exposed to shocking, vial and violent content, the shock factor and

sense of urgency looses its effect. By seeing death and violence and risky behavior so

often in television programs, it has little affect on our consciousness when we see the ‘real life’ violence of war and such on the news. Also, violence and crime are so prevalent on the news that viewers have more or less run out of ways to really react to it (except people like my mom). 50 years ago, when they first televised to Vietnam War, people were able to watch the horror from the comfort of their own couches for the first time. This had a strong effect on the audience and led to protests and fed the heads of the counterculture of the mid to late 1960’s.

            One other aspect of the cultivation theory is the influence of violence and violent behavior on susceptible minds. It has not been proven that violence on television and in movies and video games leads to violence amongst audience members, but this fact is believed to be true amongst many people. In my opinion, this is a false claim and is borderline ridiculous. Here is why: long before television and violent video games, American slaughtered millions of Indians, enslaved thousands of Africans, and killed hundreds of thousands of themselves during the Civil War. Violence is innate are programmed into our brains as a tool for survival while we were evolving into what we are. What television does is allow us to channel this predisposed gene more creatively.

            The Cultivation Theory is remarkable interesting and I believe that it will evolve to adapt the effects of not only exposure to television, but also all forms of media and evolving technology.