Restriction: Good vs. Bad

In Lecture 28, the idea of the FCC restricting certain materials to "Safe Harbor Hours" is one that seems as though it would be beneficial and useful.  It is obvious that porn should not be shown on T.V. during the daytime hours but have the restictions that the FCC has placed on T.V. shows too tough?  Are they censoring something that is worth the viewers' time and mental well-being for a moment while a message is being delivered in the meantime?  The changing standards  that the FCC provide for T.V. has had both a negative and positive impact on society as a whole.

It is no wonder why the FCC jumped on Janet Jackson and the incident that she pulled at the Superbowl in 2004.   Her "wardrobe malfunction" lead to an array of news reports of the obscenity line that she had crossed and the massive amounts of displeased viewers who were watching the half-time show with thier kids.  The laws and regulations that the FCC create for T.V. are meant to protect younger viewers from being exposed to the inapporiate materials.  For this, the limits are fair and provide parents with the ease of knowing that the chances that their children are watching porn during the day are slim to none.  However, what happens when those regulations go too far and take away from shows and movies whose message to viewers is the result of violent/obscene viewing?

Although one can see the positive aspects that the FCC has created for our society, the negative results often go unseen and are not agrued.  It was mentioned in Lecture 28, that the FCC put a regulation on movies such as "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan".  These are both historical movies and the fact that they are both motified for T.V. viewing because some of the scenes are gruesome shows that the historical message the director sought to get across is not going to be given to the viewers.  These movies are both good examples of how movies can portray history well and that not everything in life is based on floweres and rainbows.

Although I think that the FCC was right when they created the parental guide viewing system, some of the movies/shows that they rated suffered greatly when their main points were removed or cut-out for T.V. viewing.  Either show the entire movie or don't.  It's not fair to the viewer who is trying to learn something when watching a historical movie based on a tragedy if they are only able to see part of it and not completely get the full effect that the director wanted.   These ratings provide society with both positive and negative aspects and should be re-evaluated with depending on the genre of the movie that is being altered.

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