The Hypodermic Model
The Hypordermic Model is a very popular theory from years ago, it mainly refers to people who fear the effects of the media. The Hypodermic Model derived from what is called "The Frankfur School", a school in Germany. A group of German Marxists witnessed how Hitler used advertising and propaganda to influence a nation behind the Nazi Party, this was during the 1930s.
This theory argues media is alike to a syringe. It suggest when a specific audience are targeted with ideas, attitudes and beliefs they are immediately knocked down with these influences. For example, you watch something violent and go and do something violent. Researcher's emphasized the dangers of the power of capitalism. Capitalism controlled many new forms of media. Researchers began to feel concerned on the representation of violence. Films in the past have been banned due to people believing they may influence people in becoming more violent, for example imitate the crime that is evidently shown in the films. "The Exorcist" and "A Clockwork Orange" are two films which were banned due to this reason.
Many people have interpreted this theory in a completely different way to other people. As no-body has claimed that everyone will be affected by these texts in that specific way. Therefore, the theory has been seen as a simple as it does not take into consideration people's individuality.
Serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer puts this theory in action. Before every murder he undertook, he watched a clip involving crime which helped him to get excited. This clearly proves the Hypodermic Syringe theory. However, intrestingly the film Jeffrey Dahmer watched before his crime was "Star Wars". This film was never banned, however helped Jeffrey to get excited before his murders. One may argure, the film meant something different to Jeffrey Dahmer than to someone else.
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