Uploaded September 2010 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Now Available on DVD @ mediaed.org
The Mean World Syndrome
Media Violence & the Cultivation of Fear
A new film based on the late George Gerbner's groundbreaking analysis of media influence and media violence.
Featuring George Gerbner and Michael Morgan
For years, debates have raged among scholars, politicians, and concerned parents about the effects of media violence on viewers. Too often these debates have descended into simplistic battles between those who claim that media messages directly cause violence and those who argue that activists exaggerate the impact of media exposure altogether. The Mean World Syndrome, based on the groundbreaking work of media scholar George Gerbner, urges us to think about media effects in more nuanced ways. Ranging from Hollywood movies and prime-time dramas to reality programming and the local news, the film examines how media violence forms a pervasive cultural environment that cultivates in heavy viewers, especially, a heightened state of insecurity, exaggerated perceptions of risk and danger, and a fear-driven propensity for hard-line political solutions to social problems. A provocative and accessible introduction to cultivation analysis, media effects research, and the subject of media influence and media violence more generally.
Now Available on DVD @ mediaed.org
The Mean World Syndrome
Media Violence & the Cultivation of Fear
A new film based on the late George Gerbner's groundbreaking analysis of media influence and media violence.
Featuring George Gerbner and Michael Morgan
For years, debates have raged among scholars, politicians, and concerned parents about the effects of media violence on viewers. Too often these debates have descended into simplistic battles between those who claim that media messages directly cause violence and those who argue that activists exaggerate the impact of media exposure altogether. The Mean World Syndrome, based on the groundbreaking work of media scholar George Gerbner, urges us to think about media effects in more nuanced ways. Ranging from Hollywood movies and prime-time dramas to reality programming and the local news, the film examines how media violence forms a pervasive cultural environment that cultivates in heavy viewers, especially, a heightened state of insecurity, exaggerated perceptions of risk and danger, and a fear-driven propensity for hard-line political solutions to social problems. A provocative and accessible introduction to cultivation analysis, media effects research, and the subject of media influence and media violence more generally.
![A Burning Question [Trailer]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jNa8zM49Dbc/mqdefault.jpg "A Burning Question [Trailer]
Now Available on DVD
http://www.mediaed.org
A Burning Question
Propaganda & the Denial of Climate Change
This fascinating and clarifying look at the debate surrounding global warming explores the striking disconnect between the relatively clear-cut concerns of the worlds most prominent scientists and the maze of speculation, rhetorical posturing, and outright misinformation that attaches to this issue whenever its taken up by politicians, PR specialists, and political pundits. Mixing a localized focus on Ireland with insights from scientists and leaders from around the world, the film serves as both a primer on climate science and a penetrating analysis of media framing and the science of perception management. An excellent resource for courses in science, environmental studies, global politics, and media.
Features commentary from former Irish president Mary Robinson, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, paleoclimatologist Jennifer McElwain, and a host of other prominent scientists and commentators.")
![Killing Us Softly 4 - Trailer [Featuring Jean Kilbourne]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jWKXit_3rpQ/mqdefault.jpg "Killing Us Softly 4 - Trailer [Featuring Jean Kilbourne]
Now Available on DVD
http://www.mediaed.org
In this new, highly anticipated update of her pioneering Killing Us Softly series, the first in more than a decade, Jean Kilbourne takes a fresh look at how advertising traffics in distorted and destructive ideals of femininity. The film marshals a range of new print and television advertisements to lay bare a stunning pattern of damaging gender stereotypes images and messages that too often reinforce unrealistic, and unhealthy, perceptions of beauty, perfection, and sexuality. By bringing Kilbournes groundbreaking analysis up to date, Killing Us Softly 4 stands to challenge a new generation of students to take advertising seriously, and to think critically about popular culture and its relationship to sexism, eating disorders, and gender violence.
Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D. is internationally recognized for her groundbreaking work on the image of women in advertising and for her critical studies of alcohol and tobacco advertising. In the late 1960s she began her exploration of the connection between advertising and several public health issues, including violence against women, eating disorders, and addiction, and launched a movement to promote media literacy as a way to prevent these problems. A radical and original idea at the time, this approach is now mainstream and an integral part of most prevention programs. Her films, lectures and television appearances have been seen by millions of people throughout the world. Kilbourne was named by The New York Times Magazine as one of the three most popular speakers on college campuses. She is the creator of the renowned Killing Us Softly: Advertisings Image of Women film series and the author of the award-winning book Cant Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel and co-author of So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids.")
