Moral Panics

The definition of a moral panic is;

an instance of public anxiety or alarm in response to a problem regarded as threatening the moral standards of society

Examples of modern moral panics in todays society are;

• Perfectionism
• Terrorism - ISIS
• Sexuality
• Race
• Lack of power
• Debt and unemployment – Increasing unemployment
• Change
• Lack of acceptance
• No security
• Chaos
• Poverty
• Death
• Immigration
• Suffering
• Lack of control
• Responsibility
• Punishment
• Social Class divide gap widening
• War
• Ageing
• Crime
• Technology advance
• Drugs
• Illness and Disease – 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak.
• Mental Health -http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/07/modern-life-dementia-40s-neurological-disease
• Police – Sandra Bland’s Death in Texas prison cell July 2015 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-33573743

From this list, I have chosen two social panics and come up with film ideas for each:

• ·       Mental Health –young adult with dementia, forgets about her past, art, starts remembering past through his/her art
• ·       No security/poverty – life of a homeless person, someone becomes homeless and the story of how they become homeless and recover

Dementia

·       It is a common misconception that dementia only affects those over 65 years of age and that it is impossible to get it before this age. However it is possible to get it at any age and media sources are always presenting new ideas to help ‘avoid’ getting it or things that cause it however this can cause a lot of worry amongst the media consumers.

·       For example, this article introduces ideas that argues air pollution and chemicals in the food chain gives us a higher chance of developing dementia earlier in life.

Deconstruction of the trailer for Still Alice

•        Stable family situation, good job (“Welcome Dr Alice …”)
•        Disequilibrium – starts to forget, music stops
•        “I have Alzheimer’s disease; early onset” – reaction shots of family
•        Fast paced shots of her dropping things and panicking with non-diegetic voiceover of her talking about forgetting
•        Music gets louder and happier as she tries to adapt to her new life

Ebola

·       The West Africa Ebola epidemic of 2014 caused worldwide panic. Travel was banned to some areas and people began to panic. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-28755033     

The anxiety spread worldwide as Ebola become more common and cases were picked up in new countries.