Expert: Shant istamboulian - 7/28/2009

Question
Hai, do you mind explain & describe to me what this whole sentence means, please "Television sex and violence does not mould societal values, it merely mirrors them.' Discuss." My english is very bad, I think I only get partially meaning of it. I'm going to do group presentation about this. I would love to know what are your opinion about this topic too if you dont mind. For my part, I'm going to focus on "television sex & violence" & "how tv influence society", what do you think I should include or present or tell the audience about. If you dont mind can you suggest me the some website references on this that is not on people opinions & reliable. Thanks. If you dont want to help me with my last 3 questions at least tell me what the meaning of the whole sentence, I need a clear cut of it for my research & presentation. Thank you very much

Answer
I think it simply means that TV is just reflective of what is going on in society, as are the movies (but to a lesser degree).  You can simply look at the history of television - starting with the boomer generation of the 50's with such shows as FATHER KNOWS BEST and LEAVE IT TO BEAVER and tracee it to present times to get a good idea of what that quote means.

Here are some websotes that might be useful:

http://www.tvhistory.tv/

http://www.high-techproductions.com/historyoftelevision.htm

Hope this helps!