LO4: Ethical, Legal and Regulatory Issues

The main regulatory body for Viacom’s productions would be The BBFC due to their
mass release of movies. The BBFC regulate and officiate all movies in the UK. Meaning
that they decide on the movies rating and who it can be consumed by. The current UK
ratings are as follows- U, PG, 12A, 12, 15, and 18. On very rare occasions movies can
be banned if they don’t follow the BBFC guidelines or have legal issues. Most issues
concern representation of illegal acts- for example drug use, and violence. Based on the
fact that my subject, The Lovely Bones, features both rape and murder they need to be
careful to present them delicately. This is as, if the movie gets banned it can not legal
be distributed to audiences in the UK and will therefore not be consumed. Meaning they
will lose profits and fans. They could also run the risk of having a higher rating. The
higher the rating the older you
must be to buy it or go see it.
This limits the audience and
therefore the profits. They
must also avoid stereotyping
white, middle aged males as
rapists as it could cause
widespread offence and
represents them negatively.
This is as the lead villain in
The Lovely Bones is a white, middle aged male.

Looking at the legal and ethical issues that could be associated with both Viacom as a
whole and specifically The Lovely Bones, there are many issues that may arise. The
most prominent issues that affected them would have been copyright. Based on the fact
that the Paramount Productions film is an adaption of the original novel, they would
have had to have permission from the original author to use their plot, characters and
title. This would also apply to all of Viacom’s production. This then links to how Viacom
would have to ensure all work is their own (unless permission is granted from original
creator) in order to avoid copyright infringement. This would apply to soundtracks as
well as content. Meaning that all music must be their own or, again, they must have
permission. This would be done in the form of a contract and would be legally binding.
Lots of viacom’s productions can now be found on illegal streaming sites. This is known
as Piracy. Confidentiality would also have presented itself as a problem for Viacom. All
members of crew and cast would have to sign a confidentiality agreement base on the
film. For example,with the lovely bones they had to sign a contract stating that they can
not discuss any new plot lines, visual effects and other aspects of the movie publically.
This also stop all unofficial photography of the set or filming prior to its release. They do
this to stop any unwanted information about the film being released before it is intended
to, allowing an element of surprise and excitement for its release. They also have to be
careful with their use of child labour as they are only allowed to
work a certain amount of hours. This affects them due to their
use of children's channels and younger cast members. This may
come to concern on the channel Nickelodeon or on the movie the
Lovely Bones.

Moving on to ethical issues that may arise. One main issue

that would have affected The Lovely Bones is representation and
accuracy. This is due to the graphic and taboo subjects featured
within the plot. There are scenes of rape and murder that would
have had to have been show delicately and show to a true
standard to avoid wide spread offence. If they had shown it too
graphically or glamorised it, this is when ethical issues would
have made themselves present. This can be applied to all of
viacom’s productions as they have to ethically select the topic
and presentation of all their chosen subjects and plot lines. To a certain extent this
could be seen as a legal issue as it may cross the boundary of hate crime. This causes
issues for uses and gratifications, as to glamourise subjects such as rape and murder
may influence others to do it. Especially as it is being consumed by mass audiences,
meaning that it may influence a large amount of people. Viacom must be aware of
hypodermic needle theory, and must ethically apply it to all of their work. Avoiding
influencing mass audiences in a negative way.