Selection and Integration: Large Media’s
Effects on Adults – A Movie Review
“Witness”
By Lorraine Floyd
April 15, 2015
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Movies and Cognitive Processing:
Media effects how we perceive culture. By highlighting certain
aspects of the culture and avoiding others a mental impression is
formed. The average adult viewer processes the message they see in
movies and media into opinions. Movies, especially, impact how
people view other cultures because the entertainment aspects play
on emotion which creates memory.
(Picture represents how the human brain reacts during a movie)
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Movies depicting unfamiliar cultures create a unique situation
for views. Because the viewer doesn’t have concrete knowledge to
compare against what they are seeing it becomes easier to believe
that was is being presented is representative and factual. The
normal cognitive processing of adults creates a filtering effect for
information, so even if the information is accurate and complete the
metal absorption will be limited.
Cultural Identification:
In the movie “Witness” two cultures are represented that may
or may not be familiar to the viewers. The first culture is the
religious Amish community. The Amish
are a close-knit religious community
who shun modern conveniences and
law – preferring to live under the
biblical law. The second culture that is
depicted is inner-city U.S.A. This
culture is represented by the two sides
of law enforcement; those who want to serve and protect, and those
who abuse their status to cover the crimes they commit.
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Cognitive Selection:
The selection side of cognitive processing is very controlled in
this film. The Understanding Global News text explains this as what
the viewer pays attention to, what messages the viewer takes in,
what the viewer remembers, and what information they retrieve
through communication (van Ginneken, pg 195). In the movie,
“Witness”, the viewer is exposed limited aspects of each culture –
from there the viewer will only select to absorb or retain portions of
the exposed elements. The views are presented with a group of
Amish who are very secular, reclusive, and reverent. The movie
shows the Amish shying
away from complying with
the law and basically being a
modest group, yet during the
movie when John Book
(Harrison Ford) asks about a
telephone he is directed to the more ‘modern’ Mennonite community
(Witness). This exchange gives the perception of superiority to the
Amish community.
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The view of the police department is also misleading to a
viewer who is not familiar with law enforcement and provides
selective information to the viewer. From the extreme cop-killing cop
to the detective that is will to go into hiding to protect his Amish
informant the integrity of law enforcement is compromised. In data
collected in 2013 by
The Washington Post
reporter, Ellen
Nakashima, out of
the 27 officer deaths
none were committed
by other officers (Nakashima). This gives a viewer the impression
that police officers are violent to their own benefit.
Cognitive Integration:
A secondary effect of this movie on viewers is integration. The
Gestalt theory, which links “thinking and remembering to
meaningful configurations in the mind,” help us understand how
missing or misguiding information in a movie and lead to false
understanding of cultures (van Ginneken, pg 196). Because of the
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mis-portrayal of the Amish community and the fear of becoming a
tourist attraction, the Amish community pleaded with local agencies
to not promote, and even boycott, the film (Cortes). In presenting
the different cultures in America and around the world movies and
media are creating lasting impressions in the viewers. They are
swaying perception and opinion, as viewers will associate with what
the mind can process, not necessarily how the situation actually is.
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Perception of Violence:
Another effect on the viewer, which is apparent in the movie
Witness is the perception of violence. As the PowerPoint explains,
“Media depicted violence (creates) observational learning of both
acceptable and deviant behavior” (PowerPoint). The violence against,
not only fellow officers, but the treat towards a potential witness
creates the opportunity for observational learning. Depending on
the viewer the effect could be a
tendency towards violence as
it represents power, or the
tendency to fear police officers
they represent corruption and
danger. Although during the
movie the character John
Book begins to socialize into the Amish culture, his tendency for
violence exposes itself multiple times.
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Effect on Viewer:
The lecture notes asks the question, “What is the role of larger
media environments in media’s effect on viewer?” (Lecture Notes).
Media projects an image of a culture and that image may be the
only peek a viewer gets of the culture being depicted. If this image is
false or skewed then the viewer is left with an altered idea of the
truth. How they absorb that ‘truth’ is based on how and what they
retrain from the information presented. Even though viewers know
that most movies are not factual a cognitive image is still formed.
As the availability of media becomes easier to obtain – a 10
year old can watch a movie on a smart phone – the media outlets,
both large and small, have a greater responsibility to commit to
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‘truth in advertising’. How much of the information or
entertainment is truly real? As someone who has lived near both
Amish and Mennonite communities, and has a son who is a police
officer, this movie was very disheartening. There was a vast
opportunity to educate the viewer (and still entertain) without
creating false images of three distinct cultures.
Conclusion:
As our global society shrinks and cultures become more apt to
merge it will be even more important to not be tainted by false
impressions. Media’s effect on how we view what we don’t know and
understand is all around us in movies, in news, and in advertising.
It is important that they understand the power they wield and use it
for good, not harm
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Works Cited
Cortes, Carlos E. Multicultural America: A MultiMedia Encyclopedia, Volume 1. Sage. 2013. Pg
2181. Online. April 22.2015
Module Lecture Notes. RODP. Web. March 28. 2015. https://elearn.rodp.org/d2l/le/
content/6014917/viewContent/33380761/View
Module 9 PowerPoint. RODP. Web. March 28. 2015. https://elearn.rodp.org/d2l/le/
content/6014917/viewContent/33380760/View
Nakashima, Ellen. FBI Reports 27 Cops Were Killed Last Year. But How many Civilians Were
killed By Officers? The Washington Post. November 24. 2014 Web. April 23. 2015.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/11/24/fbi-reports-27-copswere-killed-last-year-but-how-many-civilians-were-killed-by-officers/
van Ginneken, Japp. Understanding Global News: A Critical Introduction. London: Sage.
2012. Print
Witness. Dir. Peter Weir. Perf. Harrison Ford. Kelly McGillis. Lukas Haas.
Paramount Pictures. 1985. Film
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