Have the Culture Wars been Privatized?
With today’s decision by the Supreme Court overturning California legislation that banned the sale of violent video games to minors (Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association) it appears that government is losing its ability to regulate the morality of American entertainment. Now case law will dictate that video games will roughly be treated equivalently to books, movies, and music.
While no legislation mandates that entertainment retailers check the age of their customers, many industries have standardized self-regulation. The MPAA-Motion Picture Association of America, the RIAA-Recording Industry Association of America, and now the ESRB-Entertainment Software Rating Board are the de-facto gatekeepers of American “morality.” While these industry rating systems empower parents and businesses to make decisions on behalf of children, they can be more opaque and less democratic than federal agencies. The documentary “This Film is Not Yet Rated” explored how the MPAA is surprisingly secretive and demonstrates biased against both female sexuality and homosexuality in their ratings.
The real last frontier though is broadcast television. Earlier this year, the FCC’s control on content (specifically profanity) was severely restricted by the Second Circuit. However today the Supreme Court agreed to hear the Second Circuit case in a sign that the FCC’s authority may be upheld. This contrasting push and pull of First Amendment freedoms reflects the technical distinctions of private purchases and public airwaves. However, it’s unclear whether this distinction is either stable or relevant with the diminishing role of broadcast television in the American media landscape.
