Moral Panic.

A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to

threaten the social order. Horror films are often at the centre of moral panics. 

"Moral panics then, are those processes whereby members of a society and culture become 'morally sensitized' to the challenges and menaces posed to 'their' accepted values and ways of life, by the activities of groups defined as deviant. The process underscores the importance of the mass media in providing, maintaining and 'policing' the available frameworks and definitions of deviance, which structure both public awareness of, and attitudes towards, social problems" - Key Concepts in Communication (O'Sullivan, Fiske et al 1983)

The horror movie "Child's Play 3" (1991) is notorious for its links to the 1993 murder of three year old Jamie Bulger, in Liverpool, England. The 10 year old killers, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, supposedly saw the film, and imitated a scene where a victim is splashed with blue paint. There was a lot of mention of the links between the film and the crime in the UK press at the time, and a moral panic ensued. The case against the film, though never really proven, led to new legislation, The Amendment to the Video Recordings Act, contained in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (1994). 

1.     Occurrence and signification - An event occurs and, because of its nature, the media decide it is worthy of dramatic coverage and the event is signified as a violent, worrying one.

2.    Wider social implications - Connections are made between one event and the wider malaise of society as a whole. After the initial event, the life of the story is extended through the contributions of 'expert' opinionmakers, who establish that this one event is just the tip of the iceberg, and that it is part of an overall pattern which constitutes a major social menace, thus public attention is focused on the issues.

3.    Social Control - Moral panics seek some sort of resolution and this often comes with a change in the law, designed to further penalise those established as the threatening deviants at the source of the panic. This satisfies the public who feel they are empowered politically by the media.