The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports has appealed to the Prosecutor’s Office regarding Gor Vardanyan’s film
Discussions about Gor Vardanyan’s multi-episode film “The Wings of the Empire” continue online. Many scenes depicted in the film could undermine children’s value systems. To investigate the matter and draw conclusions, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports has appealed to the Prosecutor’s Office.
Following viewers’ feedback, the Ministry tasked the “Pedagogical-Psychological Center” organization with analyzing the film. The analysis revealed that watching the film could lead to negative behaviors in minors, such as smoking.
Considering the connection between the behavioral manifestations of younger schoolchildren and adolescents and the mechanisms of social imitation, watching such a film could lead a child to identify with the main characters and unconsciously begin to adopt similar behaviors. Moreover, almost all the characters in the film exhibit unacceptable forms of verbal communication and use gestures characteristic of individuals associated with criminal subcultures, which could also be imitated by children.
Article 18, paragraph 4 of the Law on the Rights of the Child states: “The dissemination of mass information and literature that negatively affects a child’s health, mental and physical development, upbringing; promotes the cult of violence and cruelty; demeans human dignity; discredits the family; or encourages legal violations is prohibited.”
This is not the only case in Armenia involving controversies surrounding films and TV series. Previously, for instance, film director Diana Grigoryan was fined for certain episodes.