A 2 Media Studies AUDIENCE THEORY Audience Theory

A 2 Media Studies AUDIENCE THEORY

Audience Theory �Three questions: 1) Why do audiences choose to consume certain texts? 2) How do they consume texts? 3) What happens when they consume texts?

Audience Theory �There are three theories of audience that we can apply to help us come to a better understanding about the relationship between texts and audience. 1. The Effects Model or the Hypodermic Model 2. The Uses and Gratifications Model 3. Reception Theory

The Effects Model �The consumption of media texts has an effect or influence upon the audience �It is normally considered that this effect is negative �Audiences are passive and powerless to prevent the influence �The power lies with the message of the text

The Effects Model �This model is also called: �The Hypodermic Model �Here, the messages in media texts are injected into the audience by the powerful, syringe-like, media � The audience is powerless to resist �Therefore, the media works like a drug and the audience is drugged, addicted, doped or duped.

The Effects Model �Key evidence for the Effects Model 1. The Frankfurt School theorised in the 1920 s and 30 s that the mass media acted to restrict and control audiences to the benefit of corporate capitalism and governments 2. The Bobo Doll experiment This is a very controversial piece of research that apparently proved that children copy violent behaviour

The Effects Model �The Bobo Doll Experiment �This was conducted in 1961 by Albert Bandura

The Effects Model �In the experiment: �Children watched a video where an adult violently attacked a clown toy called a Bobo Doll �The children were then taken to a room with attractive toys that they were not permitted to touch �The children were then led to another room with Bobo Dolls � 88% of the children imitated the violent behaviour that they had earlier viewed. 8 months later 40% of the children reproduced the same violent behaviour

The Effects Model �The conclusion reached was that children will imitate violent media content �There are many problems with the experiment. What do you think are the flaws with the methodology? Does it indeed prove that children imitate violent media content?

The Effects Model �The Effects Model (backed up by the Bobo Doll experiment) is still the dominant theory used by politicians, some parts of the media and some religious organisations in attributing violence to the consumption of media texts.

The Effects Model �Key examples sited as causing or being contributory factors are: �The film Child’s Play 3 in the murder of James Bulger in 1993 �The game Manhunt in the murder of Stefan Pakeerah in 2004 by his friend Warren Le. Blanc �The film A Clockwork Orange (1971) in a number of rapes and violent attacks �The film Severance (2006) in the murder of Simon Everitt

The Effects Model �In each case there was a media and political outcry for the texts to be banned �In some cases laws were changed, films banned, and newspapers demanded the burning of films �Subsequently, in each case it was found that no case could be proven to demonstrate a link between the text and the violent acts

The Effects Model �The Effects Model contributes to Moral Panics whereby: �The media produce inactivity, make us into students who won’t pass their exams or ‘couch potatoes’ who make no effort to get a job �The media produces violent ‘copycat’ behaviour or mindless shopping in response to advertisements

The Uses and Gratifications Model �It is still unclear that there is any link between the consumption of violent media texts and violent imitative behaviour �It is also clear theory is flawed in that many people do watch violent texts and appear not to be influenced �Therefore a new theory is necessary �This is called the: �Uses and Gratifications Model

The Uses and Gratifications Model �The Uses and Gratifications Model is the opposite of the Effects Model �The audience is active �The audience uses the text & is NOT used by it �The audience uses the text for its own gratification or pleasure

The Uses and Gratifications Model �Here, power lies with the audience NOT the producers �This theory emphasises what audiences do with media texts – how and why they use them �Far from being duped by the media , the audience is free to reject, use or play with media meanings as they see fit

The Uses and Gratifications Model �Audiences therefore use media texts to gratify needs for: �Diversion �Escapism �Information �Pleasure �Comparing relationships and lifestyles with one’s own �Sexual stimulation

The Uses and Gratifications Model �The audience is in control and consumption of the media helps people with issues such as: �Learning �Emotional satisfaction �Relaxation �Help with issues of personal identity � Help with issues of social identity �Help with issues of aggression and violence

The Uses and Gratifications Model �Controversially theory suggests the consumption of violent images can be helpful rather than harmful �The theory suggests that audiences act out their violent impulses through the consumption of media violence �The audience’s inclination towards violence is therefore sublimated, and they are less likely to commit violent acts

Reception Theory �Given that the Effects model and the Uses and Gratifications have their problems and limitations a different approach to audiences was developed by the academic Stuart Hall at Birmingham University in the 1970 s �This considered how texts were encoded with meaning by producers and then decoded (understood) by audiences

Reception Theory �The theory suggests that: �When a producer constructs a text it is encoded with a meaning or message that the producer wishes to convey to the audience �In some instances audiences will correctly decode the message or meaning and understand what the producer was trying to say �In some instances the audience will either reject or fail to correctly understand the message

Reception Theory �Stuart Hall identified three types of audience readings (or decoding) of the text: 1. Dominant or preferred 2. Negotiated 3. Oppositional

Reception Theory 1. Dominant � Where the audience decodes the message as the producer wants them to do and broadly agrees with it � E. g. Watching a political speech and agreeing with it

Reception Theory 2. Negotiated � Where the audience accepts, rejects or refines elements of the text in light of previously held views � E. g. Neither agreeing or disagreeing with the political speech or being disinterested

Reception Theory 3. Oppositional � Where the dominant meaning is recognised but rejected for cultural, political or ideological reasons � E. g. Total rejection of the political speech and active opposition

Reception Theory Audience Decodes Meaning/Message Dominant or preferred Producer Encodes Meaning Negotiated Oppositional