Audience Theories

Cultivation TheoryThis is the break down of the long-term effects of television. “The

primary proposition of cultivation theory states that the more time people spend ‘living’ in the television world, the more likely they

are to believe social reality portrayed on television.

Introduced by Professor George Gerbner (1960’s)

Cultivation theory is based around the idea that watching excessive TV changes the viewers attitudes to certain issues. Over time, exposure to the viewer will alter their perceptions of reality.

The two order effects:1). General beliefs about the world today.

2). Specific attitudes and judgements.Viewers are divided into to categories; light viewers

(less than 4 hours of TV a day) and heavy viewers (more than 4 hours of TV a day). Heavy viewers are

likely to shape their concept of reality from TV.

The long-term effects of television…

Hypodermic ModelThe hypodermic model is also knows as ‘the needle theory’ or ‘the magic bullet theory.’

The theory implies that media has a direct and powerful effect onto audiences. It suggests that the mass media could influence large amounts of people by di9rectly ‘shooting’ or ‘injecting’ them with messages which are designed to trigger direct

responses , the theory was developed during the 1930’s-40’s.

This diagram displays how mass media affects the public. It suggests that a flow of information is given straight to passive/isolated individuals who are then immediately effected by the message. There is no escape from the message and people usually end up believing and thinking what they are told as there is no other source of information telling them otherwise.

Factors which contributed to the strong effects of the theory:• There was a rapid rise of media outlets, radios and television were becoming more accessible to the public, resulting in more individuals being exposed to media messages.• Advertising and persuasion industries started to emerge and increase.• A study conducted within 1930 by Payne Fund, discussed the effects of films on children.

This theory can be supported through the murder case of three year old Jamie Bulger (1993). The two ten year old

killers who had kidnapped Jamie were said to have watched the

movie ‘child's play 3’ which inspired the brutal murder.

Uses and gratifications TheoryWhat is it? The uses and gratifications theory was created by Elihu Katz, Jay G. Blumer and Michael Gurevitch. This theory is based on psychological needs and includes the idea that all media is constructed in a way that will fulfil these needs. It also aims to

explain why an audience may consume a certain type of media.

The needs:Surveillance – This revolves around the idea of the viewer feeling safer and more secure through knowledge. This knowledge comes from the text and what they while watching it. Application to horror; if there is a killer in the film they gain comfort from the idea that they would know what to do if they were in the position of the victim and would be able to deal with the situation better than them. They also gain security from knowing that they are not in the film.Personal identity – This is the need for the audience to be able to relate to a character and even develop themselves through adopting some of the characteristics. By adopting some of the characters most desirable attributes the consumer believes that they will become a better person. Application to horror; The hero of the film may show bravery when faced with a difficult situation. The viewer may then replicate this behaviour in real life to better themselves.Personal relationships – Viewers are able to consume media as part of social activity. This gives them something to bond with peers over as they have shared the same experience. Application to horror; teens throwing sleepovers to watch horror films and then conversing over the death of a character in it. Escapism – This allows the audience to escape their day to day lives through text consumption. Through viewing the media, the consumer is able to ignore and escape the real life issues they face by focusing on the lives of those in the fictional world. Application to horror; those watching a horror film may experience this by fantasising that they are in the position of the killer or victim.

Criticisms:• It completely ignores unconscious

control and implies free will. It also suggests media therefore ignoring the manipulative nature of some types of

media e.g. The news.• Does not recognise the power of

media in current society.• It assumes that media watchers take

an active role in watching a text and aspire to be like the characters.

Desensitisation

Strengths Weaknesses

• Pays attention to how much violence is being shown

• Can be unreliable as there may be other variables involved

•Raises questions as to how much exposure of violence and aggressive images/scenes should be shown to the audiences

• Everyone is affected by different factors as some people are more influenced than others (depends on how much violence they’ve been exposed to)

This theory suggests that as we become more exposed to violence within media, on a regular basis, there’s no strong emotional impact on the audience which makes them

insensitive towards violence in everyday life.

• Films have less effect over audiences over time, due to repeated viewings• Viewers tolerance becomes higher – they need more shocking images to get an emotional response.• Films get more violent – this links to the increase of social problems• Films like ‘nightmare on Elm street,’ ‘Friday the 13th’ and ‘SAW’ are some examples.

Real life example:The Jamie Bulger case. Some UK tabloid newspapers claimed that the attack on the toddler was inspired by the film, ‘Child’s play 3.’ After watching this film, the two 10 year olds may have become desensitised to the action happening on screen, hence why the murder happened.

Reception Theory

Hall included three different types of audience decoding of texts-•Dominant/preferred reading-This is how the creator wants the audience to view the media. The audience agree with the message being conveyed. •Negotiated- A compromise between the dominant and oppositional reading, So the audience understand and agree with the text but they may disagree on certain aspects of it.•Oppositional- This is when the audience rejects the encoded meaning and then continue to create their own interpretation as they fully disagree on the message being submitted.

Reception theory is a version of reader response, the theory sees that the audience actively engages in interpretations of media. So overall is it the idea of individuals interpreting texts in different ways, demonstrating that even if one message if being sent out, people may have different understandings of it. The reception theory is usually refereed to as audience reception. Stuart Hall coined this theory during 1980, he claims that media texts go through staged of encoding and decoding. Media texts are usually encoded by its creator. This meaning that only the creators ideologies are embed within it. Decoding is when an audience views the text and interprets it their own way.

Copycat/Modelling TheoryThe definition of the modelling theory is very simple; imitating what you see and it is

also known as the copycat effect (you do what you see). Most behaviour is learnt from observation hence why it is later modelled. This theory usually relates to something

publicised in the media, creating a lot of attention. This provokes others to do the same to gain attention of the same type.

What are the stages of the modelling theory?• Seeing an action portrayed in the media• Individual identifies with the actor• Individual then starts to imitate the actor• If the individual is rewarded, the behaviour is reinforced due to motivationExample: The famous Bobo doll experiment studied in psychology (carried out by Albert Bandura), proved that children imitate the observed violent behaviour that was carried out by the Bobo doll. This shows that this can be both a positive and negative process. He believes that people adopt behaviour by observing others. More examples:• The case of Jamie Bulger in 1993 was said to be influenced by the movie ‘Child’s play 3.’• December 1993; four girls tortured a 16 year old girl called Suzanne Caper. The press mentioned the same movie was an influence on the kids.

This theory has a huge emphasis on the importance of observation and imitation. Imitation is more likely to

happen if the individual holds an admired status of any sort for

example, observing a celebrity as you admire their status.