Audiences

Sandra Amadi

Trailers link to different theories, these audience theories can be used to apply to media texts.

Hyp

oderm

ic n

eedle

m

odel

The media is seen as a

syringe which injects ideas,

attitudes and beliefs into the

audience. This is the belief

that if you watch a violent

film it’s likely that you will go

about and behaves in a

violent way. The audience is

seen as a sponge as they

absorb what is being shown

to them, they are represented

i9n a passive way. The

audience is manipulated by

the creators of media texts.

Two s

tep fl

ow

The idea of this is that

whatever our experience of

the media we will be likely

to discuss it with others and

if we respect their opinion,

the chances are that we will

be more likely to be affected

by it. We are all individuals

with different views and

opinions. Our interpretation

of a media text is influenced

by our individual world view.

In other words viewers

experience the same text in

very different ways.Receiver

Media

Admire/Trust/Celebrity

Use

s and

Gra

tifica

tions

Lasswell suggested that media texts had the

following functions for individuals and society:

1. surveillance 2. correlation 3. entertainment 4. cultural transmission

Researchers Blulmer and Katz expanded this

theory and published their own in 1974, stating

that individuals might choose and use a text for

the following purposes (i.e. uses and

gratifications):5. Diversion - escape from everyday problems

and routine. 6. Personal Relationships - using the media for

emotional and other interaction, eg)

substituting soap operas for family life

7. Personal Identity - finding yourself reflected

in texts, learning behaviour and values from

texts 8. Surveillance - Information which could be

useful for living eg) weather reports, financial

news, holiday bargains

Rece

pti

on

Reception Analysis is

based on the idea that

no text has one simple

meaning. Instead,

reception analysis

suggests that the audience themselves

help to create the

meaning of the text.1.Preferred2.Negotiated3.Oppositional

Trailers link to different

theories, these audience

theories can be used to

apply to media texts.