media audiences handout

HAYES AS Media Studies – Audience Theory

Media Audiences Definition:*_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________*_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________*_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Audience as Mass The media are often experienced by people alone. (Some critics have talked about media audiences as atomised- cut off from other people like separate atoms)

Wherever they are in the world, the audience for a media text are all receiving exactly the same thing.

RESEARCHIn order to target the most appropriate audience, producers research:

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History

Since the early days of the media this question has been discussed widely throughout the world. Some people have seen media audiences as being

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_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ or to follow corrupt leaders through propaganda.

There have also been fears that the contents of media texts can ______________ _____________________________________________, become more violent for example.

Life without Media

Within less than a hundred years photography, Film, radio and television were all invented.

THE ARRIVAL OF MEDIA

The arrival of “the media” changed a lot of this. While films are often watched in theatre sized audiences. The vast majority of our times with the media are spent _____________________________ or in ___________________, so in one sense the media can seem to __________________. You have probably heard the worry from parents that since the arrival of video games and portable televisions, children _______________________________ as they used to.

There is an opposite sense in which the media can be seen to bring us closer together.

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How?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

What are the problems with everyone potentially seeing the same media? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

GOOD AND BAD

• What are the possible good and bad points about these conflicting ideas?

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• Which do you think is right (or just slightly more right)?

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Good Bad

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KEY POINTS SUMMARY *__________________________________________________________________________________

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Some History

During the war and before it, Hitler in Germany and Stalin in Russia had attempted to use the media as propaganda- through films, radio and poster art they had attempted to ________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________ to the critics of the time it is not surprising that the media must have seemed like a __________________________ in the wrong hands, capable of ________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________.

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Audience TheoryAudience theory is the starting point for many Media Studies tasks. Whether you are constructing a text or analysing one, you will need to consider the destination of that text, ie its target audience and how that audience (or any other) will respond to that text.

It is virtually impossible these days to go through a day without encountering the media in some form.

How do you encounter media in your daily life?

Some audience theories are seen as a call for more censorship, others for less control. Whatever your personal stance on the subject, you must understand the following theories and how they may be used to deconstruct the relationship between audience and text.

Key Theory 1: The hypodermic syringe

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Dating from the 1920s, this theory was the first attempt to explain how _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

According to the theory the media is like a _______________________________, ______________________________________________ into the audience who as a_____________ mass have little choice but to be influenced- in other words, you watch something violent, you may go and do something violent, you see a woman washing up on T.V. and you will want to do the same yourself if you are a woman and if you are a man you will expect women to do the washing up for you.

In Summary:

Where do you find this theory?

What’s wrong with this theory?

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Worth thinking about

It is obviously easy to find reasons why the hypodermic syringe theory could never apply to everyone equally.

But do you think it could work sometimes?

What about you- can you think of any media texts which you feel have had a big effect on you and made you behave in any way differently?

Key Theory 2: The Culmination TheoryAccording to this, while any one media text does not have too much effect, years and years of watching more violence will make you less sensitive to violence, years and years of watching women being mistreated in soaps will make you less bothered about it in real life.

What do you think?

Difficulties

Think about this for yourself:

Are there any forms of media that you think society gives greater status to. For example which do people see as "better": films or television, soaps or detective dramas, opera or

garage?

Do you have any feelings about the kinds of audience these different forms of media attract- are some likely to be more thoughtful and more intelligent than others?

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Why do parents watch programs with their children?

Should the same protection be offered to adults?

Key Theory 3: The two step flowA theory that springs from this idea is called the two step flow. 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. (The theory calls these people opinion leaders.)

Think about this honestly- are your opinions about television, films or groups ever influenced by other people?

Do you think a friend's ideas about a media text could ever affect your behaviour in any way?

Key Theory 4: Uses and GratificationsThis is probably the most important theory for you to know. According to uses and gratification theory, we all have ___________________________________________ and we make choices over what we ________________________________. In other words, when we ____________________________________, it is not just some kind of mindless entertainment- we

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are expecting to ______________________________________: some kind of _____________________________.

What kinds of gratification can we be getting?1234

Criticisms of theory:

First of all, it ignores the fact that we do not always have __________________________________________________________. Think, for example, about your family who may end up having to listen to the same music as you sometimes. Similarly, you don't have that much choice about the posters that you see on your way to college however objectionable you may find some of them.

A second problem relates to this last example. The poster that you see on a billboard, may be extremely sexist. However, you _________________________________ different poster that you want to see that you might find more pleasant. If you think about it, this problem also affects us in our other encounters with the media- we are generally having to

____________________________________________________________________________. This undermines the idea of uses and gratifications- we may not all have the same potential to use and enjoy the media products that we want. In society there are in fact plenty of ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ that they want to use.

Key Theory 5: Reception analysis

Reception analysis is based on the idea that _____________________________________. Instead, reception analysis suggests that the audience themselves _____________________________________________________________________________________________.

How do we do this?

We all decode the texts that we encounter in individual ways which may be a result of our ______________________________, the _________________________ that we are in, the _________________________________________ at the time or in fact any combination of these and all kinds of other factors. So viewer 1 may watch a television programme and enjoy every minute of it and viewer 2 may hate the same show. But of course, it goes way beyond just how much we enjoy the text. We will actually create a different meaning for it as well.

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What factors influence the way we read a text?

What you have been reading about up to now are very much the classic ideas about audiences. You need to be familiar with these theories if you are to answer questions in the media studies exam successfully

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media audiences handout

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