Unit one: contextual studies – part two

Matthew Mooney

Tutor: faustina starrett HNC/SEM2

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Unit One: Contextual StudiesTutor: Faustina Starrett

Student: Matthew MooneyHNC/SEM2

In this essay I will be discussing I will be looking at the various types of audience theories

and I will apply them to the genre I have looked closely at, the gangster genre. I will provide

various links and exerts to provide a more in-depth look and help back up the points that I

make in this essay.

The gangster genre is a genre that has remained relevant and prominent throughout

cinematic history. From one of the very first gangster films, ‘The Musketeers of Pig Alley’,

way back in 1912, right up until present day, the gangster genre has remained a mainstay in

cinema.

This is for a variety of reasons, one of which being the element of the audience loving an

anti-hero. I believe one of the main reasons the audience loves an anti-hero is because they

somewhat relate to the character, they want to be in their shoes and have all the money,

power and glory that the anti-hero in a gangster film possesses for a short while before it all

comes crashing down for that character.

Tutor: Faustina Starrett Student: Matthew Mooney

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Audience Theories

The Hypodermic Model – This is the theory that the media will directly ‘inject’ messages into

the minds of the audience, and that the audience can become addicted to the message. This

particular theory can show just how powerful producers of media can be, because they can

influence how the audience thinks. This theory means that the audience is seen as passive

and powerless to resist these messages being ‘injected’ into their minds.

Cultivation Theory – This theory states that the more an audience watch the media, they will

gradually develop certain views about the world, some of which may be untrue. This theory

points to the fact that audiences gain a lot of their knowledge of the world through media.

This theory will effect a passive audience.

Desensitisation – This theory states that the more violence, blood and sex we are exposed

to, the more we will become desensitised to it when it happens in our real life. This theory

questions just how much violence and sex should be in media, and is aimed at a passive

audience.

Tutor: Faustina Starrett Student: Matthew Mooney

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Copycat (or modelling) theory – This particular theory states that the audience will try to

replicate or imitate what they see in the media. This theory really feeds off of the concern

that parents have about what their children see in the media, and how it will affect their

children. This theory will effect a passive audience.

Uses and gratifications – This theory says that the audience will decide what they want to do

with the media they consume, instead of the media having an effect on the audience, the

audience will consume the media and come to their own conclusion. This theory is for an

active audience who may be more intelligent and rely more on life experience than what

they see in the media, compared to a passive audience.

Reception analysis and ethnography – This theory states that audiences are seen as active

producers of meaning, rather than just consumers of media. This audience will try to make

sense of the media.

Different types of audiences

Passive Audience – A passive audience is more likely to accept the messages that the media

presents them without much thought, which means they are more likely to be affected by

the messages that the media presents.

Active Audience – An active audience is an audience that engage and respond to the

message that the media presents them with. This type of audience is capable of questioning

the message that the media presents.

Tutor: Faustina Starrett Student: Matthew Mooney

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Audience Theories for The Gangster Genre

I think a few of the audience theories I explained above can apply to the gangster genre as a

whole. Firstly, I think the hypodermic needle theory applies to the gangster genre. I think

that the gangster genre ‘injects’ messages of anti-heroism, and also the fact that breaking

the law and leading that lifestyle doesn’t end well. Every film in the gangster genre is the

same, the gangster will have a period where they seem untouchable and they have

everything they want, but then it comes crashing down and it always ends with the gangster

losing it all. I think that the hypodermic needle theory applies because it ‘injects’ these

messages into the audience’s mind and gets them addicted to the thought of maybe the

gangster can survive this time, and live out his life on the top.

Another theory that I think applies to the gangster genre is the desensitisation theory,

where too much violence and sex in media lead us to become desensitised to it in our real

lives. In every gangster film, there is always violence and girls, and usually drugs. In the

earlier gangster films based on the prohibition period in America, instead of drugs there was

alcohol because alcohol at the time was obviously prohibited. But the recipe for a gangster

film has always been the same, violence, sex and drugs. The whole idea of the

desensitisation theory is that the more we see these types of things in the media, the less it

will affect us in our real lives.

Tutor: Faustina Starrett Student: Matthew Mooney

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I believe that the gangster genre, perhaps more than any other genre, fits this theory very

well. We see so much violence in a gangster film, from gun

fights to fist fights, and then the sex and drugs and alcohol on top of that really makes us

accustomed to seeing this kind of thing. Whenever we go to see a gangster film, we almost

expect to see these types of things, and I think that goes to prove that we have become

somewhat desensitised to it.

Another audience theory that fits the gangster genre well is the copycat (or modelling)

theory. This theory states that the audience copies what they see in the media. In gangster

films the gangsters are always seen wearing smart and expensive clothing, and gangsters in

real life as known to have looked at films and copied what they were seeing, particularly

what the gangsters in the film were looking like. So gangsters in real life stole the dress

style, and some of the lifestyle, that they seen in gangster films.

Audience feedback for some gangster films

Tutor: Faustina Starrett Student: Matthew Mooney

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Conclusion

I think overall that audience theories apply to every bit of media that we consume, and

depending on who we are as people determines just what theory applies to us specifically.

It’s interesting to think just how different people are affected in a different way than

yourself when you consume the exact same piece of media.

Tutor: Faustina Starrett Student: Matthew Mooney