AUDIENCE

TWO STEP FLOW LINEAR THEORY (Lazarsfeld)

First used in the 1940s for a Presidential election.

Messages flow:

mass media --> opinion leaders --> individuals

Linear theories are arguably outdated as they present the individuals as a passive audience, rather than an active audience who make their own interpretations from media texts.

E.g. ambiguous character suggesting a hit man isn't necessarily always a bad person --> subverted as an active audience will make their own interpretation rather than a forced one.

HYPODERMIC SYRINGE LINEAR THEORY

A passive audience accepts the messages that are 'injected' into them by the media they create.

"...composed of fragmented individuals who were subject to powerful and effective propaganda messages which they received and then reproduced." - Greg Philo

Arguably outdated as audiences are no longer passive but an active audience who enjoy being challenged by the media they consume rather than feebly 'injected' with the dominant reading.

e.g. the red herring - the closing shot where the camera pans left to reveal someone about to murder the hit man presenting a form of irony but also, like Layer Cake, proves you cannot escape the inevitable.

USES & GRATIFICATIONS THEORY

Contrasts Hypodermic Syringe Theory. Suggests audiences actively use advertisements and magazines to meet some of the needs highlighted by Maslow.

"Personal and social cirmcumstances and psychological dispositions together influence both... beliefs and expectations about the benefits offered by the media..." - McQuail

McQuail, Blumler and Brown (1972) defined four major areas of need which the media in general seek to gratify:

Diversion: an escape from our routine and problems, an emotional release.
Personal relationships: exploring or reinforcing our vlaues, through comparison with others' values.
Surveillance: need for a constant supply of information about what is happening in the world

e.g. the mid-shot presents the hit man as an ordinary person.
Diversion - applies surreal in the real
Personal identity - reinforces moral values of an active audience

STUART HALL'S PREFERRED READINGS (1981)

Media texts are constructed so that they have an intended or preferred reading, which will come from the producers' own ideas or values.

Dominant: accept the fully preferred reading
Negotiated: agreeing with some, not all, of the preferred reading
Oppositional: understand the preferred reading but use alternative values to construct our own interpretations
Aberrant: audience does not understand the preferred reading.

e.g. dominant reading being one of karma, presented by the red herring at the end, inspired by Layer Cake

MODERN THEORY - CULTURAL POSITIONING

Can an audience be fored to decode a text in a specific way or does an individuals cultural positioning determine the reading?

How does the media help us to create identities for ourselves?
> as individuals
> as a society
> as members of specific groups