Audience decodes meaning/ meassage

Reception

- Given that the effects model and the uses and gratifications have their problems and limitations a different approach to audiences was developed by the academic Stuart Hall at Birmingham university in 1970s



- this considered how texts wew encoded with meaning by producers and then (understood) by audiences

-it suggests:

. when the producer constructs a text it is encoded with a meaning or message that the producer wishes to convey to the audiences


.in some instances audiences will correctly decode the message or meaning and understand what the producer was trying to say


.in some instances the audiences with either reject or fail to correctly understand the message


- Sturat Hall identified three types of audience readings (or decoding) of the text:

1) Dominant


2) Negotiated


3) Oppositional



Dominant

.where audience decodes the message as the producer of the texts wants them to do and broady agrees with it

.eg watching a political speech and agreeing with it




Negotiated

.audience accepts, rejects or refines elements of the text in light of previously held views

. eg niether agreeing or disagreeing with a political speech or being disinterested


Opposited

. the dominant meaning is recognised but rejected for cultural political or ideological reasons

.eg total rejection of the political speech and active opposition

Gratifications model

- This model is the opposite to the effects model


- the audience is active


-the audience uses the text amd is Not used by it


-the audience uses the text for its own gratification or pleasure


- here power lies with the audience not the producers


-this theory emphasises what audience do with media texts, how and why they use them.


- far from being duped by the media the audience is free to reject, use or play with media meanings as they see fit


- audiences therefore use media texts to gratify needs for:



Diversion

escapism

information

pleasure

comparing relationships and lifesyles with ones own

sexual stimulation.


- the audience is in control and consumption of the media helps people with issues such as :


Learning

emotional satisfaction

relaxation

help with issues of personal identity

help with issues of social identity

help with issues of aggression and violence


- Controversially the theory suggest the consumption of violent images can be helpful rather than harmful

-the theroy suggest that audiences act out their violent impulses through the consumption of media violence

- the audience inclination towards violent is therefore sublimimatedand they vare less likely to commit a violent act

childs play 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO8FHNgyOok

Audience theroy continued

- In some cases laws were changed films banned, and newspapers demanded the burning of films

-sunsequently in each case it was found that no case could be proven to demonstrate a link between the text and violent acts

- the effects model contributes to moral panics whereby:

.the media produce inactivity, make us into students who want to pass their exams or "couch potatoes" who make no effort to get a job

.the media produces violent "copycat" behaviour or mindless shopping in response to advertisements


- it is still unclear that there is any link between the consumption of violent media texts and violent imitative behaviour

- it is also clear the theory is flawed in that many people do watch violent text and appear not to be influence

- therefore a new theroy is necessary:

USE OF GRATIFICATIONS MODEL

Research- locations

Here are some locations which we thought that we m,ay use to film our music video
O

Hypodermic model- continued

- Key evidence for the effects model

. the Frankfurt school theorised in the 1920s and 30s that the mass media acted to restrict and control audiences to the benefit of corporate capitalismand government

took their ideas from the German Nazis, propaganda

. The bebo doll experiment. This is a very controversial piece of research that apparently proved that children copy violent behaviour, 1960s

Children are shown a video of a man hitting a doll. Taken to a room full of dolls and they start hitting the dolls

Conducted in 1961 by Albert Bandura- here is what he did

. watched a videa were a man violently attacked a clown toy called the bebo toy

. the children were taken to a room with attractive toys that they were not allowed to touch

. they were led to another room with bobo dolls

.88% of the children imitated the violent behaviour that they had earlier viewed. 8 months later 40% of the children reproduced the same violent behaviour

. conclusion reached was that children will imitate violent media content

- there are many problems with the experiment. What do you think are the flaws with the methodology? Does it indeed prove that children imitate violent media content?

- The effects model (backed up by the bobo doll experiment) is still the dominant theory used by politicians, some parts of the media and some religious organisations in attributing violence to the consumption of media texts

- Key example sited ascauseing or being contributory factors are:

. the film childs play 3 in the murder of James Bulger in 1993

. the game manhunt in the murder of Stefan Pakeerah in 2004 by his friend Warren Leblane

. the film a clockwork orange(1971) in a number of rapes and violent attacks

. the film severance(2006) in the murder if simon Everitt

. In each case there was a media and political outcry for the texts to be banned

lyrics to our song

Here are the lyrics to our song:



And we were all insomniacs

Making attacks unto ourselves

Expecting someone to take notice

Make this all disappear

And maybe they will say to you

"Today will be your day"

Perchance to take you someplace

Where pain's just a bad dream



Could you imagine where you'd be

If you hadn't been where you have been?

Promises they couldn't keep

Do you know what i mean?

Superficial love refueling

Was what you had got

Now I'm here to give you

What you need and what you want



Take a second look at yourself

Tell me what you see

Cause if it ain't the same pretty girl I see

Your eyes don't see what I see



So hold on, hold on

Hold on, hold on



And we were all insomniacs

Making attacks unto ourselves

Expecting someone to take notice

Make this all disappear

And maybe they will say to you

"Today will be your day"

Perchance to take you some place

Where pain's just a bad dream



Take a second look at yourself

Tell me what you see

Cause if it ain't the same pretty girl I see

Your eyes don't see what I see



So hold on, hold on

Hold on, hold on

`

Take a second look at yourself

Tell me what you see

Cause if it ain't the same pretty girl

I seeYour eyes don't see what I see

So hold on, hold onto
Hold on, hold onto me yeah

The effects model/ Hypodermic model

There are three theroies of audience that we cqan apply to help us come to a better understanding about the relationship between texts and audience.

The first one is the effects model or Hypodermic model.

The effects model

- consumption of media texts has an effect or uinfluence upon the audience
- it is normally considered that this effect is negative
-Adiences are passive and powerless to prevent the influence
- the power lies with the message of the text
- it is also called the Hypodermid model
-key evidence is
1)the Frankfurt school- in the 1920s and 1930s that the mass media acted to restrict and control audiences to the beneifit of corporate capitalism and government. (Big business).

2) The bobo doll experiment- is a very controvestial piece of research that apparently proved that children copy violent behaviour
conducted in 1961 by Albert Bandura

In this experiement:

- children watched a video where an adult violently attacked a clown toy called a bobo doll
- children were then taken to a room with attractive toys and told not to touch them
- they were lead to another room with bobo dolls
-88% of them imitaed the violent behaviour that they had earlier viewed. 8 months later 40% of the children produced that same violent behaviour.
- conclusion reached was that children will imitate violent media content
- there are many problems with the experiment. What do you think are the flaws with the methidology? Does it indeed prove that children imitate violent media content.



Hypodermid model
- the messages in media texts are injected into the audience by the powerful, syringe- like, media
-audience is powerless to resist
-therefore, the media works like a drug and the audience is drugged, addicted, doped, duped

Audience theroy

What happens when we consume media texts?




Why do we consume the media texts that we do?

A model of the media, is a method of considering how the media functions.

At the moment i am having difficulities getting the diagram of the theory up on the blog. So i will describe how it works.

First you have texts, such has magazines, tv and radio, which us the adience consumes. The questions surrounding us is why we watch or listern or read it, what are we consuming, how do we consume and who is the audience the are targeting. When we watch films at the cinema, or buying cds and films, we are paying for them. So a finance transation will be between us the audience and the instiutuation, such as itv, sony, and waner bothers. Whioch they money they recieve will go towards production of new videos and films.

But at the moment the instituations arent getting that money they need because of priate copys of films and illegal downloading.While this is cheaper for us, in the long run it will affect us. This is because if they arent getting any money they wont be able to produce new films ect. Which means we will miss out on them.

postmodernism

postmodernism is where new texts are constructed by making reference to, or "borrowing" from exiting texts. it rejects conventional reality and conventional forms.

some features in postmodernism :

playfulness

self- reference

draws attention to the way it is constructed

intertextuality

popular and commercial "culture is mixed with high culture"

rejects the boundaires between high and low forms of art

rejects the traditions of distinct genres

Postmodern texts favour

pastiche- work of art that borrows or imitates from work or style of other artists

parody- humourous imitation of something serious

eclecticism- a wide range of influences, contributions and techniques

intertextuality- an authors borrowing and transforming of a prior text

bricolage- a technique where works are constructed from various materials available

acts of modernism- postmodernism embodies scepticism towards the idea and ideals of the modern era, especially the ideas of progress, objectivity, reason, certainty, personal identity and grand narrative

nostalgic- celebrates the past and bathes inits glory

narcissistic- fascination with oneself, excessice self-love, vanity

an active audience- the assertion that meaning and experiance can only be created by the individual, and cannot be made objective by an author or narrator, an assumption of an intelligent and active audience

hyper-conscious - aware of itself

a postmoderism film is Mulin Rouge.