Audience theory essay

In audience theory, there are two different viewpoints. These are mass audience theory, which is passive, and active audience theory. Mass audience theorists say that everyone reacts to texts in the same way. On the other hand, active audience theorists say that individuals can interpret media texts in different ways, and that they respond differently to the same texts.

The effects model suggests that the consumption of media texts has an effect or influence upon the audience. This effect is usually negative. Audiences are passive and powerless to prevent this influence. The power lies with the message of the text. However, the hypodermic model says the opposite. It states that the messages in texts are injected into the audience by powerful syringe-like media. The audience is powerless to resist this, therefore, the media works like a drug and the audience become drugged by this powerful message.

One theory within audience is the reception theory, created by Stuart Hall. He said that the text is coded by the producer and decoded by the audience. One reading he came up with was dominant/preferred. This was when the audience decodes the message as the producer wants them to and agrees with it. Another of his readings was negotiated, which is when the audience accepts, rejects or refines elements of a text in light of previously held views. The final reading is oppositional. This is when the message is recognised by the audience, but is rejected for cultural, political or ideological reasons.

Another theory is the cultivation theory, created by George Gerbner. He talked about how media affects people's attitudes rather than their actions. He also said that overexposure to films and television shows can blur audiences sense of the real world. He found that heavy media users have an attitudinal misconception called mean world syndrome. He said that the more exposure to TV overtime, TV will eventually cultivate viewers perceptions of reality.

The final theory I will talk about is the copycat theory. This theory was introduced by Mary Cover Jones. She believed that the audience will copy what they see in a media text.  It refers to how the media can influence and affect the audiences behaviour and how they think. A strength of this theory is that parents are able to monitor the media that their children use. A weakness however of this theory is that the preconception of danger varies from person to person. An example of this theory is the Jamie Bulger murder case.