Q1B Audience Summarised

Hypodermic needle theory- Frankfurt school- Germany between the wars 20s and 30s - the rise of Hitler and the influence of mass media on the public- related to film- also knows the effects model- Audience is passive.

Cultivation Theory- George Gerbner - Keep seeing a representation in the media and it reinforces the stereotype- people who watch soaps think there is more divorce in society that there actually is - TV and advertising - passive audience again.

Roland Barthes - myths are created in society by the media e.g white men can't jump.

2 step flow - Paul Lazarsfeld - opinion leaders influence society more than the original text does - this relates to film critics influencing you to watch a movie.

Uses and Gratifications - a text can inform, entertain , cause you to identify with the characters in the text, meet your social needs etc

Stuart
Hall- Reception Theory - Texts are created by producers with a meaning in mind that might be read differently by an audience due to their social or cultural background- Preferred or dominant reading, oppositional reading and negotiated reading - (oppositional would be: if a sympathetic character in a soap has an affair then an audience of a very religious Christians would not like the character any more)

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs- media texts meet the needs of an audience - e.g.. some car ads sell the car on its safety: aftershave adverts sell sex: coke adverts sell the idea of friendships

Hypodermic Needle Theory and Cultivation Theory

• The "hypodermic needle theory" implied mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences. The mass media in the 1940s and 1950s were perceived as a powerful influence on behavior change.

• The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and uniformly by ‘shooting’ or ‘injecting’ them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response.

• With similarly emotive imagery the hypodermic needle model suggests that media messages are injected straight into a passive audience which is immediately influenced by the message.

• The incident, often referred to as the “Panic Broadcast,” was soon cited as an example of the Hypodermic Needle Theory of communication. Formed in response to the rise of mass communications and the emergence of propaganda techniques in the 1930s, Hypodermic Needle Theory implies that the media has the power to inject highly influential messages directly into passive and susceptible audiences.

• Unlike most other theories of communication, however, Hypodermic Needle Theory was not based on empirical research. Instead, it was founded on the assumption that humans, controlled by their biological nature, will react instinctively to passing stimuli in similar ways.

examples can you find that indicate the BBFC used the hypodermic needle theory as a basis for their regulation of the film industry.

tbhbt

Professor Martin Barker- Media Magazine Clips

Martin Barker's approach too studying audiences and how they view media texts is that every person alrrady lives in a society, class, age and family and who you are matters.

The effects tradition is when something effects us when we watch TV by adding on. The more you see the more they gradually influence you.

Martin Baker's main ctitisism to the effects tradition is that the research shows that they contradict each other.

Martin Baker thinks the problem with most research and theory into the effects of screen violence is the types of different violence such as action adventure movies and that news which is not measure in the same category.

The reason the violence in the Pulp fiction scene is not seen as a major problem is due to the contrast as he is religious but quoting the bible at the same time but is also violent. The combination of violence and something else can make it commical for the audiences.

Martin Baker states that the effect of the depiction of 'real' violence on screen is fear, horror, concern and wondering how it happened.

Acording to Martin Baker, moral panics are a big scare when people blame the media. The reason for action comics being withdrawn from sale in the 1970's was said by the newspapers to be due to the violence in the comic, but when researched the bits they wanted changing was the part about authority.