This document discusses audience theories and uses Fight Club as a case study. It summarizes three main audience theories: 1) Hypodermic Model, which suggests audiences respond uniformly to media, 2) Encoding/Decoding Theory, which argues audiences decode meaning differently based on individual backgrounds, and 3) Uses and Gratification Theory, which examines how audiences use media. It then analyzes survey results about a student audience's responses to Fight Club based on these theories. Respondents had varied opinions but most had a preferred or negotiated reading of the film.

1. Emma Sutton
Audience Theory
For thistask I will be talkingaboutthe different3differentaudience theories.Iwill alsobe talking
aboutFightClub;what its about,whyit wasbannedwhenitfirstcame out,a negative responseit
got forma filmcritic,andusingresultsfromasurvey,the audience responsestothe filmtoday.
HypodermicModel
Thistheorysuggeststhatthe audience respondstoaMedia textthe same way.
An example of thisisTechnology.Todaypeopleare buyinganew IPhone astheyare popularand
theylookgooddespite the factthat theyhave the same featuresastheirpastIPhones.People feel
like theyneedtohave the latestIPhone.
Encodingand Decoding(ReceptionTheory)
The creator of thistheoryStuartHall arguedagainstthe HypodermicModel sayingthatthe audience
readsthe meaningif the mediatextdifferentlydependingontheirindividualcultural backgrounds
and life experiences.
How itworksis:
The Producerencodesthe meaningintothe mediatext.
The audience decode itdependingontheirbackground.
Thisincludesthingssuchas:
 Age
 Gender
 Social Background
 Cultural Background
 Political Views
 Circumstance of Exhibition
The audience canthenstate theiropinionanditincludesthese three answers:
Preferred-Whenthe audienceagreeswiththe mediatext
Negotiated-Doesn’tagree butalsodoesn’tdisagree
Oppositional- doesn’tagree withthe mediatext

2. Emma Sutton
Uses and Gratification
Thistheoryinvolveshowthe audience usesthe mediatext.
Diversion- escapefromproblemsanddailyroutines
Personal Relationships-usingmediaforinteraction
Personal Identity- findingoneselfinthe mediatextandlearningvaluesandbehavioursfromthe text
Surveillance- Useful informationforliving.Example- weatherreports,holiday bargains.
Fight Club
FightClubreleasedon12th
November1999 is a filmaboutabouta depressed
insomniac(EdwardNorton) whomeetsastrange soapsalesman calledTyler
Durden(BradPitt),he thenlivesinarun-downabandonedhouse withhim
afterhisperfectapartmentisblownup.Theythencreate a strictlyruledclub
that isn’tto be talkedaboutwhere menwhoare boredof theirmundane
livesgoto fighteachother. The filmwasdirectedbyDavidFincherandhad a
budgetof 63 millionUSD.
AlexanderWalkerisawell-knownfilmcriticwhowenttosee the filmatthe
Venice FilmFestival.He hadan oppositional readingof the filmcomparing
the filmtoHitlerand the Jewsinthe deathcamps. The theorythat can be
usedforthisis the HypodermicModel.He saysthat anyone whowatches
thisfilmwill become violentthemselves.
The BBFC have more of a negotiatedreadingof the film.Due tothe time FightClubcame outthe
level of violence didn’tworktotheirguidelinesandtheythencouldn’tgivethe filmacertificate
unlesstheymade majorcuts.The BBFC thengot a new directorand new guidelinesthe filmcould
thengot a certificate of 18 whichit askedforuponrelease.It alsomentionsinthe case studythat
‘adultsshouldbe free tochoose theirownentertainment.Thissuggeststhe theoryUsesof
Gratificationasitssayingthat theycan use the filmhowevertheywantandif theywantto watchit
theycan.
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/case-studies/fight-club-BBFCCase study

3. Emma Sutton
Survey Results
The resultsof thisquestionare theymostly
youngerpeople.Thiscouldpossiblymean
there isa more proffered/negotiated
reading(Hall) of the film. There isone older
personsothiscould meanthattheyhave a
differentreadingof the film.
Althoughmostof the respondentsare
youngtheyare alsomostlyfemale so
thiscouldmeanthat theyare more
oppositionalreading (Hall) due tothe
filmbeingviolentandmore male
dominated.

4. Emma Sutton
I askedthisquestionIwantedtoknow how they
foundoutabout the filmasit couldinfluencetheir
readingtheiropinions.Withthese resultsthiscould
determine whatthe audience thinkastheymight
have readopinionsof the filmbefore theywatched
it sotheycouldsway theiropinionscause if they
were givenanegative opinionof the filmfroma
friendthentheymightthinknegativelyof the filmas
theyhave beeninfluencedtothinklike that. The
theorythat appliestothisisStuartHall’sReception
theory.
For thisquestionIaskedtosee if people have
heardabout the filmbefore theyhadtostudyit
inclass.From the resultsonly1 personhadn’t
heardabout itbefore thismeansthatmostthe
restof the respondentshave heardof the film.
From thisquestionthe ratingsare different.Fromthe
resultsmostof the respondentswere positive by
givingthe filman8 -10 but howeversome gave ita
lowerrating,the lowestbeingafour.Fromthese
resultsthose thatgave it a highrating have a
preferredreadingandthose thatgave ita lowerrating
are more oppositionalornegotiatedreading (Hall).

5. Emma Sutton
Because FightClubwasbannedandhad
to make lotsof cuts of the violence back
whenitfirstcame outas the viewsof
violence weredifferenttowhattheyare
theynow.So thisisto see what
audience’sviewsof the violence are
today.From the resultsthe majority
thoughtthat the violence wasrightfor
the subjectandonlyone personthough
that the violence istoomuch.The person
whothoughtthe violence wastoomuch
probablyhasoppositional reading (Hall)
withfilmbeingpredominantlyviolent.
For thisquestionIlikedtosee whatthe
audience likedanddislikedaboutthe
film.This appliestoHall’s Reception
theorybecause noteveryone likedthe
same part of the film.
Eventhoughthe most of the respondentsare
female theystillhada preferredreadingof the
filmsothisprobablymeansthatthe younger
female audience are likingmore violentfilms.
ThisquestionappliestoHall’sReceptiontheory
because theyare statingan opinionandthey
have differentreadingsof the film.

6. Emma Sutton
Althoughthe resultsfromthisquestion
are mostlynotheywere still divertedby
the filmbecause theyenjoyedit.The
one that feltdivertedbythe filmis
probablyolderastheyhave a better
understandingof the views. The
respondentmentionedthe political
subtextwhichisrelatedtoHalls
Receptiontheoryasthe respondent
likedthe political side.
For thisquestionIliked tosee whatthe
audience tookfromthe filmandthe
majoritylikedthe music.The theoryfor
thisquestionisUse and Gratification
(Herzogand Maslow) asit isseeing
how theyuse the film.One respondent
usedthe filmtointroduce themto
othermediatextsfromthe
screenwriter.