Reception Theory proposes that audiences are active interpreters of media texts rather than passive consumers, interpreting texts based on their personal experiences and characteristics. It was developed by cultural theorist Stuart Hall, who argued that meaning comes from the relationship between text and reader, not from the text itself. He introduced the concepts of encoding, where producers aim to create a preferred meaning, and decoding, where audiences make their own interpretations.

1. Reception Theory
Laura Dickinson

2.  Reception Theory: an active audience
theory which sees the audience as being
actively engaged in the interpretation
of media texts rather than as passive
consumers. It says that individuals
receive and interpret texts in different
ways.
 There interpretation of a text depends
on many things including their age,
gender, ethnicity, personality, cultural
and personal experiences and their
opinions/views.

3.  Cultural theorist Stuart Hall is a key
thinker relating to the reception
theory. He initiated the idea that the
meaning of a text is not inherent
within the text itself, but is created
within the relationship between the
text and the reader.
 He also developed the idea of encoding
and decoding; a text is encoded by the
producer and decoded by the audience.

4.  Producers often aim to create a
‘preferred meaning’, this is when the
producer uses recognised codes and
conventions which audiences identify to
mean certain things. Through this the
producer can get a certain response
from the viewers/readers.