1. Olivia Lyons
Audience Theory Homework
Orphan is a 2009 American psychological thriller/horror film about a husband and wife who adopt a
9-year-old girl after recently losing their baby. The film follows the family as they welcome the girl
into their family home and slowly begin to discover she is not half as innocent as she claims to be
and in fact has a troubled and mysterious past.
Blumler and Katz published their own theory in 1974 stating that individuals might choose and use a
text for the following purposes, or uses and gratifications:
 Diversion- to escape from everyday problems and routine
 Personal relationships- using the media for emotional and other interaction, e.g. substituting
soap operas for family life.
 Personal Identity- finding yourself reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values from
texts.
 Surveillance- information which could be useful for living e.g. weather reports, financial
Stuart Hall, a cultural theorist, wrote the encoding/decoding model in the 1970’s. This theory
states that the audience interpret the meaning of the media text based on their individual cultural
background and life experiences. By using recognised codes and conventions and by meeting
audience’s expectations relating to aspects such as genre, the producers of a media text can position
the audience. The text is encoded by the producer allowing 3 different readings to then be decoded
by the audience; Preferred reading, Negotiated reading, Oppositional reading.
The film has an elliptical narrative, meaning the audience are only given key pieces of information
about the young girl. It is left to the audience to fill in the gaps which diverts them from everyday
problems and routine. They are now caught up in the mystery of the young girl too much to think
about their own lives (Diversion). This could result in the audience having a negotiated reading of
the film as the film is structured in chronological order (linear narrative). The audience could oppose
to this as a non-linear narrative is usually used within the horror genre, with the use of flash backs
and going back and forwards in time to create suspense.
In terms of technical codes, the film has clear conventions of horror. It also has conventions of
thriller, making the film a hybrid of two genres. The producer of the text has encoded clear
conventions of the horror genre with the mise en scene, a disserted mansion in the middle of
nowhere surrounded by forests. As this meets audience expectations it creates agreement with
what the code means, giving a preferred reading. However, the film also has conventions of

2. Olivia Lyons
Audience Theory Homework
thriller/mystery, with the protagonist and antagonist, making the film a hybrid genre. This could
create a negotiated reading with the audience as they don’t enjoy the challenge of accepting this
within the horror genre. In relation to uses and gratifications the use of continuity editing creates a
sense of realism and allows a personal relationship to be made with the audience, for example the
film relates to realistic family life.
An important symbol within the film is the scarf that the young girl wears around her neck and never
takes off. The importance of this is that it protects her identity and it is only when the scarf is
removed that her true character is revealed to the audience. The producer has encoded conventions
of horror with the scarf being black, which has connotations of death and danger. The text including
conventions of the genre meets audience’s expectations and decodes a preferred reading.
In relation to the setting, the producer encodes clear conventions of the horror genre. The film is set
in a deserted mansion in the middle of nowhere, where all characters are vulnerable and isolated.
This meets the audience’s expectations and creates agreement with what the code means, giving a
preferred reading. The realistic camera angles/shots and realistic lighting are used to create a real-
life setting giving the audience a sense of realism in order to make the film scarier. The audience can
relate to the location and the events which creates a personal identity with the setting of the film.
The main character in the film is a girl, who plays the role of the villain. This challenges the
stereotype and the genre conventions as the female character is usually the victim. There is no male
antagonist which may decode an oppositional reading as the audience isn’t getting what they expect
to see. However, the missing male-antagonist diverts the audience’s attention from “real life” as it
challenges the conventions of the horror genre. They can escape from their life and be completely
tied in to the film which could result in the film becoming more popular with the preferred audience.