2. Uses and gratifications: blumler and katz
This theory represents a change in thinking as researches began to describe the effects of the
media from the point of view of the audience. It looks at the motives of the consumer of the
media questioning why we choose to watch the things we do. The theory argues that the
audience have social and psychological needs which generate certain expectations.
Surveillance
This need claims people feel better when they believe they know what's happening in the world
around them, we feel more secure when are knowledge is fulfilled which is why we go to certain
places to gain information.
Personal identity
Being a subject of the media allows and individual to confirm their identity and position within
society. People within the media help audiences define themselves.
Personal relationships
Audience members can form a relationship with the media itself and use it to form a
relationship with others many people us TV as a companionship. Creating relationships with
characters that they get upset when they do etc.
Diversion
This refers to escapism using the media as a way to stop thinking about your life and problems.
People watch the media to forget about their own lives and to distract themselves.
3. Reception theory stuart hall
Halls theory claims that media texts are encoded by the produces meaning that whoever
produces the product fills it with messages and values. The text is then decoded by spectators in
different ways and possibly not in the way the encoder intended
Dominant reading
The audience view the text in the way the producer intended it to be viewed
They agree with the ideology in the text
Negotiated reading
This is a compromise between agreeing and disagreeing
The audience agrees with some aspects of the text but may see others differently
Often the audience see the text at face value, recognising how its trying to influence them and
therefore not letting it do so fully
Oppositional reading
The audience completely rejects the intended reading and creates their own instead
They disagree with the messages the producer has put into the text and do not read the advert
in the preferred way.
