1. By Ki rstie
Stone
ACTIVE AND PASSIVE
AUDIENCE THEORY
2. HYPODERMIC THEORY
The hypodermic theory is based on a passive audience who
just take the media in as it is shown to them and they
immediately act on what they have seen in the media.
An example of this is the case of Jamie Bulger; when he was
murdered by two ten year olds, they claim that they did it as
t h ey wa t c h e d a v i o l e n t fi lm ( c h i ld’ s p l ay ) p r ev io us ly a n d t h ey
acted on what they had seen and copied what was shown in
the fi lm.
Drawbacks for this theory is that it is an outdated as it was
e s t a bli shed i n t h e 1 9 4 0 ’ s s o i t may not a c t u a lly r e l a te to h ow
the media ef fects us in this day and age.
3. USES AND GRATIFICATION
Looking at what people do with the media and how they do it
and why they do it.
Us choosing what we want to watch based on interests.
Ma s l ow’ s h i e r arc hy o f n e e d s.
Blumler and Katz conducted a study on how audiences react
towards the media. Help discover a persons identity.
4. RECEPTION THEORY (STUART HALL)
It states that there are three dif ferent ways of audiences
interpreting the media.
Preferred: the thing that the producer wants the audience to
accept.
Oppositional: audience interpretation. Opposite to the product
of what the media is trying to convey.
Negotiated: the audience acknowledges the message of the
media product but may change or modi fy it to suit them.
