The document discusses several audience theories: 1) The hypodermic model suggests media can directly and uniformly influence large groups by "injecting" them with messages to trigger a desired response. 2) Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model proposes that audiences decode media texts differently based on their backgrounds and that they can have dominant, negotiated, or oppositional readings. 3) Uses and gratification theory suggests audiences use media to fulfill needs like diversion, relationships, identity, and information. It then provides a synopsis of the film Fight Club and analyzes audience responses, finding different reactions consistent with the encoding/decoding model based on factors like gender and age.

1. Audience theories
The hypodermic model
 Suggests that all audience respond to the media in the same way
 The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group
of people directly and uniformly by ‘shooting’ or ‘injecting’ them with
appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response.
 Direct information of information from the sender to the receiver.
Encoding and decoding model – Stuart Paul
Producer encodes meaning, audience then decodes. We decode media texts in different
ways depending on our background and lifestyle.
Such as;
 Age
 Gender
 Social background
 Cultural background
 Political views
 Circumstances of exhibition
Dominant/proffered receiver – when a receiver accepts and reproduces the codes to the
producer.
Negotiated reading – when a codes is broadly but only partially shared with the producer.
Oppositional reading – when the receiver understands the reading but rejects the code.
Uses and gratification theory
We use this theory for our own purposes
 Diversion – to escape from everyday problems, and routines.
 Personal relationships – using the media for emotional and other interaction. People
use the media to fulfil their need for companionship, and to form relationships with
others.
 Personal identity – finding yourselves reflected in text. People tend to sometimes
use media to find out about themselves.
 Surveillance - information which could be used for living. Using the media to find out
what is going on around us, for example; weather, political news, celebrity news etc.

2. Fight club synopsis/plot
Director: David Fincher
Screenplay: JimUhls
Box Office: $100.9 million
Rating: 18 Uncut
The protagonist (Edward Norton) who is nameless, attends support therapy groups in order
to keep his emotional and insomniac state under control. However, he meets another fake
participant Marla (Helena Bonham Carter) who is attending every support group he attends.
After meeting Marla, he becomes distracted by her lies and is unable to sleep. On a flight
back from a business trip, he meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). The narrator becomes
fascinated by Tyler’s rebellious personality, therefore engaging a conversation with him and
finding out that he is a soap salesman. When arriving to his home, the narrator’s condo has
been blasted by a faulty gas line. The narrator finds a business card Tyler gave to him on the
plane, and calls him. They both meet up behind a bar, Tyler offers him a place to live under
one condition; the narrator hits Tyler. The two men engage in a fight, in which the narrator
finds it very thrilling.
Days later and the two men still engage in fist fights, this attracts the attention of two
passers-by. Tyler decides to form a group called ‘fight club’ where two men fight each other
in a basement of a bar. Their group begins to increase therefore having Tyler and the
narrator put up rules, the first two rules are: ‘you do not talk about fight club’.
The narrator meets Marla coincidentally in the street and telling her that the reason he isn’t
able to attend the support groups is because he joined a new group for men only. When
Marla overdoses on Xanax, she calls the narrator who sets the phone down because he is
tired of her rambling. Tyler then follows the call to her house and brings her to their place
where they engage in a sexual encounter. The next morning, the narrator finds Marla in the
kitchen and she leaves due to the narrator’s harsh treatment. The narrator finds out the
group is out of control and Tyler isn’t who he thinks he is.
BBFC
The BBFC has a very oppositional view on the film‘Fight Club’. The request of cutting some
scenes of the film, where violence was glamorised and seemed to be enjoyed by the
characters, came from its distributor 20th Century Fox. After the cuts were made the film
was granted an 18 but there were still some scenes where it was glamourizing violence.
Alexander Walker, a filmcritic said that it promotes violence and it will make young men
create their own fight club. His review relates to the hypodermic model. The hypodermic
model states that the information from the producer will create an equally reaction from
the audience. Walker’s reaction to the filmis very oppositional, he compared it the Fuhrer
principle which ‘required everyone in Germany to accept Hitler had all the solutions to
Germany’s problems’.
Audience analysis
I conducted a questionnaire asking 9 people what they thought after watching the film fight
club. The audience survey allowed me to see that everyone had a different reaction, this is
called the encoding and decoding model.

3. It is important to know the male and
female ratio. I found out that the 7 of the
people I asked were female and 2 were
male. Stereotypically, men are known to
like action movies because they have cars,
violence and heroic male protagonist. The
result is surprising since the film is mainly
targeted towards males. The film mostly
has male characters, where they get a
euphoric experience fighting each other.
Women, stereotypically are organised,
passive, and submissive therefore I think
the females might have a negotiated or
oppositional reading to the film if I apply
Paul’s encoding and decoding theory to
this.
Two females have said that
they did not like the violence or
they felt like it was too much,
however the rest agreed that
the violence was right for the
film. Again, Paul’s theory
applies to this due to the
different responses.
All the people I asked were in the
18 to 20 age group. According to
Paul’s theory this effects, the
overall results because the
majority of young people are
open minded and accepting when
it comes to media. The young
generation have grown up in an
era where new idea are
constantly generating and they
are exposed to things that were
taboo decades ago.