Stuart Hall's reception theory for AS media studies 2022

1. Reception theory
AS media studies: Stuart Hall's reception theory

2. WHAT IS THE
RECEPTION
THEORY?
Stuart's Hall reception theory simply states
how the audience will decode the encodes
left by the producer in media texts. These
will differ according to specific audience
types and Stuart Hall has arranged these
different views into three different
readings. s t u a r t h a l l

3. dominant
reading
oppositional
reading
negotiated
reading
d i f f e r e n t t y p e s o f r e a d i n g s

4. DOMINANT
READING
The audience views the media the way
the producer intended.
The dominant reading is usually acquired
if the narrative displayed by the producer
is easy to follow along with and the basic
themes are portrayed.
The audience will also share this reading if
they are likely the preferred age and
share similar culture and morals.
An example of this reading is
portrayed in Batman: The Dark
Knight as there is very clearly a
villian in the joker.

5. OPPOSITIONAL
READING
When the audience rejects the preferred reading, hence
creating their own meaning for the text.
The audience will reject the preferred reading if the
narrative is complex and contains themes that are
controversial.
This will also be due to the fact that the audience may be of
different age or culture and the themes are not part of
modern society.
An example of this reading is a media text promoting
terrorist themes.

6. A compromise between the dominant and
oppositional reading as the audience may
understand and accept some views but will
also differ from the dominant view.
An audience may have a negotiated view
due to the narrative being too complex and
the audience not fully understanding the
themes represented.
NEGOTIATED
READING
An example may be video games
that involve shooting or murder
which an audience may not
necessarily agree with but still
enjoy playing.

7. age
gender
culture
life experience
FACTORS THAT
MAY AFFECT THE
READING THE
AUDIENCE TAKES
ON
beliefs
mood at time
of viewing