The document provides an overview of various audience theories that can be applied to media projects, including: 1. The Hypodermic Syringe Theory which views audiences as passive receivers of media messages. 2. Uses and Gratifications Theory which sees audiences as active users of media to fulfill needs and desires. 3. Reception Theory examines how audiences decode media messages through dominant, negotiated or oppositional readings. It then discusses applying these theories to different media areas and evaluating their relevance and understanding. Key aspects of several theories are defined to help analyze how they can help understand audience relationships to media texts.

2. Objective To describe relevant audience theory.
Success
criteria
GOLD Apply a range of audience theories to own
projects.
SILVER Review theory and identify theory relevant
to own projects.
BRONZE Define key aspects of audience theory.
New key
words
Theory, Maslow’s, Hypodermic Syringe Theory, Uses
and Gratifications, Reception Theory, Auter,
Postmodernism, Hegemony, Moral Panic, Pluralism
Basic skills
(literacy, numeracy, IT)
Note taking
SMSC links Awareness of how the media may or may not have an
effect on the audience – positive and negative
aspects?

3.  What audience theories can you remember?
 Hypodermic Syringe Theory
 Blumler and Katz – Uses and Gratifications
 Stuart Hall – Reception Theory
 Maslow’s Hierachy of Needs
 How would you relate these theories to your
chosen media area?

4.  The Effects Model or Hypodermic Syringe Theory –
◦ The consumption of media texts has an effect or influence upon the audience. It is
normally considered that this effect is negative.
◦ Audiences are passive and powerless to prevent the influence, the power lies with
the message of the text.
◦ Here, the messages in media texts are injected into the audience by the powerful,
syringe-like, media and the audience is powerless to resist.
◦ Therefore, the media works like a drug and the audience is drugged, addicted, doped
or duped.
 Uses and Gratifications Theory –
◦ The Uses and Gratifications Model is the opposite of the Effects Model where the
audience is active . The audience uses the text for its own gratification or pleasure &
is NOT used by it.
◦ This theory emphasises what audiences do with media texts – how and why they use
them
◦ Far from being duped by the media , the audience is free to reject, use or play with
media meanings as they see fit.
 Reception Theory –
◦ When a producer constructs a text it is encoded with a meaning or message that the
producer wishes to convey to the audience which the audience will either successfully
or unsuccessfully decode.
◦ Stuart Hall identified three types of audience readings (or decoding) of the text -
dominant or preferred, negotiated or oppositional

6.  The next few slides cover a range of theories
some of which you have already met, some of
which are new. These can be applied to any
area of the media.
 Think about how they can be applied to your
chosen area of study.
 Do some seem more relevant than others?

7. 1 Nothing is original - Imitation
2 Parody & Pastiche - Simulation, replica,
duplication
3 Bricolage - Sticking together random
elements
4 Self-reflective - Aware of its own status as
construction
5 Hybrid – Mixing styles/genres
6 Blurring of traditional boundaries - e.g.
male/female
7 Mix of high & low culture - Ballet &
breakdance
8 Form over content - Aesthetics
9 Intertextuality – One text referring to
another
Hyperreality
Mentioned in
the Matrix
Baudrillard
In what ways ia
QI postmodern?
Think of other
media examples
Music?
Facebook?

8. Todorov
Propp
Levi-Strauss
8 character types
Binary opposition
3 part structure
LINK the following:
Narrative frame
Backstory
Flashback
Flash forward
Sequel & prequel
Enigma
(Non)-linear
Multistrand
Fractured/fragmented narrative
Open(-ended) vs closed
Series vs serial
Cliff-hanger
Todorov:
Equilibrium
Disruption
Resolution
Repertoire of elements
Iconography
Repetition & variation
Repetition & difference
Hybrid vs pure
Iconography
Once upon a time …
and they all (nearly) lived
happily ever after
Is genre dead?
Who is telling the story?
For whom?
Why? Purpose?
Message? Motivation?
How do we know?
MEDIATION - filtering,
omission, selecting,
ordering
emphasis
(foregrounding)
Syd Field:
3 act structure
Set-up
conflict
/confrontation
Resolution / Pay
off

9. Director of a film
has full creative
control;
Not the producer
or film company
(studio)
Director controls
every aspect of the
production process
Like an author, the
film is their
personal vision
Alfred Hitchcock
David Fincher
Stanley Kubrick
Tim Burton
Wes Anderson
Quentin Tarantino
David Lynch
The style is
Distinctive
Original
Quirky
Individual
Surrealistic
They reject:
- Producer/ studio led
domination
- Genre
- High concept franchise
films
See: Music Video –
Chris Cunningham,
Spike Jonze, David
Fincher
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2bdTA5vUbLp9RhmJ3BlvCm2wydsLM3fP

10. The mass hysteria
arising from a
feeling that society
is in a state of
moral decline &
THAT CERTAIN
GROUPS ARE TO
BLAME .
Popular Media
create scapegoats
(‘folk devils’) who
they blame for
society’s decline
What examples can
you think of where
the media has used
Moral Panics to stir
up resentment and
fear of minority
groups?
Moral
panics are
seized on
and stirred
up by
popular
media
Moral panics in the
media tend to lead to
people demanding
tougher laws, firmer
policing, more
discipline,
immigration controls
etc
Links with Hegemony...
And pressure
to preserve the
STATUS QUO
http://www.slideshare.net/kimberleyfinn/moral-panic

11. “The ideas of the dominant
classes, are in every epoch, the
dominant ideas” (Karl Marx
1845)
The power of
a ruling
minority
(elite) over a
majority
‘upper class’ establishment /
elite / ruling class =
big business & institutions
Aristocracy?
The church?
Landlords? /
Monarchy Government
Oxbridge Rich & Powerful
Editors & media owners
politicians? landowners
Workers (‘the
masses’)
ordinary people
Mainstreamers
Mass audiences
In many
societies ,
the rule of a
minority is
imposed on
the people
by force,
tyranny,
dictatorship
and
oppression
Is this true
in the UK?
Who owns the
media?
Whose side are the
media on?
Gramsci –
says that
hegemony
is
achieved
by winning
the
consent of
the
masses
Preserving
the STATUS
QUO

12. Sometimes called
Liberal Pluralism
The opposite of
hegemony.
Wide variety of media
institutions so there’s
no single dominant view
Multiple opinions.
Generally linked to Western
democracy.
Media objectivity - ‘freedom of the
press’ / freedom of information/
Freedom of expression
Exposing corruption and abuse of
power among the elite
Challenges dominant institutions
Democratization
Digital media,
blogs, protest sites e.g
Object & Everyday
Sexism
The Guardian
Greenpeace
Index on Censorship
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY8pxyO0XL8
In the UK, it
could be
argued that
we have a
PLURALIST
media -
DISCUSS
Gives a voice to
the ordinary
citizens
Empowers users
Covers: User
Generated
content, user
control,
democratization
Arab Spring
Citizen journalism

13. George Gerbner
1960’s
Focus on TV
Steady exposure to media
violence over a period of
time
desensitizes audiences to
the effects of violence
It cultivates a lack of feeling
among audiences
Desensitization= numbing
Over time, it can affect
attitudes and behaviour
Cultivation Theory
Mean World
Syndrome
The more TV
people watch, the
more negative and
pessimistic is their
view of the world
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msfu8YCCc8Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylhqasb1chI
How reliable are
Media effects
models?
For example -
Bandura’s
Bobo Doll
experiment

14. See Dyer ‘s
utopian
pleasures
model
Blumler & Katz 1970sAudiences choose
media for their own
purposes and to
satisfy particular
needs.
Audiences are
active in engaging
with media
Personal Identity
– defining who
you are by the
media you
consume
Information -
‘surveillance’ -
finding out more
Entertainment
escape
‘diversion’
Social
interaction -
Getting on
with others
who share the
same media
tastes;
acceptance
Links with Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs
http://www.slideshare.net/zlorhenley/uses
-and-gratifications-theory-6933502
See critique here on final slide:
PIES

15. What about dystopian
pleasures? Do you think
dystopian representations
have a function?
Give examples
of ‘feel good’
escapist texts
Media provides
people with a
form of
diversion,
escape from
their dull
ordinary lives
Dumbing
down?
Infotainment?
Sometimes
called:
Utopian
Solutions
Model
Links to U & G Theory
Relates to
Game shows/
comedies
Action/adventure
movies
Computer games
Social tension vs Utopian Solution
Exhaustion – Energy
Scarcity- Abundance
Dreariness-Intensity
Fragmentation- Community
Richard Dyer

16. See also
Frankfurt school
Flow Theory
Cultivation
Theory
Links to
-Propaganda
-Advertising
Comes from
Behaviorist
models of
audience
behaviour
War of the Worlds
Radio Drama
US 1938 Mass panic
Audiences are
passive receivers
of media content
Media
influences
audience
behaviour
and
attitudes

17.  Look through each theory.
 Which theories do you agree with?
 Do you disagree with any? Why?
 Which ones are most appropriate to your
choice of media text?
 Is there anything you really don’t understand?
 Discuss your ideas with the people on your
table.