2. Stuart Hall-
developed
the theory
for media
texts
Reception theory emphasizes the
reader response from a text.
It is a form of reader response literary
theory that was developed in the
1960’s by Hans-Robert Jauss.
Stuart Hall later developed it for media
and communication studies and the
theory is most influential from the
1980’s onwards.
3. Stuart Hall’s approach to textual analysis
is based on ‘negotiation’ and ‘opposition’.
This means that texts do not have
intrinsic meanings but instead have
meanings encoded into them which are
then decoded by the reader.
The way a reader decodes a text is
dependent on sociological factors such as
age, past experiences and their own
beliefs.
The meaning of a text is therefore
created through the relationship between
the text and the reader.
4. They share a similar
cultural background and
will therefore decode texts
differently to people from
other cultural
backgrounds.
When a group of readers share a similar
cultural background it is more likely that
they will decode a similar meaning.
If a reader has a different cultural
background to the producer of a text the
less likely it is they will decode the
meaning that the producer intended.
Producers can try to encourage readers to
gather the intended meaning in their text
by encoding it but it is still relative to the
reader how they decode it.
