Audience Theories Handout

1. Theory:ReceptionTheory
Theorists:StuartHall
What isthe theory?
ReceptionTheorylooksathowaudiencesreceive andinterpretthe mediatheyconsume.
The theoryhas twoparts. the firstis concernedwithencodinganddecoding.encodingis
where the producerof a mediaproductfillsthatproductwitha message thatthey want to
getout of people.Newspapersare agoodexample of this.Byanchoringtheirimageswith
captionsandusingemotive headlines,theyencode theirideasintothe paper.Onthe other
handdecodingiswhere the consumerof the mediadecodesthe messagefromthe media
producer.Whenlookingata newspaper,the audience cangetthe message thatisbeing
put outby the publisher.Aswithall communication,there islotsof roomfor
interpretation.The decodingprocessreliesonandisinfluencedbythe consumersprevious
experience.Let’stake the exampleof asong,The songwriterusesmusicandlyricsto try
and conveysomethingtothe audience.The audiencetheninterpretsthissongsandits
meaning.The secondpartof the theoryconcentratesonhow someone understandsa
mediaproduct.Hall’sideaisthatthe readerof a mediatextcan interpretitina numberof
ways.The Preferredmethodiswhere the readerunderstandsthe message andagreeswith
it.The negotiatediswhere the readergenerallyaccepts the preferredreadingbut
sometimesmodifiesitinawaywhichreflectstheirownposition,experiencesand
interests.The final methodisoppositional whichiswhere the readerhasan alternative,
opposite view.
Doesthistheorysee the audience asactive orpassive?Whydo youthinkthis?
The Receptiontheoryassume thatthe audiencesare active intheirmediaconsumption.
Thisis because active audiencesapplytheirownthoughts.ideasandexperiencestothe
mediatheyare consuming.
What are the criticismsof thistheory?
The term receptiontheoryreferstoan attemptamongliteraryandfilmtheoriststo
account forthe fact that a single textcanbe interpretedindifferentwaysbydifferent
readers.Inso doing,the theoristsofferontological claimsabouttextualmeaningin
general.suchtheoriesalsoclaimthatsince the experience of readingatextoccurswithina
particular,historical specificcontext,acriticcan account for interpretationsof atextonly
by investigatingthiscontingentcontextandnotthroughrecourse tothe textitself.The
phenomenonof variedreadingsandthe existenceof contingentcontexts,than,are
perceivedasontologicalandepistemological problemswhichrequire atheoretical method
inorder forone to performcritical functions.Inshort,the inabilityof readerstoagree ona
single,non-contradictoryinterpretationof anygiventextsuggeststomanyreception
theoriesthattextshave nomeaningsandsecondlythe meaningis producedbythe reader
throughthe interactionof himor herself andthe text.
Applythe theory:
An example of thisisthe Alex Buttnerinterview aboutStevenGerrard.The dailymail
simplyreleasedthisstorywiththe headlinebeingacontroversial headlinethatisbeing
quotedbya player.The preferredmethodwouldbe toagree withwhatButtnerissaying

2. and to saythat he wasa successjustbecause he wona premierleague title andSteven
Gerrard didnot.The negotiatedmethodwouldbe tosee the pointeitherwayinthe fact
that youcan see whatbuttneristryingto saybut on the otherhand itis total nonsense.
The opposite viewwouldbe tothinkthatbuttnerstheoryisa complete joke andisa
ridiculouspointthathe istryingto make.