LEARNING OUTCOME:

Audience Theories

• To develop knowledge of audience theories

• To develop analytical skills in analysing TV drama using media theories

HYPODERMIC NEEDLE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt5MjBlvGcY&list=PLRD_y_7oYYFsUtblLCVbyeaBYw4MPDei9

TWO STEP FLOW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csGHExeP3uA

TWO STEP FLOW

Think about this honestly - are your opinions about television, films or groups ever influenced by other people? Give an example of how this theory could be applied to the media today.How did you begin watching your favourite TV Drama?Did you introduce others to the show? How?Do you maintain a relationship with other fans?

USES AND GRATSDuring the 1960s, as the first generation to grow up with

television became grown ups, it became increasingly apparent to media theorists that audiences made choices about what they did when consuming texts. Far from being a passive mass, audiences were made up of individuals who actively consumed texts for different reasons and in different ways. In 1948 Lasswell suggested that media texts had the following functions for individuals and society:

surveillance

correlation

entertainment

cultural transmission

USES AND GRATSResearchers Blulmer and Katz expanded this theory and

published their own in 1974, stating that individuals might choose and use a text for the following purposes (i.e. uses and gratifications):

Diversion - escape from everyday problems and routine.

Personal Relationships - using the media for emotional and other interaction, e.g. substituting soap operas for family life

Personal Identity - finding yourself reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values from texts

Surveillance - Information which could be useful for living e.g. weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains

Since then, the list of Uses and Gratifications has been extended, particularly as new media forms have come along (e.g. video games, the internet)

Examine your TV Drama and apply the uses and gratification theory, identifying examples from the TV Drama to support your points and discussing the effect of the examples on the audience.

Use the following uses and gratifications theory

Uses and Gratification

ExampleHow does it appeal to

the reader

Personal identity

Entertainment and escapism

Social interaction (debate)

Surveillance and information

CRITIQUES

What critiques might be given of the uses and gratifications theory?

Is there times when you don’t have choice of the media texts that you receive?

PREFERRED READING

This is what the institution wants you to see/understand within a media text. As we all know, we can sometimes offer a radical or oppositional reading (a David Morley term) by rejecting the message (see aberrant decoding)

ABERRANT DECODING

When an audience 'fails to get the message' and reads a text the wrong way (e.g. the empty flag pole above Buckingham Palace following Diana's death)

DOMINANT/NEGOTIATED/OPPOSITIONAL READING

The position or level of acceptance we might give to media messages and their inherent ideology based upon our social, class, political outlook and the context of consumption. Parkin, Hall and Morley all offer slightly different labels for a broadly similar approach. Typifies the more up to date academic approach to audience research from the 1980s onwards

1. Look at the poster for True Blood. Explain who the audience (or audiences) is/are for this text in detail, and give reasons for your answer. You should refer to your notes on demographics to help you answer this question. Annotate the poster with detailed comments 2. How can audience theory be applied to this text. Consider:

★Hypodermic Syringe Theory★Uses and Gratifications★Reception Theory