The relationship between the TV & theeUses & gratification theory

You have a piece of paper in front of you.

Write down three things:

Your favourite movie

Your favourite TV show

A TV show you put on often but which isn’t one of your ‘favourites’.

Last week we looked at hypodermic needle theory.

What type of audience does hypodermic needle theory believe you are? Passive, or active?

In uses & gratifications viewers are powerful enough to decide what they will watch, and what they won’t.

Viewers are able to interpret what they watch, drawing their own meaning rather than it just being universally imposed by the videos director.

Viewers then receive gratification (pleasure) through the satisfaction of meeting their desires, goals or needs.

For example:

I wanted to forget about what a bad day I had at work so I put on Geordie Shore, that cheered me up.

U & G assumes viewers select what they want to watch.

They do this based on:

their own needs.

their goals for consuming media.

Through watching films, TV programmes and videos the viewer receives some kind of gratification.

Identity

Some videos can help us to develop, or reinforce, our sense of self:

We watch some media because it helps us to reinforce our values

Some films & TV give us an insight into human nature & who we are

It helps us to find and identify acceptable ways to behave

Educate

Some media can help us to deepen our understanding by:

Satisfying your generally curious nature

Finding answers to your specific problems

Finding information about your local world.

Finding information about the whole world.

Entertain

Some videos can entertain us in different ways, by:

Help to kill time

Help us to relax

Escape from real life (escapism) and its hardships / problems / boredom

Gives us emotional gratification (it helps us to feel)

Give us sexual gratification

Social interaction

Some videos help us to interact with others more easily by:

Building a sense of empathy, connection and understanding with others

Finding a sense of belonging

Giving us companionship when we are alone

Giving us something to talk about with other people

Take out that piece of paper you have...

Look at those three videos.

Analyse your viewings habits based on U&G.

What do you watch to learn your values or reinforce who you are?

What do you watch when you want to escape real life?

What videos help build your empathy?

Task 1

REFLECT.

Look over your videos and apply U&G theory to them.

Be critical.

Pick apart what you watch, why you watch it and what how it gratifies you.