The
Active audience theory argues that media audiences dont just receive
information passively but are often unconsciously actively engaged
and make sense of the message within their personal and social contexts.
Decoding of a media message may be influenced by such things including values,
family background, beliefs and culture.
Reading
Preferred reading/dominant ready
The 'intended' reading
of the text
-The simpsons is a program appropriate for
all ages. With the show revolving around a nuclear family type ( married
parents and blood related children , pets etc) the programme is family
friendly. It uses current issues and trends with a twist to add comedy to
everyday lives. Through the main characters never changing age , image etc and
remaining the central characters in the text the program is made to remain
current and to appear as though it is a 'classic'.
Oppositional reader
your dislike/disagree
with the preferred reading
- Although the Simpsons is made to
appear as though it is directed at a family based audience catering to audience
members of all ages and racial backgrounds etc , it simply reflects the bias of
the westernised world and elite. It reinforces gender differences in a
derogative manner and undermines the role of women through the low status of
Marge in the family. It also reinforcenegative stereotypes of ethnic groups for
example those of an Asian background simply portraying asian men to be shop
keepers and asian wives to have large numbers of kids which is not nececerily
the reality. Thus making it inapropriate for younger viewers .
Negotiated reading
you dislike and like
different aspects
-Although the Simpsons can in general be
positively recieved by all audience types it could be argued that at times it
takes realistic and current storylines too far and over exagerates them to the
point where they can no longer allow audience members to gain personal
gratifications from viewing the text .
Encoding/decoding model
Contemporary semioticians refer to the creation
and interpretation of texts as 'encoding' and 'decoding'
respectively.
In 1973, Stuart Hall published a paper entitled
'Encoding/decoding'. This had a major influence on cultural studies, the essay
challenges popular assumptions on how media messages are produced, circulated
and consumed proposing a new theory of communication.
Uses and gratification
theory
Uses and gratifications theory (UGT) is an
approach to understanding why and how people actively seek out specific media
to satisfy specific needs. UGT is an audience centered approach to
understanding mass communication.
Diverging from other media effect theories that
question "what do media do to people?", UGT focuses on "what do
people do with media?"
