AudienceReception TheoryBy Ella McLeod

Reception Theory• In literature it originated from the work of Hans-Robert Jauss in the late

1960’s.• Reception theory was at its most influential during the 1970’s and 1980’s in

Germany and USA, amongst some notable work in Western Europe.• ‘People are not passive’ – This approach to textual analysis focuses on the

scope for negotiation and opposition on the part of the audience.• Smart Hall stressed the role of social positioning in mass media texts by

different social groups.• In a model derived from Frank parkin’s ‘meaning systems’ Hall suggests three

hypothetical interpretative codes of positions for the reader of a text…

Reception Models• Dominant – Hegemonic reading. – The reader fully shares the texts code. They

accept and reproduce the preferred reading – this means the code seems ‘natural’ and ‘transparent.’

• Negotiated Reading – The reader partly shares the texts code and broadly accepts the preferred reading – however the sometimes modify it in a way which reflects their own position, experiences and interests – this position involves contradictions.

• Oppositional – Counter hegemonic reading – The reader, whose social situation places them in a directly oppositional relation to the dominant code, understands the preferred reading but does not share the text’s code and rejects this reading,.

Most Audience Theory focuses on Two Questions

• How powerful are the media in influencing the ideas and behaviour of the audience?

• How does the media shape an audience’s perception of the world?

• As suggested with the previous audience theories models -

representations are open to different interpretations and that their meanings are not fixed.

Consumption of Media

• Primary Media – Texts demand close and concentrated attention from audience e.g films in cinemas.

• Secondary Media – texts provide a background for an audience who are often doing something else at the same time and are distracted e.g radio and some tv programmes

Other Theories

• Aside from the Reception theory there are two other models that we can apply to help us understand the relationship between texts and audience. –

• The Effects Model or the Hypodermic Model• The Uses and Gratifications Model

The Effects / Hypodermic Model

• The consumption of media texts has an effect or influence upon the audience. It is normally considered a negative effect – suggests audiences are passive and powerless to prevent the influence and the power lies within the message of the text.

• This theory is also called the hypodermic model because media texts are being injected into the audience almost by a syringe-like media – Again the audience is powerless to resist and therefore you could say the media works like a drug.

Bobo Doll Experiment

• This relates to the famous study by Albert Bandura in 1961.

• Put briefly – Young children watched a clip of adults aggressively beating and wacking a Bobo Doll, after watching the children were also left with a Bobo Doll. Unsurprisingly the children, although not usually aggressive, were later seen similarly attacking the Bobo Doll.

• This shows that in watching the adults they too were influenced. This suggests that children could also imitate violent media content as though what they have viewed is being injected into their own being.

The Uses and Gratifications Model

• With this model the power lies with the audience and not the producers – This theory emphasises what audiences do with media texts and how and why they use them. The audience is free to reject, use or play with media meanings as they see fit.

• Audiences therefore may use media texts to gratify needs for – Diversion, Escapism, Pleasure, Information and Sexual Stimulation.

• The audience in this model are active and use the model but are not used by it. It is essentially the opposite of the Effects Model – The audience use the text for their own gratification and pleasure.