Audience Theories

Audience Theories 

There are three different theories of audience that we can apply to help us come to a better understanding about the relationship between texts and the audiences. These theories include - The Effects model or the Hypodermic model, The Uses and gratifications model and the Reception theory.

 

The old theory – the Hypodermic model – suggest that the message in media texts is ‘injected’ into the audience by the powerful ‘syringe’ like media. Therefor the media is thought to work like a ‘drug; and therefore makes the audience ‘addicted’. The audience however is powerful enough to resist. The newer theory – The Effects model – suggest that the consumption of media text has an effect or influence on the audience, and that it’s normally considered that this effect is negative. The audiences are passive and powerless to prevent the influence and the power lies within the message of the text.

The second theory is The Uses and gratifications model. This theory is the complete opposite to the effects model. This model suggests that the audience is active, and that the power lies with the audience and not with the producers. So instead of the audience being ‘drugged’ by the text, like the hypodermic model suggest, we as the audience are free to reject, use/play with the meanings as they seem fit. Audiences therefor use media texts to gratify needs for, diversion, escapism, information, pleasure, relationships and sexual stimulation. By the audience being it control it allows the audience to deal with issues such as, learning, emotional satisfaction, relaxation, personal identity, social identity and issues with aggression and violence.

The third theory is The Reception theory. This theory is a mix of the other theories, as this one suggests that the texts are encoded with meanings behind them by the producers and are decoded by the audience. So when a producer constructs a text it is encoded with a meaning or a message that the producer wants to convey to the audience. Sometimes the audience will correctly decode the message and understand the message, or sometimes the audience may reject or fail to understand the meaning or the message behind the text. Stuart Hall identified three types of decoding; the first is dominant/preferred, this means that the audience understand the message and completely agree with it. The second is negotiated, this is where the audiences accepts, rejects or refines elements of the text in light of previous held views and the third is oppositional. This is where the dominant meaning is recognised but is rejected for cultural, political and ideological reasons.