Media Audience Theories Flashcards
Who are the Media Audience theorists?
Bandura, Gerbner, Hall, Jenkins, and Shirky.
Who talks about the Effects theory?
Bandura
Who talks about the Cultivation theory?
Gerbner
Who talks about the Reception theory?
Hall
Who talks about the Fandom theory?
Jenkins
Who talks about the End of Audience theory?
Shirky
What does the Effects theory cover, and who talks about it?
Bandura’s effects theory covers the idea that audiences may copy aggressive behaviour that they see in the media.
The media directly implants ideas into minds of audiences and the pick up new behaviours, attitudes and emotional responses through modelling.
What does the cultivation theory cover, and who talks about it?
Gerbner’s cultivation theory covers the idea that mainstream values and dominant ideologies are reinforced by repeated exposure to representations over a long period of time.
What does the reception theory cover, and who talks about it?
Hall’s reception theory involves the encoding of messages by producers and decoding of messages by audiences. This process is how meaning is created in media texts.
Explain Hall’s reception theory.
Audiences can decode messages from three hypothetical positions:
Preferred reading
Negotiated reading
Oppositional reading
What is preferred reading?
The audience accept the producer’s intended message.
What is negotiated reading?
The producer’s intended message is understood but the audience adapt it to suit their own values.
What is oppositional reading?
The audience disagree with the producer’s intended message.
What does the fandom theory cover, and who talks about it?
Jenkin’s fandom theory covers the idea that fans do not just consume media texts, but are actively involved in collecting, constructing, and distributing textual messages largely via the internet.
Fans construct their social and cultural identifies by borrowing and adapting mass culture images.
What does the End of Audience theory cover, and who talks about it?
Shirky’s end of audience theory covers the idea that digital technologies and the internet have changed the relationship between the media and individuals.
It can no longer be argued that audiences are passive consumers as the line between consumers and producers increasingly blurs.
