Audience Theory

Task One

1.       Do you think the audiences for most media texts do come “from all walks of life” or do different kinds of people watch very different kinds of programme? Are there any examples of media texts that you can think of that do seem to have audiences of all kinds of people?

Many different people watch different types of programs, for example, a young child is more likely to watch programs on the Cbeebies channel, rather than the Discovery channel. Whereas adults are more likely to watch action programs/films such as Die Hard, rather than watching animated programs such as Teletubies.

However, there are various programs in which any type of audience within the marquee theory (Old, Young, Male & Female) such as News programs (however there is a special news program dedicated to the younger viewers – Newsround) also many tv soaps such as Coronation Street, and Eastenders can be viewed by all audiences, but different ages will interpret the action in different ways.

2.       How much of your media experience occurs when you are on your own and how much when you are with others? 

Many media experiences occur when you are with others. However, from my own experiences I feel that you are more passive whilst watching the content alone. This is because you are more likely to focus on the program/film. On the contrary, when you are watching films/programs whilst in the company of other people you don’t tend to focus on the content of the program, as you may be easily distracted by other people. Also, you maybe more likely to channel flick, because you may not all be able to decide on a program to watch, due to conflicting interests.

3.       Are there any ways in which you share your experiences of the media with other people who weren’t around when you experienced the text? List as many ways as you share experiences (e.g. Msn etc)

-          Conversation

-          Internet social networking sites:

o   Facebook

o   Twitter

o   Msn

o   etc

-          Phone calls

-          SMS messaging

Task Two

1.       Can you think of any examples where the media have been seen to influence public behaviour or have been blamed for an individuals behaviour? 

There is at least one example of where the media have influenced the behaviour of viewers is Manhunt. Manhunt was a video game released in 2003, and was soon discontinued due to the controversy with it surrounding the death of Stefan Pakeerah. As it was claimed that the graphic images of executions influenced Warren Leblanc to commit the murder of his ‘friend’.

2.       Is this influence always negative?


No, many programs or films have a positive influence, be it from encouraging people to cook through masterchef, or some programs also include a positive message, for example, in Russell Howards good news, there is a good news section at the end of the program, where he states that, "it isnt all doom and gloom".


 

Task 4

Place the following genres into their correct category.

Information	Identity	Social Interaction	Diversion
The News Horizon Escape To The Country	X Factor Cribs	EastEnders Hollyoaks The Bill Friends Life On Mars Coronation Street House	Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Qi I’m A Celebrity

Which of the above programmes might be guilty of employing the ‘Hypodermic Model’ and which therefore might also reflect Blumer’s views on audience?

The type of programmes which would be guilty of the Hypodermic Model would be social interaction programmes, such as Eastenders, The Bill etc. This is because many people become passive when watching these types of programmes, and tend to absorb the action. Another sign that programmes use the hypodermic model is that at the end of some programmes, there is a message informing the audience to contact the help line if they have been affected by what has happening within the programme.

Task 5

Look at the opening of ‘Nanny McPhee’. Think about the way the text has been constructed through the use of codes. What has been encoded for the audience to decode?

Many films are coded in different ways. What this means is that a film is produced to portray one message, and the audience interprets in another way. However this can change depending on the age of the audience, for example an adult is more likely to understand the action of the film, whereas a child would interpret in another way. In the case of Nanny McPhee, children will look at the film as a comedy/horror, with the case of a nasty carer, whereas the more mature audience are more likely to look at the film as a comedy, as they will understand that the storyline is not real.