Audience Effects Theory

 

                                                    AUDIENCE EFFECTS THEORY

  1) Write a definition of a passive audience: 

Passive audiences are Audiences that absorb any information from the media - my definition 

Passive: This is the view that audiences passively take in information from the media and that these messages have the same effect on everyone.

2) Write a definition of an active audience: 

Active audiences are audiences that engage and respond to the media in cotroversial ways - my definition

Active: This is the more modern and generally accepted view that audiences interact with and make conscious choices regarding the media they consume.

3) Write a definition of the hypodermic needle theory: 

The hypodermic needle theory is a theory that shows that all audiences are passive and believe the main message that the producer was trying to send - my definiton  

This is the suggestion that audiences are always passive and therefore take the intended message from the producer as if it was injected into their minds. This assumes no individual difference in audience members.

4) Write down a media product (e.g. TV show, newspaper or videogame) for each category of Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory and WHY it fits that particular audience use/gratification. The first one is done for you:

INFORMATION/SURVEILLANCE: Media text - The Times newspaper
 > Why: It tells audiences important information about politics, the world and more.

PERSONAL IDENTITY: Tv show
 > Why:  Sometimes a characters life style can relate to yours and you see yourself on the screen

 

 DIVERSION/ENTERTAINMENT: Video games
 > Why: It helps you forget about the World and diverts your brain towards the vitural reality.

 

 RELATIONSHIPS: Tv shows
 > Why: The audience builds a bond with the characters- not wanting them to get hurt or finding out what will happen to them next.

5) Re-watch the clip from Blue Planet above and write a paragraph analysing how elements of the clip offer the audience pleasures or gratifications (use media terminology from Uses and Gratifications theory and the 3 Vs - notes outlined above). 

In the clip from Blue Planet, we can see the Information category as it shows a part of the World that the audience may have not seen or explored. This information can be useful for the audience. The audience also get a voyeuristic pleasure as sea life animals are not what we see on a daily basis. Therefore, this can be classified as voyeurisitc.