Theory: Hypodermic Needle ModelTheorists:

Harold Lasswell

What is the theory?

The theory that is Hypodermic Needle Model is that the audience will believe anything that they are told to them by the media. The audience is expected to do what they have been told. This was during the time when there was not a lot of entertainment & the audience would be lead to accept what they were told as it was accessed by the masses. The theory is largely disproved in modern day society though. Lowery & De Fleur summed up the audience & why the theory ‘worked’ in a book: "Uniformly controlled by their biologically based 'instincts' and that they react more or less uniformly to whatever 'stimuli' came along". Basically this means that everyone acts similar to what entertainment they are given e.g. everyone will like the show ‘The Big Bang Theory’. The term ‘hypodermic needle’ I meant to represent how the audience is ‘injected’ with something directly.

Does this theory see the audience as active or passive? Why do you think this?

This theory sees the audience as passive. The reason for this is because they expect the audience just to accept what is ‘injected’ into them without a fuss & without having their own opinion. They are expected to have no opinion on the product & agree with & believe what is being shown to them. It is like the entertainment has some sort of power on the consumer.

What are the criticisms of this theory?

There are many criticisms of this theory, specifically in modern times. Theorists now believe that audiences have their own opinion & will stick to their own opinion. As an audience, the media does not control us & this can be agreed with by looking at other, more recent, theories e.g. uses & gratifications theory. We are much more of a active audience now, as we have many choices to what we watch & have different outlets to find out the truth. This was a problem in 1938, when a broadcast of the novel The War Of The Worlds caused panic due to the mass of the American audience.

Theory has may times come under scrutiny & has been disproved, most notably by Lazarsfeld. He studied the propaganda during a presidential campaign to see if it would change whom they would vote for. He determined that is did not change who the voter would vote for, the numbers largely stayed the same

Theory: Uses & Gratifications

Theorists:

Harold Lasswell, Bulmer & Katz & Denis McQuail

What is the theory? The theory basically explores the way in which an audience consumes different types of media, why they access it & what they get from it. It also looks at how an audience will take time & energy to find the media they want to consume. This also links in with the point I made above about why a consumer would access a certain type of media.

Denis McQuail’s development is arguably includes the most well known categories, compared to the categories produced by other theorists Harold Lasswell & Bulmer & Katz. The 4 categories of uses & gratifications that McQuail came up with are:

1) Information: the audience will find out about things that are relevant to them e.g. society. The consumer will also seek advice about matters that affect them & ask information to satisfy their curiosity.

2) Personal Identity: The audience will seek out media that they identify with e.g. characters or role models to help, possibly similar to their own personal values.

3) Integration & social interaction: The consumer wants to gain things like social empathy, feel a sense of belonging, interaction & conversation.

4) Entertainment: the consumer wants to be entertained because they want to relax, be diverted from real life or to gain cultural or aesthetic enjoyment.

Does this theory see the audience as active or passive? Why do you think this?

This theory sees the audience as active. Although the theory classifies why we access a certain type of media, it does not tell us which on to choose & we do seek it out ourselves. The 4 categories show that we access the media for things such as ‘personal values’ ‘identify’ & ‘seek advice’, these things are all active features an audience member can do. If the audience was seen as passive, like in the hypodermic needle theory, we would all have followed the same ‘personal values’ (making them not personal), we would all be seeking the same advice.

What are the criticisms of this theory?

There are quite a few criticisms about uses & gratifications theory. One of the criticisms of this theory is that the data the person wants to get is actually very hard to extract e.g. the audience member does not know exactly why they are accessing a certain type of media or they don’t realise why they are. Therefore it is hard to do research on the subject.

Another criticism of the theory is that a piece of media produced is meant to be produced for a particular interpretation, but gets interpreted in another way: it throws away what the production was meant for.

Theory: Reception

Theorists:

Hans-Robert JaussStuart Hall

What is the theory? This theory is based on the audience: how they will receive & then interpret the media that they consume. What the media producer puts into their product is called encoding. This is basically how said person wants their product to be looked at. The producer has a specific way they want their product to taken by the audience, they have an idea. What the audience actually gets out of the product is titled decoding. This is what the audience actually gets out of the product: how they read it.

There are three different types of readings an audience member can have, according to this theory:

Preferred: this is when the audience member will understand the meaning & also agree with said meaning. This is what all media producers will want an audience to react like, thus making it the preferred choice. Negotiated: this audience member understands the meaning & accepts it. The difference compared to being a preferred audience member is that they will modify the product in a way they can connect & reflect from it on a personal level. They have negotiated with the product. Oppositional: These audience members, like the other two readings, understand the reading. The difference is, is that they actually reject what the reading has stated. They have an opposite or a different opinion from what the product states. Does this theory see the audience as active or passive? Why do you think this?

I think this theory sees the audience as active, although it does put them into categories. The categories cover every audience member & they are allowed their own opinion. Everyone will have their own & different opinions on a subject. The theory takes into account the human nature of agreeing, understanding, disagreeing & modifying different products& stories.If there was only agreeing or disagreeing, you could say that the theory is passive as it suggests that the audience member cannot intake information & put a personal touch on the subject.

What are the criticisms of this theory?

Some people claim that the theory then means that the actual product/ text has no meaning, as categories have already been put into place to put the thing in. Another criticism is that the meaning of the text/product is only produced through the reader (audience member) & the product. Both points leading to the product not actually having any involvement into how the audience will react to it. I disagree with this though as there would be no opinion if there was no product.