Monday, November 20, 2006
Uses and Gratifications Theory
The idea that people are free to choose what they get from the media and use it to fulfill their needs. Gratification in the media fulfills personal needs for the audience including personal identity with characters, (catharsis), escapism and the texts can even be part of a regular routine, for example soaps. This relates to pluralistic views and ideas and assumes an active audience.
Reception Theory
This theory looks at how the audience reads the text, rather than why they do. Everyone gets something different from the text depending on who they are. There are three types of reading for any media text: dominant, negotiated and oppositional.
Effects Theory
Started by the Frankfurt school this theory assumes a passive audience. Part of this is the hypodermic needle model which states that the media inject the audience with values and ideologies. Also, the cultivation theory which says that repeated exposure to something will desensitise the audience.
a_moran at 10:12 pm