Audience Theory

ANNABEL TRUMAN | A2 MEDIA STUDIES

Richard Dyers Theory

Richard Dyers theory was that audiences buy into

films that offer them some sort of utopian solution to

their own lives; gives them a sense of escapism

Pretty In Pink (1986)

In the film pretty in pink there is

a utopian solution featured,

The nerdy girl gets the jock
guy at the prom which is a
utopian solution to a scenario
that doesnt always pan out like
it does in reality.
People buy into films like this
because they want to feel
uplifted or experience
something positive which
sometimes can be the opposite
of peoples lives.

The Frankfurt School

The Frankfurt schools theory debates whether the

audience is easily manipulated; questioning their

intelligence and their opinions
The Hypodermic Needle Model

The Frankfurt School

With coming of age films the audience is generally

not passive. The audience tends to be more

empathetic and tends to think about the characters
lives and how the storyline affects these characters.
A common syntactic element in coming of age films
is the social groupings/cliques the characters are
placed in. The way characters are represented will
make the audience think about themselves and how
they can relate o he characters.

Blumler & Katz Theory

Blumler & Katz believed that

audiences watch films for the

following reasons

Entertainment & Diversion

Personal relationships/ social interaction
Personal identity
Information/Education
An example of a film that fits into all of
these categories is Richard Linklaters
Boyhood (2014)

David Buckingham Theory

The main audience for coming of age films is young

people as they can easily relate to the storylines or

they know someone that can relate to the storyline in
the film. By relating to the product they can then
identify themselves with the characters and offer
some form of empathy towards the characters. For
example in most coming of age films there is most
often a group of outcasts and people that have not had
an easy childhood; they may have been bullied when
they were younger could relate to these characters on
the screen.

David Buckingham Theory

A film in which the audience could relate to the

characters would be The Breakfast Club (1985) as

there are characters that fit into all different
stereotypes
The Jock
The Rebel
The Goody-to-shoes
The Prankster