Theory: Reception Theory Theorists: The theorist is Stuart Hall between the 1960s 80s

What is the theory? The reception theory explains that a piece of text from the media the messa!e is not always accepted by the audience and they sometimes ha"e their own interpretations to the meanin! of the text and it could be based on their cultural bac#!round or life experiences$ Stuart Hall su!!ested % interpreti"e codes for the readers of the texts$ There are also two parts to the theory the first part of the theory is about encodin! and decodin! messa!es and the second part is the % interpreti"e codes$ &ncodin! is when a product is made the producer pro"ides the product with a messa!e that they want the audience to read and !et the messa!e out to people$ 'or example in newspapers they pro"ide their ima!es with captions$ This is because they can then encode their ideas throu!h headlines and captions so that the audience will !et the messa!e$ There is then decodin! which is when the audience read a piece of media( they decode the messa!e from the producer$ So if someone was loo#in! at a newspaper they could easily decode the messa!e that is bein! put out by the producer as they can !et the messa!e$ The second part to the theory is the different readin! styles of an audience and how the audience interprets the media product$ There is preferred ne!otiated and oppositional$ )referred readin! is where the reader understands the messa!e bein! put across and they completely a!ree with the messa!e$ 'or example if there was an article on a product that made your s#in softer someone who is a preferred reader will 100* a!ree with whats bein! said and will buy the product bein! ad"ertised$ + ne!otiated reader is where they partly share the texts messa!e and accepts the preferred readin! but they can sometimes modify it in a way because of their culture past experiences and interests$ So for the cream example they would defiantly understand the messa!e bein! put across and that it can ma#e you s#in softer but they may not li#e the way its bein! ad"ertised$ 'inally oppositional readin! is where the reader accepts the preferred readin! but they re,ect the readin! and dont share the texts messa!e$ 'or example if someone was watchin! a pro!ramme which was focusin! on a political party they would "ote a!ainst that party$

Does this theory see the audience as active or passive? Why do you think this? The audience is seen as an acti"e audience because the readers can ha"e the ability to interpret the text differently and the text itself doesnt ha"e any specific meanin!$ 'or example -The Simpsons is a well.#nown T/ pro!ramme and they tar!et both youn! and older audiences$ + 01.year old and a 10.year old could watch the same episode but they could interpret the humour differently because the humour can "ary throu!hout the pro!ramme to tar!et different audiences$ +cti"e audiences ha"e their own ideas experiences and thou!hts to the media that they are consumin!$ What are the criticisms of this theory? + criticism of this theory is that people apply their own experiences to the messa!e bein! !i"en and this is 2uite bias because they are ,ud!in! the product from their experience and may tell other people their experiences which could put them off buyin! the product$ )eople who ha"e their own ideas and experiences are different from those who created the product$ )eople will apply their own messa!e to the product which could be a !ood or a bad messa!e so the media should focus more on pro"idin! messa!es and !ettin! the messa!e across to the reader$