Audience Theories:

Audience theories:
Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
Maslow said that there are 5 basic needs
of humans:
1.air, water, food, shelter, sleep and sex.
2.safty and security.
3.love, to belong and to be wanted.
4.self-esteam.
5.creativity.
Producers use these to engage an audience and appeal to one of there needs.
For example car adverts (no.3) a group of people, driving and singing. Its trying to
convey that if you buy this car you will achieve that life style. Phone adverts
(no.5)you will become a more creative person if you have this phone.
In terms of food adverts, they dont play on humans need of food (no. 1 and 2) but
suggest that if you eat their food you will find the love of your life because you like
and eat the same foods.
When looking at adverts its often easy to see which need it is fulfilling, shock adverts
are used for lower needs(no.1 and 2).

Passive audience: assume the audience

dont question/react to what they see and
go along with it. As a passive audience
you would go and do what you see e.g.
violent video game and University
shooting.

During this time there only

forms of media text was:
>radio
>cinema
>news papers
>magazines

Audience theories:
Hypodermic syringe theory(1923)
An active audience, therefore, uses the texts and its gratifications
(Blumer and Katz 1974)
o
o
o
o

Diversion: escaping from there own life, or an emotional release.

Personal relationships: companionship.
Personal identity: comparing your own life.
Surveillance: to see what else is going on in the world.

Audience Theories:
Pleasures.
People might like a particular film/TV series/magazine because it offers them more
than one pleasure.
Visceral: a physical reaction has been created
e.g. in saw or the human centipede.
voyeuristic: spying on others e.g. Facebook or twitter.
Puzzle solving: working things out e.g. Broadchurch or NCIS.
Destructive: produces chaos e.g. the impossible or the walking dead.
Vicarious: living via other people e.g. casualty or Holyoake.
Aesthetic: a beautifully made text e.g. beautiful creatures.
Other ways of categorising and audience is though psychographic. This divides
markets into groups of social class, life style and personality. This reflects that persons
characteristics and patterns. Social class is one of the single most used variable for
research. This divides the population into groups and the occupation of the chief
income earner(CIE).

Audience theories:
social-economic scale.
This is a UK scale, which is a national survey, that provide the following
standardized groups.
Grade

Occupation

Example

A higher manager
Administrator
professional

Company
Judge
Head of a school.

Intermediate managerial
Administrator
professional

Middle manager
High education
teacher

C1

Clerical
Junior
supervisor

Bank clerk

C2

skilled
Manager
worker

Plummer

Simi-unskilled
manager
worker

labour

State pensioners
Student(casual job)
unemployed

Charity work
Saturday job
unemployed

Young and Rubican:

cross cultural consumer characterization
>Resigned: a rigid, strict person, likely watch Corrie/Emerdle because its on every day. Type
of person who gets life insurance and does not like any think new or trendy. Typically old
people.
>Struggler: a disorganised person, who is a large consumer of drugs/alcohol/junk food/fake
goods. Watches Jeremy Kyle e.g. unemployed.
>Aspirer: a materialistic type of person who believe/engage in plastic surgery adverts,
watches Holyoaks e.g. students.
>Mainstreamer: a conformist/domestic/conventional person, who wont shop at Aldi/Lidi
because they sell not known brands. Also wont buy latest tech, they will wait entail it become
conventional.
>Succeeder: some one with strong goals/confident/god work ethic. Shows off with high quality
brand cloths, watches bake off e.g. secondary student.
>Explorer: an energetic person, who enjoys new expiries. Wants the latest tech e.g. the
apple watch/google glasses/ electronic car. Watching the latest blockbuster e.g. upper class,
gap year person.
>Reformer: free from restriction/personal growth/social awareness. Conscience about
recycling/fairtrade/grow your own. Buys nice, good quality, non branded cloths. Shop small, local
rather than big and faceless. Watches world documenters e.g. middle age traveller.

Applying audience theories to

Footloose.

In this film, I think they are playing to the need of love and belonging because it stars with a
voice over of a religious speech.
However the dancing feet, that officially starts the film and tells the audience who is in the film,
could be playing on the need to be creative and have self-confidence.
The people in the church are shown to be a passive audience, because they don't question
what the preacher says, unlike the viewer (me and the main characters in the movie) who are
an active audience, questions what he is saying. As an active audience, they are looking for a
diversion of their own life.
The pleasure is aesthetic- a beautifully made text. I think this because is it about young people
and a town going though tragedy and hardship. Fun, music and dance were taken away from
them and rules and restriction put in there place. All the young people want to do is dance.
None of the people are really above a B or C1 on the social-economic scale, this makes the film
relatable for a majority.
An example of Young and Rubican cross cultural consumer characterization is that the preacher
is a resigned character. He does not like things that are new, trendy, possibly dangerous or
sexualised. In the opening Arial is portrayed as a struggler/explorer, she is a consumer of
alcohol and junk food, but also wants new experiences and thrills. Ren, the main characterer, is
shown as a reformer, he appears free from restriction, because he has read books that are
banned in the town. The hole town is mainstream and conventional they, like the preacher,
dont want things that are new. The people seen are domestic and conformist.