THEORY & THEORISTS

“People are sheep. Media is the shepherd.”

 Effects theory
The Frankfurt School: A school of social theory and critical philosophy associated with the Institute for Social
Research, at Goeth University, Frankfurt, concerned with the impact of the rise of the media industries.
This is the basis of the EFFECTS theory, where the audience are passive and thus manipulated and indoctrinated by
the ruling classes, who control the media. This was basically the fear of capitalist freedom seeping into controlled
Marxist ideology; basically the loss of control of the way the masses think.
The Hypodermic Needle Model: The original model for explaining the effects theory which demonstrates the effects
of the mass media on their audiences, in particular film, ‘injecting’ the passive audiences with ideologies. This
systematic brainwashing of the audience is a gradual process where they are so slowly, but constantly, (mis)informed
of a propaganda that they start to believe and agree with what they are ‘injected’.
Cultivation Theory: A more refined version of the effects theory suggesting that while a single text does not have
much effect, repeated exposure will make the audience less sensitive. Think of billboard advertising as a great
example of this; if you drive past once you have a limited understanding, but drive past the same advertisement
every day and you start to ‘cultivate’ a greater understanding.
Two-step Flow: The final development of this theory which you should know about, which refines the basic concept
further. It assumes a more active audience, who will discuss the media with each other. However, if we are interacting
with a person of respect we become passive and accept their opinion. Think here about film reviews in magazines
and how influential they can be in our decisions about which films to watch.
 Uses and gratifications theory
Directly opposing the Effects Theory, U&G assumes an active audience, which chooses the texts
it consumes and where individuals have differing reasons for consuming those texts.
During the 1960s it became apparent that audiences made choices about how, when and why
they consumed media texts. Blumler & Katz expanded this theory in 1974 suggesting the
following reasons why audience members might consume a media text:
1. Diversion: escape from everyday problems and routine
2. Personal relationships: using the media for emotional and other interaction, e.g. substituting
soap operas for their own family life
3. Personal Identity: constructing their own identity from characters in media texts, and
learning behavior and values, e.g. seeing value in a fictional characters way of dealing with
life’s problems and following their lead.
4. Surveillance: information gathering, e.g. educational programmes, weather reports, financial
news, holiday bargains, celebrity gossip
Think about some of the media different texts you have ‘consumed’ during the holidays. What
were the reasons for choosing each of these texts? These could be a film, a TV programme, a
magazine, a radio broadcast, a music video or a website.
 Uses and gratifications theory - continued
Like all media theories, as soon as one is published other theorists either work to disprove their
ideas or develop them further. Denis McQuail chose to suggest a more detailed breakdown of
audience motivation.

1. Information:
finding out about relevant events
seeking advice
satisfying curiosity and general interest
2. Learning:
self-education
confidence through gaining knowledge
3. Personal Identity:
finding reinforcement for personal values
finding models of behaviour
identifying with ‘celebrities
gaining insight about oneself

4. Integration and Social Interaction:

gaining
While U&Ginsight into circumstances
deals with of others
why people consume media texts it does not deal with what they see in the media or the meanings
identifying with others – sense of belonging
they produce when they interpret the media. This is covered in Reception Theory.
finding a basis for conversation and social interaction
 Reception theory
In a sense, RECEPTION theory is an extension of U&G, concentrating on the audience itself and how it responds to the text. It is
based on the theory that no text has one single meaning. Instead, reception analysis suggests that the individual members of an
audience themselves help to create the meaning of a text.

We DECODE the texts that we encounter in individual ways – which may be a result of our upbringing, the mood we are in, the
place that we are at the time, or, in fact, any combination of these and all kinds of other factors.

One of the drawbacks of this theory is in its definition, because we are all different and therefore it is too complex to make a
definitive list of what it includes; it is endless. This can be seen as a strength of the theory as it takes into account the complexity
of our response to the media.

This context of consumption is further highlighted by the situation we find ourselves in. If we watch a film at the cinema, in
glorious 3D and surround sound, and then watch the same film on a basic analogue TV, are we watching the same film? Is our
reception of the same film different because of the context in which we consume it?

David Morley looked at our preconceptions of media texts and what we expect from a media text based on our prior
consumption of similar texts. For example, many fans of superhero movies would have opted to watch the 2019 film The Joker,
directed by Todd Phillips, based on their prior knowledge of the character from DC Comics, television series, cartoons, and
previous Batman films. However, they may have been very disappointed that it was actually a psychological thriller, rather than an
action movie.
 Reception theory - continued

In 1980 Morley conducted a very different audience study, observing how many different social groups read the same
media text:
Dominant Reading: The audience shares the text’s code (its meanings, system of values, attitudes, beliefs and
assumption) and accepts the preferred reading.
Negotiated Reading: The audience partly shares the text’s code but modifies it, or only selects parts of it, in a
way which reflects their position and interests.
Oppositional Reading: The audience does not share the text’s code and rejects the preferred reading, bringing
to bear an alternative frame of interpretation.
Let’s go back to the movie The Joker and its main character and bring Morley’s three positions into play.

“I loved this characterisation of

?
“I didn’t mind this characterisation of The “I hated this characterisation of The
The Joker” – DOMINANT READING Joker, but Heath Ledger was much better” Joker” – OPPOSITIONAL READING
– NEGOTIATED READING
 Narrative theory
Narrative theory is one method of DECONSTRUCTING a text in detail. There are four main theorists to consider at this
level of study:

Vladimir Propp Claude Lévi-Strauss

Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp Claude Lévi-Strauss was a French
was a Soviet folklorist and anthropologist and ethnologist, born
scholar who analysed the in Belgium to French-Jewish parents
basic structural elements of living in Bruxelles, whose work was
Russian folk tales to identify key in the development of the theory
their simplest irreducible of structuralism and structural
structural units. anthropology.

Rolande Barthes Tzvetan Todorov

Roland Gérard Barthes was a Tzvetan Todorov was a Bulgarian-French
French literary theorist, essayist, historian, philosopher, structuralist literary
philosopher, critic, and critic, sociologist and essayist. He was the
semiotician. Barthes's ideas author of many books and essays, which
explored a diverse range of fields have had a significant influence in
and he influenced the anthropology, sociology, semiotics, literary
development of many schools of theory, intellectual history and culture
theory, including semiotics. theory.
 propp
Vladimir Propp studied folk tales and legends from
many different countries and theorized that there are
32 basic categories of action, which he labelled
‘functions’ and, through this, identified 8 basic
character functions, which tended to be types rather
than individuals:
Of course, as stated before, when a theory is
suggested it is soon disproved, but Propp
was never trying to be definitive, but to
show how similar so many characters are.
This is where we find STEREOTYPES .

the HERO, who is on a quest
the VILLAIN, who opposes the hero
the DONOR, who helps the hero by giving
hero tools or gadgets
Not all heroes are heroic and not all villains
are completely villainous. Sometimes heroes
are flawed, for example Batman has a ‘dark
the
side’, hence the film title The Dark Knight.

the DISPATCHER, who starts the quest
the FALSE HERO, who tempts the hero away
from his quest
the HELPER, an assistant or sidekick
the PRINCESS, who is the reward for the hero
the FATHER, who rewards the hero
When considering these character types we
also notice GENDER and RACIAL
stereotypes, particularly in the film industry
(Hollywood) where women, until recently,
were given weak, dependent roles and black
characters were often the FALSE HERO,
mistaken or under-educated.
 Levi-strauss
Claude Levi-Strauss was a philosopher and his interest
was in how our world is described in terms of opposites
(or BINARY OPPOSITIONS). These can be related to
media, or in particular film, when we consider:
night v day
good v bad
light v dark
He noticed these oppositions tend to drive a narrative
and help an audience disseminate storylines and
characters. For example
Washing powder adverts depend on a ‘before’ and
‘after’ contrast – dirty v clean – to persuade us to buy
their product
News programmes tend to show ‘good’ and ‘bad’
scenarios to help the audience understand the point
being made.
Film directors will use ‘brightness’ to show safety and
‘darkness’ to signify danger
barthes
Rolande Barthes was interested in the negotiated
meaning (from RECEPTION THEORY) between the
institution and the audience. He argued that the
audience produces ‘new meaning’ when
consuming a text.
For example, when watching a docu-soap about
an airline, individuals ‘meaning’ will depend as
much on their individual experiences of airlines
and docu-soaps as on the text itself.
Mostly known for his work on SEMIOTICS (the
coding and decoding of signs) his most relevant
code for media studies is the ENIGMA CODE. In
it’s basic form it is the ‘hook’ or mystery to be
resolved for an audience, the ‘tune in next time to
find out what happened…..’ which is a basic
technique for TV serials or film trailers.
 todorov
Tzvetan Todorov suggested that there were usually 5 stages to a narrative,
whether a fairy story of a blockbuster movie:

Example: The Dark Knight

equilibrium: a ‘normal’ day/situation
a disruption of this equilibrium by an event Gotham City is quiet and peaceful
a realisation that a disruption has occurred
The JOKER has robbed a bank and is
an attempt to repair the damage of the disruption causing havoc
a restoration of equilibrium – which may be a new equilibrium
The authorities know they have a
major problem and contact Batman
This can be aligned with many media texts, like advertising:
Think washing powder adverts. Mother is home doing her housework Batman battles with the Joker and
(equilibrium), the child is playing in the mud and becomes dirty eventually overcomes him (Good v
(disruption). The child arrives home and the mother sees the problem Bad)
(realisation) and uses the washing powder to solve the problem (repair)
and then the child is seen running out of the house in clean clothes (new Gotham City is peaceful once more
equilibrium).
Now apply Propp’s characterisations to the same washing powder advert.
 Audience profiling
The relationship between text, institution and audience is an important one and media organisations do not create media
texts without clearly defining a target audience. Advertisers are particularly keen to define target audiences very carefully so
they can establish the right theme to make the target audience want to buy their product.
Of course there are many different audiences for products: a main target audience, secondary audiences and niché
audiences. To ascertain who these are, producers of media text profile their audience.
DEMOGRAPHIC AUDIENCE PROFILING is the basic form of audience identification. This method of grouping an audience
defines them in terms of age, class, gender, geographical area, economic status and religion. This is a very simplistic way of
defining an audience because it assumes that everyone in a very broad group has the same attitudes.
PSYCHOGRAPHIC AUDIENCE PROFILING is a way to categorise audience is a more refined and streamlined fashion. In this
way audiences can be targeted in terms of needs and motivation rather than simple demographics. This then considers the
‘type’ of person within an audience grouping, which is the categorization known as THE FOUR Cs (Cross-Cultural Consumer
Characteristics) comes into play, looking at an audience’s aspirations:
Mainstreamers: the largest group concerned with stability and security, buying ‘safe’ goods and consuming mainstream texts
Aspirers: seeking to improve themselves, tending to define themselves as high status, buying high status luxury goods.
Succeeders: feel secure and in control, generally in positions of power, buying brands that reinforce that security
Reformers: idealists who actively consume eco-friendly products, health conscious and generally caring and responsible
Individuals: highly media literate, expects high production values buying into product image, not product
 Producers and Audiences
The relationship between producers and audiences has blurred over recent times, as technology becomes more available
then the previously passive, and later active, audience become super-active in the guise of producers. While producers have
always been part of the audience – they would have to be to understand their role – the audience now have a greater insight
into what it means to be a producer. That said, whoever is the producer still needs to understand the audience and it’s needs,
and still goes through the tried and tested process:
Audience Profiling: In order to be able to produce media for an audience, a producer must have a grasp of who that audience
is, what they expect or demand, and how they consume their media. For example, a superhero movie producer’s research
will tell him more males watch superhero movies than girls, That they expect fast action, stock characters (Propp), conflict
(Levi-Strauss), and resolution (Todorov). They can age-group these males, more likely to be in the 18-35 range, and will have
box office figures, download figures and PPV figures to inform their marketing strategy.
Audience Targeting: once they have their audience profile they can start to target their main audience using signs/codes
(Barthes) in their screenwriting and planning. CGI, special effects, star casting, costume design, set design, location scouting
will all take into consideration the audience they expect to reach. They will, of course, add codes for secondary audiences: a
romantic liaison and an attractive hero for the females, a complex narrative for the older generations who demand more that
aesthetics, etc.
Let’s take Anthony Russo’s 2019 film Avengers: Endgame as an example, a movie that grossed $2.8 billion worldwide from a
budget of $356 million, that’s over 700% profit.
 Avengers: endgame
The audience was primarily 18-25 and 25-35 age groups, which in fact were quite equally spread.
 Avengers: endgame
The male/female split was 72%/28%.

All of which is fuel for the marketing department: Wallmart, Adidas, Google, Ulta Beauty and Audi
 Producers and Audiences
Once the movie is made the audience takes over and, if the producer has done his job effectively, the next two phases occur:
Audience Positioning: this deals with how an audience ‘feels’ or are ‘positioned’ by scenes in a film, reacting to the
codes/signs used by the producer. It brings in Morley’s reception theory determining whether the audience have the
DOMINANT or PREFERRED reading, a NEGOTIATED reading or the less successful OPPOSITIONAL reading. For example, an
audience member may feel scared watching a horror scene, confused by an enigma or mystery, emotional watching a love
scene, uncomfortable when viewing a racist scene or angry when confronted with something sexist. The position of the
audience really determines the success of the producers targeting.
Audience Response: this final stage is what the audience actually do with this feeling or positioning. A typical example is that
they will discuss a film’s success or failures with their friends, either face to face, through messaging or social media or by
other forms of discussion. They may write reviews, use them as examples in their studies, complain about certain aspects of
the film, or just have a thought or opinion. A good response for the producer is that an audience will encourage others to go
to the cinema or download the movie, watch the movie themselves again or promote the film using a social media platform.
These four pillars of audience study leads into marketing and release strategies for future productions and inform the
industry of shifts in audience behavior and the changes in current trends and popularity. The popularity of genres changes
over time. Westerns were the superhero movies of the 40s and 50s but are now resigned to one or two successful releases a
year. More recently, teen vampire movies peaked around the turn of the century but are now less popular than they were.
What will be the next big genre to supersede the superhero film? Some genres stay safely in the background, like Rom-Coms,
American Sports movies, Sci-fi and Horror, all of which continue to be successful without flooding the market. Niche markets
are catered for with foreign language successes (Parasite, 2019) and zombie movies (World War Z, 2013) and the safety of
franchises like the Harry Potter series reduce the risk and maintain the flow of funds for the film industry.