Audience theory: key notes and terminology
Reminder: Passive & Active audiences
Passive: This is the view that audiences passively take in information from the media and that these messages have the same effect on everyone.
Active: This is the more modern and generally accepted view that audiences interact with and make conscious choices regarding the media they consume.
Uses and Gratifications - Blumler & Katz
Blumler and Katz stated that audiences are active in using or enjoying the media. They said audiences consume media products for 4 main reasons:
INFORMATION/SURVEILLANCE: learning information that you did not already know or that is useful for living (e.g. documentaries; weather or traffic).
IDENTITY: personally relating to something - seeing your lifestyle on screen.
DIVERSION/ENTERTAINMENT: escapism and being entertained away from your normal life.
RELATIONSHIPS: social interaction, caring about characters or celebrities, forming relationships e.g watching a soap opera for a long time because you care about what happens to long-standing characters.
Extension theory: the 3 Vs
An additional audience theory is the 3 Vs. This suggests that audiences enjoy the media for the following reasons:
VISCERAL PLEASURE: Physical thrill of watching something e.g hairs on the back of your neck in a horror film, sport, big explosions.
VISCERAL PLEASURE: Physical thrill of watching something e.g hairs on the back of your neck in a horror film, sport, big explosions.
VICARIOUS PLEASURE: Experiencing something through the characters.
VOYEURISTIC PLEASURE: Watching people e.g hidden camera shows / elements of reality TV like Big Brother.
Audience effects theory: blog tasks
Create a new blogpost called ‘Audience Effects Theory’ and complete the following tasks:
1) Write down a media product for each category of Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory and WHY it fits that particular audience use/gratification. The first one is done for you:
INFORMATION/SURVEILLANCE
Example media product: The Times newspaper
Why audiences enjoy it: It tells audiences important information about politics, the world and more.
Extension: To take this further, select a media text of your own choice, embed it in your blog and write another detailed paragraph analysing the audience pleasures in that product.
Finish for homework if you don't complete it in the lesson - due date on Google Classroom.
Why audiences enjoy it: It tells audiences important information about politics, the world and more.
PERSONAL IDENTITY
Example media product:
Why audiences enjoy it:
DIVERSION/ENTERTAINMENT
Example media product:
Why audiences enjoy it:
RELATIONSHIPS
Example media product:
Why audiences enjoy it:
2) Re-watch the clip from Blue Planet above and write a paragraph analysing how elements of the clip offer the audience pleasures or gratifications (use media terminology from Uses and Gratifications theory and the 3 Vs - notes outlined above).
Extension: To take this further, select a media text of your own choice, embed it in your blog and write another detailed paragraph analysing the audience pleasures in that product.
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