Media key theories — Audiences

Cultivation — George Gerbner

Media, like long term TV exposure, shapes how people perceive reality, it focuses on gradual/ cumulative effects of media than immediate ones.

— heavy viewers are likely to adopt mainstream media worldview (blurring fiction with reality)

— can lead to ‘mean world syndrome’ belief that the world is more dangerous than it actually is

Fandom theory — Henry Jenkins

Fans are active participants not passive consumers

— they reuse the media (textual poaching) to create fan art/ fiction/ memes

— fandoms form communities and subcultures giving people identity

— fans have massive influence in media

End of audience — Clay Shirky

Traditional media = passive audiences

Modern media eg. Internet/social media = active participants

Audiences are now producers as well as consumers → prosumer as people can share, comment, remix and create their own content

— breaking down barrier between media producer and audience

Media effects — Albert Bandura

Media can directly influence audiences through observational learning

— people (esp. Children) imitate behaviour and language used online/ in media

Bobo Doll experiment → children copied aggression shown by adults on screen

— showing media can encourage violent behaviour however positive behaviours can also be learnt

Reception Theory — Stuart Hall

Media texts are encoded by producers with intended meanings but audiences can decode them differently based on their background, culture and context

3 main audience readings:

1. Dominant/ preferred - accept

2. Negotiated - partially accept/reject

3. Oppositional - reject intended meaning