Research: Audiences and Audience Theory

We have so far studied 3 theories of audience:- The effects model
- The uses and gratifications model
- Reception theory

We will now go on to consider:
- Suture
- Feminist film theory and audiences

Suture:
classical Hollywood narrative, editing and music 'sutures; or positions the audience in certain ways making only one preferred reading possible, however unconscious the audience is of that position

Feminist film theory and audiences:
- Laura Mulvey
- Visual pleasure and narrative cinema (1975)

Cinema reflects society therefore cinema reflects patriarchal society. how does a patriarchal society manifest itself in cinema?

An example:
- Patriarchy and phallocentrism are linked
- The phallus is the symbol of power
- Note how guns are used in films
- Guns = phallus = power

The male midlife crises and phallocentrism

The Gaze:- The 'gaze' of the camera is the male 'gaze'
- The male gaze is active, the female is passive
- Within the narrative male characters direct their gaze towards female characters
- The spectator is made to identify with the male gaze because the camera films from the optical, as well as libidinal point of view of the male character
- Thus 3 levels of the cinematic gaze, camera, character and spectator that objectify the female character (the triple gaze)
- Therefore the audience is constructed as though everyone was male
- Women are forced to look as though they were a male audience member

Agency:
In the classical Hollywood cinema the male protagonist has agency, he is active and powerful. he is the agent around whom the dramatic action unfolds. The female character is passive and powerless and she is the object of desire for the protagonist and the audience.

Erotic desire:
Mulvey argues that women have 2 roles in film:
1) As an object of erotic desire for the characters
2) As an object of erotic desire for the audience

Research: Reception Theory

Given that the effects model and the uses and gratifications have their problem and limitations a different approach to audience was developed by the academic 'Stuart Hall' at Birmingham University in the 1970's. This is considered how texts were encoded with meaning by producers and then decoded (understood) by audiences

The theory suggests:
- When a producer constricts a text it is encoded with a meaning or message that the producer wishes to convey to the audience
- In some instances audiences will correctly decode the message or meaning and understand what the producer was trying to say
- In some instances the audience will either reject or fail to correctly understand the message

Stuart Hall identified 3 types of audience readings (or decoding) of the text:
1) Dominant or preferred - where the audience decodes the message as the producer wants them to do and broadly agrees with it. E.g. watching a political speech and agreeing with it.
2) Negotiated - where the audience accepts, rejects or refines elements of the text in the light of previously help views e.g. neither agreeing no disagreeing with the political speech.
3) Oppositional -where the dominant meaning is recognised but rejected for cultural, political or ideological reasons e.g. total rejection of the political speech and active opposition

Audience decodes meaning and message:
Producer -> Dominated or preferred
Encodes -> Negotiated
Meaning -> Oppositional

Research: The Uses and Gratifications Model

- The uses and gratifications model is the opposite of the effects model
- The audience is active; they use the text and is not used by it
- The audience uses the text for its own gratification or pleasure
- Here, power lays with the audience not the producers
- This theory emphasises what audiences do with media texts - how and why they use them
- Far from being duped by the media, the audience is free to reject, use or play with media meaning as they see fit

Audiences therefore use media texts to gratify needs for:
- Diversion
- Escapism
- Information
- Pleasure
- Comparing relationships and lifestyles with one’s own
- Sexual stimulation

The audience is in control and consumption of the media helps people with issues such as:
- Learning
- Emotional satisfaction
- Relaxation
- Helps with issues of personal identity
- Help with issues of aggression and violence

Controversially the theory suggests the consumption of violent images can be helpful rather than harmful. The theory suggests that audiences act out their violent impulses through consumption of media violence. The audience’s inclination towards violence is therefore sublimated; they are less likely to commit violent acts.

Research: The Effects Model

I did some research on the Hypodermic Model also known as the Effects Model.

Experiment:
- Children watched a video where an adult violently attacked a clown toy called a Bobo doll
- The children were then taken to a room with attractive toys that they were not permitted to touch
- The children were then led to another room with Bobo dolls
- 88% of the children imitated the violent behaviour that they had earlier viewed. 8 months later 40% of the children produced the same violent behaviour
- The conclusion reached was that children will imitate violent media texts

Key examples sited as causing or being contributory factors are:
- The film 'Childs Play 3' in the murder of James Bulger in 1993
- The game 'Man Hunt' in the murder of Stefan Pakeerah in 2004 by his friend Warren LeBlane
- The film 'A Clockwork Orange' (1971) in a number of rapes and violent attacks
- The film 'Severance' (2006) in the murder of Simon Everitt

People are clearly influenced by media texts, however because you watch violent texts doesn’t mean that you’re going to act out violent acts.

This is a very controversial experiment, which depicted that children who viewed violent media texts would then go and act violent behaviour but because there were many flaws in this experiment the conclusion is still just a theory.

- In each case there was a media and political outery for the texts to be banned
- In some cases laws were changed, films banned and newspapers demanded the buring of films
- Subsequently in each case it was found that no case could be proven to demonstrate a link between the text and the violent acts

The effects model contributes to moral panics whereby:
- The media produces inactivity, makes us into students who want to pass their exams or 'couch potatoes' that make no effort to get a job
- The media produces violent 'copycat' behaviour or mindless shopping in response to the advertisements

- It is still unclear that there is any link between the consumption of violent media texts and violent imitative behaviour
- It is also clear the theory is flawed in that many people do watch violent texts and appear not to be influenced
- Therefore a new theory is necessary
- This is called: The Uses and Gratifications Model

Research: Bobo Doll Experiment

Experiment:
- Children watched a video where an adult violently attacked a clown toy called a Bobo doll
- The children were then taken to a room with attractive toys that they were not permitted to touch
- The children were then led to another room with Bobo dolls
- 88% of the children imitated the violent behaviour that they had earlier viewed. 8 months later 40% of the children produced the same violent behaviour
- The conclusion reached was that children will imitate violent media texts



Key examples sited as causing or being contributory factors are:
- The film 'Childs Play 3' in the murder of James Bulger in 1993
- The game 'Man Hunt' in the murder of Stefan Pakeerah in 2004 by his friend Warren LeBlane
- The film 'A Clockwork Orange' (1971) in a number of rapes and violent attacks
- The film 'Severance' (2006) in the murder of Simon Everitt

People are clearly influenced by media texts, however because you watch violent texts doesn’t mean that you’re going to act out violent acts.

This is a very controversial experiment, which depicted that children who viewed violent media texts would then go and act violent behaviour but because there were many flaws in this experiment the conclusion is still just a theory.