understand how media audiences respond to media products 6.3

hypodermic needle theory

hypodermic needle theory also known as the magic bullet, it is the belief that the audience are completely passive towards the media and they will believe and act on what ever the media tells them be it through TV, radio or newspapers.

the purpose is any media message is directly received by the audience and then totally acted upon by every body watching not just the target audience as their is none. This implies that the media has a huge impact on everybody watching. It was mainly relevant in the 40's to 50's this is because their was very few sources of media so you could not double check the information to find out weather it is truthful or not, meaning that the audience believed everything that the media said.

It is called the hypodermic needle theory because it is meant to be figuratively injecting viewer with message that they  believe so it goes strait in and the viewer replicates it.

Their are some huge disadvantage to this theory this is because it is massively out of date people have their own opinions and as shown in later theory's different people will have different reactions to different form's of the media.

A example for this would be the world war propaganda post to the left. The poster is calling Hitler the devil and saying to beat him you have to buy victory bonds. victory or war bonds was where the people would lend money to the government for 5 to 10 years and then be paid back with interest once the war was over. This is using the hypodermic needle theory as the person who designed this wants the viewer to believe exactly what is being said in the poster this is shown how the Hitler is portrayed as the devil. Which means the designer wants him to be portrayed as a bad man. And saying you can defiantly beat him buy getting victory bonds. This is incorrect as buying these bonds would of only aided the war to ensured its success which is what the designer is trying to portray. This means the government are relying on the hypodermic needle theory to get war bonds as if the theory was not true the audience would not believe what is being said in the poster.

reception theory.

The reader's response to a text or  their interpretation of what is being said. e.g. on reader could have a different reaction to a story (integration of) then another reader.

their are three main types of reaction

oppositional reading: it is literally opposing to what is being said in the media. (not agreeing and responding)

dominate reading: this is when a reader or watcher is passive to what is being said they will listen to what ever is being said and believe it is right and true.

negotiated reading: this is when a reader or a watcher will accept what is being said but have their own opinion on the matter it may be completely different or very similar.
an example of this could be the viewers reaction to Donald trump being elected as president of the united states. they will react in three main ways one would be dominate as I explained earlier they would be passive this means in this example they would be glad that Donald trump is president as they would believe it is the right thing that happened and argue to people with apposing views about it. Then their are negotiated readers who would argue for and against this would/

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bM5AmMD_baJeeV637YBNGcFhrgXVy6L3-DoL9o1fBIY/edit?usp=sharing

uses and gratifications theory

uses and gratifications is sort of opposite to the hypodermic needle theory. This is because it is the idea that the audience is in control and they seek to find what they desire to see in the media. To explain more an example would be if a viewer wanted to learn about world war to in a comic fashion they would seek at documentary or TV show which would educate them in this (entertain) such as black adder.

uses and gratifications theory being applied means that the viewer is completely in control of every part of the media that they watch. The theory is used practically in the media to find out how and why people actively seek out certain section's of the media to find out what goes through the viewers head so the media can promote their media more appropriately. An example of this would be a action film company trying to find out why a viewer went to see their film whether it was to see big explosions. or they wanted a thrill. Some reasons are more specific it is about "what people do with the media" instead of "what the media does to people" this suggests their are certain reason's why people seek different parts of the media

passive and active audience consumption

The passive and active audience consumption theory is very similar to the hypodermic needle theory

and the uses and gratification theory the idea is that the audience fall under two segments they are ether passive or active. passive means that they will absorb the information being said by the media and not question it just like the hypodermic needle theory but less direct.

active means that they will question what is being said by the media and discuss it. an example of this in the present day would be the news telling the country about how the UK are leaving the EU. This relates to the theory because some people would have not cared or agreed and just sat and absorbed this information just so they where up to date with politics (this is being passive). But an active response would be hearing the information and doing something about it. this could be just have a debate with their friends about it or going on a posting frenzy on social media talking about it online and trying to do something to change the decision such as set up a vote on the .gov website.