Audiences homework

Audiences 

Defining and classifying audiences:

1a) The mainstreamer:

A mainstreamer is someone in the largest group in society. Mainstream means following the crowd and doing according to what the general society wants you to do.  They come in a large group of people who chose their life choices following others rather than just themselves. This is because the follow the social norms rather than being more individual like a reformer would be. I believe that ‘Coronation street’ would be a media text that would appeal to mainstreamer's. This is because it is a very popular soap around Britain and reflects the lives of the average, every day life people rather than glamorizing it. Coronation street is one of the most talked about soaps of which the majority of people use social networking sites-such as twitter - to talk about it through using ‘@’ and ‘#’. By watching this programme, those people who fit into the mainstream category would feel a sense of relationship/ connection with the rest of society. This means that they would feel as though they fitted in. Mainstreamer's need ‘Security’. In other words, this means familiarity. Because of this need, mainstreamer's would get a great deal of satisfaction knowing that through watching the soap, they have more ability to connect with society and be able to relate/ have something in common to talk about with people.

The succeeder:

A succeeder is someone who is self confident and are very determined. They have good organisational skills and have the most responsibility as they can handle it better than most and they want to be at the top. They feel as though that they deserve the best of the best meaning that they look for the best things, whether it be clothing or food as examples. They like to keep things the way they are at the present moment because they support the status quo. I believe that ‘Shark tank’ would be a media text that would appeal to succeeder's. Like dragons den, it is an American TV series that features entrepreneurs presenting their business ideas to rich business people who may invest if the business idea is good enough. I feel that the succeeder's can relate to the business people who sit in the panel in the show because I believe they can relate to their success and ability to judge other people. They display responsibility for their money/ where the money goes and the entrepreneurs future.  The business people have the best due to their wealth and they are also looking for the best too. The need in life for succeeder's is control. As the business people have control of the show and the entrepreneurs future, succeeder's can feel that they relate to that and relate to the business men. Through this they get enjoyment from the decisions made and their opinion, choices and entrepreneurs. Succeeder's will find that they portray similar characteristics to the business people or entrepreneurs which links in with the feel that they can relate.


The Explorer:

Explorers like challenging texts that test their minds in an unusual way. Shows that aren't popular appeal to them because they seek out difference. They could be described as rather alternative, they do not conform to the majority of society. Explorers are not afraid to try out new things and they like brands that offer ‘new’ sensations. In other words, they enjoy finding things out and feeling like they've learnt/ found something new. This relates to their key need which is ‘Discovery’. I believe that ‘most haunted’ would be a media text of which interests explorers. This is because most haunted talks about concepts, theories and mysteries to yet be uncovered. The theory that they mainly portray is that of the existence of life after death and the effects of on society. This is a very controversial subject, so only people who are open minded to these things, like explorers, would take a true interest. This is a challenge because its challenging religion and other beliefs such as science. Its something that not many people can work out and there are so many unanswered questions which is another reason why explorers could be drawn and relate to the text. A show about ghost hunting isn’t something the everyday person would watch as it has a habit of scaring people, especially the fear of the unknown. As explorers enjoy discovery, they is unlikely to scare them, but rather thrill and interest them.


The Aspirer:

Aspirer's are materialistic people who take into consideration what others think about them rather than following what they believe. They’re rather appearance centred; appearance means everything. They’re referred to by others as being ‘superficial’ meaning they care about what’s on the outside. They must show confidence in themselves and have high end fashion- always. A media text form that would apply to an aspirer is Glamour magazine. The magazine, according to the website, revolves around the latest fashion, attractive models, hair and beauty tips and other related themes. Aspirer's love this type of media text because its filled with people who are edited to make them look good and aspires connect with the style and try to look like the models. Another reason is because it contains all the high end fashion and the latest cat walk crazes, meaning aspirer's can take tips and tricks from this in their quest for status is society. They believe that by reading this type of media text that they will be desired by others which makes them, in turn, feel good about themselves. They’re not very individual, they adopt from magazines and fashion role models in order to be and feel attractive. They learn from these magazines and take any materialistic element from it (e.g. latest dresses) therefore they relate to the aim and look of people within the magazine.

b)
In my opinion, the categories are only useful to an extent. This is because people can adopt bits from each category. Personally, I do not believe that there are only 7 types of people in the world. This is because there are over 7 billion people, all born from people with diverse characteristics, making more diverse children, etc. I think that they cover the basics of each type of person, however I think it needs to be more in depth. People have a range of characteristics of which they adopt, therefore it is likely that the majority of people fall under one category. However, I believe that people take a part from other categories as well. An example is people who are aspirer's can also be part explorer too. This is because they could be materialistic in a sense that they look for fashion that isn't common and is more edgy but still looks good. They could look for new styles or discover there own by adopting different styles from magazines and putting them together. Explorers key need is discovery, so this could be put into materialistic terms. The bottom line is that the categories do help to briefly define audience types, however it doesn't give the full or clear picture.

c)
Haunted doll documentary-
Name- Dave
Age- 37
Family- single and living with his parents
Self image- intelligent and likes discovering, into supernatural stuff
Class- D
Nationality/ethnicity- white British
Education-  gone back to uni
Religion- Christian but not strong
Politics- doesn't care too much
Location- Uk

The programme of which is TV at the moment is ‘Haunted dolls documentary’. This is a documentary on dolls that carry spirits inside of them, some evil and some not. This documentary is shown at night time, suggesting that it targets employed people or people in full time education such as university as at night they are able to watch it. This also suggests that the person is older than child age because its displayed at night time. It makes me think that it is aimed at an adult male because of the nature of haunting related texts. Haunting programmes make people scared in general. Males are associated with masculinity meaning big and brave and females are associated with femininity meaning being gentle and pretty. This means males can handle the spookiness more. The older you are the less likely you are to be scared of things, such as ghosts of which a lot of young people are scared of. This is why I suggest that the age of the person is around 37. As watching documentaries is considered an older man thing to do, this contributes to it. I imagine the person to be single and living with his parents because researching ghostly events is often associated as a ‘nerdy hobby’ therefore gives the impression that he doesn't have a family of his own yet and is living at home, bored and looking up paranormal things. His self image would be intelligent in a sense that he likes discovering and finding out interesting things (such as the ghost dolls). I imagine that he is white British because of castles and haunted ongoing in Britain that associate with the subject. I believe him to be class D because he probably has a job to keep money up whilst at that age, however he is also in uni so he doesn't have the opportunity to earn as much money. As ghosts and paranormal activities are aimed around crucifixions and other religious elements, I believe that he is Christian but not a strong one. He doesn't care too much about politics because politicians think differently to people who look into the paranormal and he lives in the UK.

d)
The programme ‘coronation street’ is likely to attract cynics. This is because in this soap opera a lot more bad drama happens than good. There is always something bad happening in each episode. When people complain, they see the negative part of life a lot clearer than the positive. This relates to the cynics because they always complain, therefore fitting in with the show. The programme ‘shark tank’ is likely to attract innovators. This is because shark tank is about people who are coming up with new ideas to present to a panel of people who are likely to invest in their product. They want to make their mark on the world through making a product that impresses the panel and hopefully becoming something from nothing. The programme ‘most haunted’ is likely to attract drifters. This is because when studying the paranormal in any way, they are looking at something that to this day cannot be explained- nothing is certain/ people are still unsure. This relates to people who don’t know what they want from life through the uncertainty of the subject. The magazine ‘Glamour Magazine’ is likely to attract groupies. This is because they follow the magazine and read it in order to fit in with the crowd and the latests fashions. The magazine is used by people to adopt the latest trends and apply them in order to fit in with everyone else who are most likely doing the same. Following the crowd is often referred to as being a sheep. Being a sheep is what gets people accepted by others; its conformity. The 'Haunted doll documentary' is likely to attract drifters. This is because with hauntings, nothing is ever certain as there are only theories to suggest. As there is no certainty, it relates to drifters as they don't know what they want.