Audience Questions

1a.
 Two theories which are associated with the effects debate are The Hypodermic Syringe and The inoculation.

b. The hypodermic syringe debate suggests that the media and how it is represented has a rapid and major effect on its whole audience and that it dramatically changes their behavior and how they act. This debate believes that the media can change a person and how they act through the behavior shown through the media, it is thought that this debate is effective by the media showing the audience something that would trigger something in a person and that the person or audience as a collective would act out of desired response.

This debate also shows the audience members as all being passive and powerless to the medias 'injections' of texts, for example, The murder of a young child by two young teenagers was a crime that was apparently influenced by a media text, it was said that this murder was one that traced back to a movie the two boys had watched previously called "child play 3", this was a very big news story and was the perfect opportunity for this debate to be carried on. The media is said to be so powerful it can almost brain wash a person, and that people act upon the message that the media gives out,

Another example of the Hypodermic Syringe is the one in which a radio broadcast went out advertising 'war of the worlds' and people thought that the broadcast was real and that there was an actual alien invasion, because of this the audience who heard the broadcast erupted into chaos and "mass panic" within a short period of time, it supposedly caused people to flee cities, have heart attacks and even commit suicide, this was where the thought that this debate was true and people really did eat up what ever the media told them and they would act upon the information they were given immediately.

The Inoculation debate is also a debate which proves to see an audience as a passive one it implies that any audience member that is exposed to a certain type of extreme text for a long period of time that they will eventually become immune to it and can lead to desensitisation to imagery that is explicit or extreme. However this debate can be used for good as anti-drug campaigns and other like this are the type of texts that is drilled into our brains from young ages, surely with all the advertisements and how aware we are made of the dangers the media could turn us away from this type of behavior.

However as most audiences see constant extreme behavior on TV all the time, they could become immune to it and act out with the same behavior as this is what they are brought up around and its clear that this debate links in with the hypodermic syringe model.

2.
There is a major difference between the passive and active audience, all though it is wrong to think that audience members are split into two categories, this theory just makes us see different members of an audience in different ways.

A passive audience is seen as one that is controlled and weak willed, almost as if they follow the crowd and prefer to be told what to do and just get on with it willingly without any arguments, this is why they are seen as a passive audience, where as a audience which is seen as active is one in which the members are viewed as engaged, involved and and free willed. An active audience is more likely to participate in what is happening in the media and ask questions and such where as a passive audience is more likely to just sit back and watch.

An example of something that a passive audience would watch is a movie with a simple ending and one they don't particularly have  to question or think too much into, where as a documentary or conspiracy program is something an active audience would most probably watch as it gives them something to actually think about and question to themselves.

3.
I think that violent behavior on TV causes real life violence, but only to a certain limit. For a person to act out and be caused to make violence because of something they have seen on TV is not the completely the TVs problem, I think it is certainly down to the persons back ground and in some cases the persons mental health.

However I believe that continuous violence can be harmful to a persons behavior if they are constantly exposed to this type of media, especially if the viewing audience is young as young people are the most impressionable and TV and things they have seen on it can rub off on them and cause random outbursts of behavior, but I think that this is not the case with the most serious crimes, I completely think that if a person is acting out because of something they have been exposed to on TV it is solemnly because that act that they have witnessed has triggered a mental health problem or past issue they have had with their upbringing. So this is why i think violence on TV only causes violent behavior to a certain extent.

4.
I do believe that an active audience theory is more acceptable that a passive audience theory as an active audience is a more common audience, and i may just think this because i believe i am an active audience member, however i do think that there is more acceptability to this theory as its hard to believe that a person can witness a media text and not have it play on their mind or even question what they have seen. Also a passive audience seems as though it would be one that does question things they witness but just choices to not act upon it or go into too much detail about it with themselves.

However with out contradicting myself i can see where people would believe that it is more acceptable for a passive audience as it is easy for a person to become another member of a sheep like following of what they consume in the media, and it is also ten times easier for them to just go willingly with what they view and not question it, however i feel this is less acceptable because people such as the explorers would go against this type of act, i feel the only people who fit in with the passive audience theory theory are those who fall into the mainstream category as they need to feel secure and love and belonging. This is probably the wrong way to answer it but this is why i think the active audience is more acceptable than the passive audience theory.

5.
One media text i undeniably enjoy is Bad Education, It stars Jack Whitehall (my favourite actor) as young teacher Alfie Wickers – "the worst teacher ever to grace the British education system"  Mathew Horne plays Fraser, the headmaster of the fictional school alongside him. 

I feel the reason I enjoy this TV show so much is because the humor of it all is something that is a type of entertainment that can help me forget about real life issues and stresses and i ca focus fully on the entertainment at hand and feel happy and laugh whilst watching it, it also manages to make me laugh when i feel down and i guess in a way for me it is an escape mechanism from everyday life and its struggles, without me even realising it was in the first place.

Also since i am not the only person in my friends group that watch this show it increases our social interaction and gives us things to talk about, we sometimes even get together to watch it and use it as conversation starters. Also this text is something i use to talk to people through social media such as facebook, tumblr and twitter, its a TV show in which you can share the humor with people and it has even brought me closer to some people funnily enough.

I believe the other reason i like it so much is because i formed a personal identity with th characters in the show, as they are all in education and even though it is a comedy based show i feel that it portrays a realistic view on what happens in schools and how it really is even though it makes jokes and humor out of it it really let me connect with the characters as some of the situations that happen in the show i have experienced myself whilst in school

This text doesn't particularly gives any information or surveillance on what is happening in the world at that point but it can at some points give past information about things that happened through out history even it is whilst making fun of it and making them into jokes for the show to be funny.