Hollyoaks Reception Theory

Target Audience: The characters range from ages 18-30+ due to this age group and the issues faced by the TV makes me believe that it is aimed at people 16-20. I also think that the kind of person to watch this TV show is possibly the aspirer as the shows characters are very trendy in nature and they may want to aspire to this. However on the other hand the show is becoming more and more mainstream as the audience increases making me think it is likely for the mainstream to watch it. The target audience could also be people who watch day time TV as it is likely they will find many of the situations relatable, this could be the wrong though since hollyoaks is broadcasted at 6:30 daily and at this time many people are home from there day job. Due to the TV show being shown daily it makes me believe that it wouldn’t appeal to the ‘drop out’ as they lack the ability to show any sense of commitment.

Ideologies that it enforces: All teenagers are reckless, partying, doing drugs or generally getting in trouble with the police. This is enforced very strongly throughout the TV show for example there is a boy who is 14 and he has a child and tries drugs, this is just one example of the extremities this show goes to. Another ideology it enforces is that everyone in Chester lacks education or ambition and instead choses to live a wild life revolving on cheating on one another and murder.

Audience profiling:

Rubicams four C’s

This would likely appeal to the struggler as they may be able to relate to the role and events in the tv show as according to the model they would live very similar lives.

Lifestyle categories

 This model doesn’t really apply to the TV show hollyoaks as they are very generic, however if I was to chose one I would chose the cynics as they always want something to complain about. This is why hollyoaks is shunned since many watch it just so they are up to date with the piece of media they dislike.

Income/status model

Hollyoaks would likely appeal to the lower people on this model, however I disagree with this model as it makes out that your level of education or income dictates your interests. The people who watch hollyoaks I feel will be in the D/E section as hollyoaks is framed in the eyes of teens so I believe the target group is students who are placed at the bottom of the model.

Preferred reading

A preferred reading of the media text would understand the ideologies that the show enforces and complexly agree with them, making them enjoy the content offered from the media text, this could be due to them going through similar experiences making there view of this place being tainted.

Oppositional Reading

An oppositional reading is someone who completely rejects the text this could be due to them being uninformed or simply disagreeing with the media text in general.