Audience debates surrounding effects and reception

1a) Two theories associated with the effects debate is the hypodermic syringe model and the cultivation model.

1b) The hypodermic syringe model is a short term effect theory and is the belief that violent imagery with in the media can have a negative effect on a person and influence them to commit crimes. An example of this is Robert Thompson and Jon venables who were accused of being influenced by child’s play 3 when they brutally murdered James Bulger. His murder was seen to have elements from child’s play 3 within it and was carried out by the two young boys. Due to the fact they were so young it would have been easy to influence them if they had an already psychotic mind.

The cultivation model is revolved around how are ideologies are being represented and how we are brought up effects these. An example of this in a modern day society is that all Muslims are terrorists. This is a false statement however this is supported by the media and is used to re enforce an idea to further explore a stereotype.

2)  A passive audience consists of people who will just sit back and let something occur and will not do anything about it. An example of this is an individual watching a politics debate on the news revolving around brexit and not going to vote.

An active audience consists of people who are motivated by a piece of media and are wanting to do something to make a different and help the world. An example of this is an individual watching comic relief and being moved by the program therefore donated money to the charity to help someone.

 3) This is a difficult question as I believe it depends on the individual regarding their background their family life and their mental stability and morals. There are cases where I have been exposed to violence such as knife crime and shooting scenes when watching dramas however that has not influenced me to go out and commit these acts myself. If anything it has made me more against it now I have seen how horrific it is. However it is proven that they can influence people as the film child’s play 3 influence the Bulger killers as it was clearly shown that they had copied methods from the film to commit an act of murder.

4) I believe that active audience theories are more acceptable than passive audience theories due to the fact passive audience group people together and judge them as a mass rather than as individuals. The categories of the 4c’s also over lap and can the different life style choices can be interpreted in different ways and more than one can appeal to each person. Over all they are too broad and don’t cater to the fact that we are all very different individuals and try to group people together.

5) A media text I enjoy is Spotify. I enjoy Spotify so much as it appeals to my sense of escapism and my personal identity. Spotify allows me to tailor my own play list of my favourite artists and songs that I love to listen to, to unwind after a stressful day. However I can also use if for a source of entertainment if I’m having a party with friends as it will allow me to have different playlists to suit different social situations. It also allows me to connect with my personal identity as I believe the type of music you listen to says a lot about you as a person. I enjoy music by artists such as Passenger, Tom Odell and Sam Smith who have very heart felt music and has very deep poetic songs which appeal to somebody’s sensitive side. It also allows us to share commonalities and experiences with the song writers and explore how different events in their life have been significant and provoke our own thoughts.

6a) the advert I choose to analyse was the ‘smoke free’ advert as I believe it was extremely hard hitting with a simple sentence and a disturbing picture.

The preferred reading of this text would be that the audience would see this image of the deconstructed cigarette and be automatically inclined to stop smoking if they smoke , or inform a family remember of the advertisement in order of helping them to stop. The encoders have made this a very informative over exaggerate  picture to have the shock effect on the audience and give them an insight of what they are actually doing to their bodies. The use of this strong image allows people be hit with the reality of the damage they are doing to them selves rather than simply dismissing it. The ideologies that are included in this is that we should look after our health and we should take care of our selves or their will be serious consequences. The underlying messages in this advert is that people are unaware of the damage smoking does to our bodies and people need to see it physically to be motivated to do anything about it.

6b) An oppositional reading of the advert may be that they understand that smoking can have some health implications however believe that the advert is unrealistic  and its trying to exaggerate the truth in order to trick smokers in to not smoking. The ideologies that a person may have that understands the advert but reject its could be that this is our bodies therefore we can do as we wish. A religious person could take up the free will argument and say we have control over our lives therefore no one can enforce their views upon us because we are all individuals. They could have been brought up in a stoubrn background as they reject change and help from others and instead would prefer to carry on destroying their bodies.