Reception theory 

The text I have chosen to evaluate is ‘take me out’. It’s a reality TV show which allows eligible males to take part in the show in attempt to impress 30 single girl and take one of them on a romantic getaway.

I believe the target audience of the text is working class females age 16-30 because the show its self is on itv, a Freeview channel therefore is there for lower class people to enjoy for free. Also it is a romance show and traditionally it is the female is more interested in the ‘lovey dovey’ side of a relationship therefore this text would appeal to them. This is aimed at a mainstream audience due to the fact that take me out has the same plot every year therefore the audience knows what to expect and there are no surprises which will please a mainstreamer. The use of the same host paddy McGuiness also keeps the continuation of security and familiarity that the mainstreamer strives for.

The encoders want to achieve a goal that will educate people that there is now a new way to date and we should embrace technology and use it for our advantage and take part in game shows to get to know people. The ideology’s that the show embraces is that as humans we all value companion ship and it is a very important factor in our life in order to be happy. We can also establish that in life most of us need relationships to complete us and we desire to belong to someone and to feel wanted and loved. This fits in to the hierarchy of needs and is something that as humans we need to feel secure.

The text its self, celebrates the idea of togetherness and bringing people together in order to find love and happiness. It also tells us a lot about life and shows us that no matter what we are always looking for companionship and self-acceptance within a partner as we need it to fulfil our souls. It is a key objective for humans to experience some form of love and compassion as we sometimes need someone else to love us for who we are so we can also truly learn to love ourselves.

The oppositional reading of this text could be that the audience understands that is a dating show and that you could argue women like to be pursued, however they could believe that it is a very old fashioned view that men should have their choice of any women and therefore think It is demeaning to women.  Their ideologies could be that men and women should be treated equally, same sex couples should receive the same level of respect as your mixed sex couples and we shouldn’t judge people on the way they look. The audience could understand that it is a game show for entertainment of others and has the goal to bring people together however could reject it as they could believe people only come on to the show for a free romantic getaway and to be on TV. If someone is a feminist and believes that women should be equal they would therefore have this view as it goes against their ideologies. A person who took an oppositional reading could also disagree with the ideology that males are more important than females and that women should fight over a man. The show reinforces the idea that the man gets his pick of 30 women and they must prove themselves through limited questions and their appearance for him to pick them.   They would disagree with this strongly and believe it is extremely sexist and women are being treated as objects rather than people.

Someone might take a negotiated reading of the text due to the fact that they agree with some of the messages but only to an extent. For example they could quite old fashioned and religious and believe the men should have their choice of woman due to the fact he is going to look after her, agreeing with one of the main ideologies. However they could disagree with the fact that this should be the way forward in dating and believe people should not make their ‘love life’ public on TV but should be private and respectful of themselves and their partner’s relationship.