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.

 

Audience questions

2: One of the theories that is in the Audience effects section is the Hypodermic Syringe Model according to this model when some people see a violent media text their behaviour is changed instantly not even over a lot of time and we will then go out in the real world and copy what we have seen in the media text. Apparently some texts like Call of Duty, ManHunt, GTA have been blamed to make some people go out in the world and rob people, kill people things like that. The other model I will talk about is the Sensitisation model this model is basically the opposite to the other model but instead of short term it is long term and it is suggesting that the more violence we watch the more we will be shocked by what we see to the point that it might even change our point of view over violence in the media and we might not like and maybe not even stand it as we are to shocked.

3: Differences between Active audiences and passive audiences are starting with Active. Active audiences are not like passive audiences Active audiences always give their opinion on a show to a company whether it be good or bad in the hope that they will help change the show up to make it a lot better. Also if they don’t like a show they might just plain out turn over and never return which is never good for the producers of a show. Also if there are ever game shows like Big Brother they always try and get involved say if it is to kick out the person they hate the most or keep in their favourite contestant. Now the passive audiences are completely the opposite to Active audiences whereas if they hate a show they may have already been manipulated in to watching it so just keep on watching every week maybe hoping for something better. They will never giver their opinion on anything whether it is a bad media text or good media text they will just let it be. Also with game shows like Big brother they will vote in as they haven’t got the will like an Active audience member so are always willing to let their money go to the show.  

4: When it comes to violence in the media text I believe it is a stupid belief that violence in the media effects people’s behaviour and makes us do ridiculous things like murder people. I believe this as us as humans hold a special key to free will and this free will means we have the choice to do more violence. E       ven if we have watched a violent media text it’s not like it hypnotises you into copying the text to actually be influenced by it at all you must me mentally disturbed or have anger problems something along those lines so even if the text did influence them to do it cause of their problems the likelihood is they would of still done the same things anyway without the text.

5: I believe active audience theories are more acceptable and the reason I believe this is because people that are passive always accept everything they see on TV and never choose to use their mind they always choose to accept what is on. Whereas Active audiences do as Active people recognise they we are all different that we are not all the same and that we do have a mind so we will choose what we want to watch when we want to watch it. An example of this is that when me and my parents watched revolution they were able to watch the whole series and I was only able to watch three episodes. This was made by J.J Abrahams who made Lost which the whole family loved including me so the people who made it where probably expecting everyone who loved Lost to watch it but me I absolutely hated it.   

 6: One media text that I really like while applying the uses and gratifications model is The Matrix and the reason I like is this is because it gives us a sense of Escapism and enjoyment and the reason it does is. That this media text is very unique as it is science fiction so this is not reprehensive of the real world as it gets us engaged to a world that we all knew but at the same time didn’t so we were always concentrated on this new world and nothing else. Also what made it better was that a lot of these characters we could relate to so this got us drawn from the real world even more and we just began to be absorbed and believe we might also be able to get there but not actually want and also that there was actually a world inside the world.

7A: On the Starbucks advert the preferred reading of this is that a coffee In any other coffee shop is nothing compared to a coffee in StarBucks as a coffee in StarBucks is a special coffee. It also shows the cup of coffee with the lid off suggesting that the person drinking it is finished and also that the drink is that hot not even the cup can contain how hot and good it is. Also the cup is filling half the screen showing the person looking at the advertisement how much you would actually get in your cup of coffee. The Background is of a normal urban environment which says that anyone is able to get this special coffee you don’t need to be a celebrity or be rich to get it. This is what I believe the preferred of this media text is.

7B: The oppositional reading of this media text is people understand what they are saying but they might have been at StarBucks before and did not like it very much. Also they might like StarBucks but they might prefer other coffee shops so might disagree with the media text. Also The slogan says that they keep trying till they give you the perfect coffee but some people might experience this someone else or they might have had a completely different experience in a StarBucks.

 

Audience questions

1A: When it comes to the mainstreamer I believe a media like ‘Toy Story 3’ would appeal to them as when it comes to the mainstreamer they don’t usually like to be by themselves they usually like sticking with the crew and making sure they don’t watch anything that is away from the mainstream. I believe Toy story 3 would be a movie that the mainstreamer would watch as it is something that makes you talk about it every day so it would be a great conversation piece. Also the mainstreamer needs to feel very secure so this means that they could use this as a piece to relate to people.

The Explorers is basically the polar opposite of the mainstreamer  and so for this reason I believe that the program like ‘Youngers’ the reason for this is that it is a program that does not suit everyone as it is very different to most shows. The reason being is that it is something different as it’s about a group of teenagers trying to become massive music stars it sounds cliché but they all use street talk like bruv. But it shows originality and risk as it is about grime music teenagers and street language. This is for explorers as not many people watch it so does not make many conversation pieces and removes them from the safety of the wolf pack.

The Aspirer would enjoy a media text like ‘Elle’ and the reason being is that this magazine is for people that look up to others for their looks and personality and don’t really like using their own views or personality they believe whatever someone in a fashion magazine is wearing it what they have to wear. They listen to everyone else and change themselves based on that information but when they see people in magazines like ‘Elle’ perfect body, perfect face it is all photoshopped but they believe image is everything so they will look at the image and buy the dress as they will believe they will look like the model if they wear it.

The Succeeder is a person that strives to do the best in life for themselves but also they like to control the group not be controlled and be successful letting nothing step in the way so a show like ‘Dragons Den’ would really suit the Succeeder as this is a show with a group of rich businessmen welcome entrepreneurs to come and shoe them ideas. With the chance of both businessman and entrepreneurs getting a great deal entrepreneurs get a chance to expand and get rich and the businessmen get a chance of getting more money. This means the succeeder would want to watch this as for a brief moment of time they get to relate to someone apart from a mainstreamer they may gain confidence by it if they are act like someone in real life and that person got the money and businessman it might make the succeeder think they can do it as they are exactly like them giving them self-confidence.

1B: I think these categories are very useful to a point because everyone is apart of at least one group and I emphasis apart. The main reason is that I believe that people can be apart of more than one group I believe that as I am apart of more than one for example I really like Inception but I also like the movies Death Note and Battle Royale these films are both Japanese which makes it different already but both are based on Manga’s which are not huge apart from in Japan. This would also make me an Explorer meaning that it has a pothole as not all media texts appeal to people with more than one of the categories. So yes to a certain extent this works but not in all cases as a lot of people do not come under just the mainstreamer they come under a lot of categories.

1C: A program which is on television right now is How I Met Your Mother which is about a group of 5 people who are all in there 30’s and there love lives and the awkward things that happen to them throughout. This program is a sitcom that is on TV in the morning, midday and at Night time which shows this show is for all audiences and that it is a primetime show as it is on at half 8 at night which means it is aimed at all audiences apart from old people and people below 13. I can tell this as it would not be popular enough to be on all day otherwise which means it appeals to people in work and people without work.    

1D: I believe Egoists mostly suit the media text ‘Dragons Den’ as that show is all about thinking of a new and original idea am making the best of life they can from it. That is what a Egoists does they try to make the best of life for themselves so this is the perfect program for them. For the Rebels I think ‘Youngsters’ is the perfect show as this is different to anything else on TV and no one really knows about it so this would be perfect as they could try and make everyone else like it by watching it making everyone else like it as well. The movie ‘Toy Story 3’ is great for Groupies as everyone talks about it and 99 percent of people like it so if they really wanted to fit in they could join in or start a conversation about it. The ‘Elle’ magazine is perfect for Trendies as they would copy the dresses or any clothes in the magazine just the peer group is in approve of the person filling them with a lot of joy. Finally for How I Met Your Mother is perfect for Drop-outs as this show is on most of the so as they just flick through the channels they could just go onto it and get a few laughs for 5 minutes or even the whole show if they want. Also whenever you join in the program you are not out of the story as they explain everything in the jokes that are said in the show. Meaning anytime you watch is perfect.