LESSON 56: THE AUDIENCE IS WATCHING

This lesson we began looking at the ideas around audience theory and came up with ideas around the effects debate, specifically the extent to which media products impact on audience patterns of thinking, ways of seeing the world and behaviours.

We began by looking at the idea of whether or not we believe media consumption [what we watch; play; hear; see] effects us. Can we assess whether or not we would be the same person if we had not consumed that product or those types of products?

We came to the view that we might differentiate between knowledge gained [what we know] and the wider impact on our view of the world [what we understand from that knowledge or the manner in which that knowledge was represented to us].

The first port of call was HYPODERMIC THEORY, the idea that media products act on us in a very direct manner. We explored the origins of this theory of media influence and how it has been interpreted over the past 70 years, often being cited as the reason for violent behaviours in society [Columbine; Jamie Boulger etc].

We discussed why it seems such a weak theory when compared to our own experiences of the media but agreed that there were those in society [the 'vulnerable'] who might be exploited by media violence or representations.