RECEPTION THEORY focuses on the scope in textual analysis for 'negotiation' and 'opposition' on the part of the audience. This means that a text ( a book, film, advert, poster or other creative work) is not passively accepted by the audience but that the reader / viewer interprets the meanings of the texts based on their individual cultural background and life experiences.
Stuart Hall’s encoding decoding model; dominant, negotiated and
oppositional readings; why Hall says he studies culture instead of media
specifically, and media hegemony
Summary: The mass media function to maintain
the ideology of those already in power. Corporate controlled media
provide the dominant discourse of the day that frames interpretation of
events. Critics should seek not only to interpret culture, but to change
it. Media audiences do have the capacity to resist hegemonic influence.
The mass media impose the dominant ideology on the rest of
society, and the connotations of words and images are fragments of
ideology that perform an unwitting service for the ruling elite.
Simply put: The media only speaks for those who have power—mass media
shapes our perceptions in society. Corporations control media and thus,
they can interpret things the way they wish. They do this by encoding
messages in, for example, an advertisement. But, Stuart Hall says we can
reject these messages, which is why he doesn’t really study media, but
rather studies cultures. Meanings come from discourse (social interactions with one another) and so he’d rather study how these meanings develop from discourse.
Encoding: the process in which the media puts messages into an advertisement.
Decoding: the process in which we, the audience, formulate meaning. Meaning can be formed in 3 ways.
1) Dominant reading: this is what the media wants us to have, also called a preferred reading.
2) Negotiated reading: this is when I’d accept the advertisement, but not in the way it’s shown.
3) Oppositional reading: this is when I reject it completely.
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