Lesson Write Up - 7th October

Audience Theory

Bulmer & Katz

Uses & Gratification Theory

• We are an active audience, we consume the media that we want to
• We control the media by choosing

e.g - TV cancellations; TV shows we choose not to watch for one reason or another don't get rating and viewing numbers, therefore channels will not put more money into making more of it because people aren't watching so it will get cancelled and no longer produced.

• We are inconrol of what we want to watch
• Our own life experiences change our understanding of media texts

Aims:

• To understand the theory
• Understand 'what people do with the media'

The Theory -

The 'Uses and Gratification' model represented a change in thinking as reasearchers began to describe the effects of the meida from the point of view of audiences

The model looks at the motives of the people who use the media, asking why we watch the TV programmes that we do, why we bother to read the newspapers, why we find ourselves compelled to keep up to date with our favourite soap, or consume films.

The theory makes the audience active as they choose what they want to consume, they are not forced into consumption, e.g you only watch the films you want to, as you are in control of your choices.

The theory argued audiecne needs have social and psychological needs which generate certain expectations about the mass media and what they are exposed to.

The audience is the active participant it allows them to make choices in relation to what they consume making ones elf in control of what they consume. This does assume an active audience making motivated choices making the audience in control of their own consumerism.

The 4 Needs -

The underlying idea about the model is that people are motivated by desire to fulfill or gratify ceratin needs. Rather than asking how media uses us, the model asks how we use the media.
The model is broken down into 4 needs -

1. surveillance
2. personal identity
3. personal relationships
4. diversion

1. People feel better having the feeling that they know what is going on in the world around them. (we feel the news is a reliable source, and it makes us feel secure) The surveillance model is about awareness, mass media make sus more aware of the world.
2. This explains how being a subject of the media allows us to conform to the identity and positioning of ourselves within society. The use of media for forming personal identity, pop stars are often role models, they inspire yound children, therefore there is an outcry when they do something wrong as it is influencing young people. Songs like Christine Aguilara - You Are Beautiful and Megan Trainor - All About That Bass allow us to connect with such identities and help us fit in society.
3. Broken into - 'Realtionships with the Media' (A) & 'Using the Media Within Relationships' (B)
(A) We form a relationship with the media. People often use the TV as a companion, we watch TV on our own and in groups, in silence. It can be an intimate experience as we feel close to the characters we watch. For example, in Soaps, if a long serving cast member's character is killed off we feel sad. (B) the media is often used as a springboard to form and build upon relationships with real people. Having a favourite TV programme in common can be a conversation starter. Some studies suggest that some familes sit around the TV as a stimulus for conversation (e.g Gogglebox)
4. This describes whats commonly termed as escapism - we watch TV to forget about our own lives and think about something else. We watch music videos to take our mind off our everyday lives and are used as a distraction from our own problems. We want to see that other people experience the same things we do.