Reception theory - Theory

This theory is an active audience theory which sees the audience as being actively engaged in the interpretation of media texts rather than as passive consumers. Individuals receive and interpret texts in different ways.

This theory demonstrated that even though one message is sent out that not one understanding is made from the text.

This theory allows for a media text to be consumed individually and take into consideration the meaning of a text and the relationship between the individual.

The study of semiotics encoding and decoding

This theory says that media texts are encoded by the producer (the people who make media texts) and these texts are full of ideologies values and messages

The text is then decoded by an audience, however not all audiences will decode and respond to the text in the same way. In some cases this is not what the producer intended.

How encoding and decoding works

When a producer creates a text it is encoded with a meaning or message intended to be conveyed to the audience. This is called the preferred meaning.

This theory will sometimes be correctly decoded and the audience will understand what the producer wants them to.

Sometimes the producer can encode a message which is not a message that is not completely understood by making a message ineffective.

Audience types

Hall identified three different types of audience readings

Dominant or preferred

Negotiated

Oppositional

 

How can understanding be determined?

Many things can affect which reading we take (from the above)
Life experience
Mood at the time of viewing
Age
Culture
Beliefs
Gender

     By using recognised codes and conventions, and by drawing upon audience expectations relating to aspects such as genre and use of stars, the producers can position the audience and thus create a certain amount of agreement on what the code means. This is the preferred meaning.