Audience Theories.

In todays' lesson, we were introduced to and analysed two audience theories, the first theory The Effects Model, or the Hyperdermic Model, created by Croteau, Hoynes in 1997. My understanding of The Effects Model is that it is a theory that the media is injecting potentially brain washing ideas into our minds. The media dictates the messages it is projecting to us, the audience powerless in choosing to recieve these messages and ideas. The audience are almost 'doped' by these media ideas viewed in everyday media text and the effects can by mainly of a negative impact. This can be applied to music videos, for example if a teenage girl watches a music video of a female artist she idolises wearing a certain fashion style, dancing in a certain way and partying, the teenager will be influenced to mimic the same things their idol is portraying in that video.

The second audience theory made known to us was the Uses and Gratifications theory, created by Blumler and Katz in 1974. My understanding of this theory is that it represents the opposing idea to that of the Effects Model, in which the audience is active and use the text for such things as information, personal identity, social interaction and entertainment. This can be applied to music videos in a situation where everybody is talking about a certain video you have not yet seen, and so it is part of social interaction for you to watch it to be included in that conversation. The audience use the media text for their own pleasure and gratification.

We then viewed a music video in class which is embedded below, to apply these theories to the video and analyse them through the video. The chosen video was 'Time - Chase and Status Feat. Delilah'.

This is my analysis of the music video, applying the two theories.

Effects Model
-You can get help if you are in that same situation
-It had a positive message conveyed at the end through the refuge help contact details
-The video had a dominant representation of men being violent
-It also had a dominant representation of women being weak and vulnerable
-The video conveyed a strong message throughout that domestic violence is wrong
-The creators of the video had hoped to make an impact with such a distressing but meaningful video towards a sensitive issue

Uses and Gratifications
-The audience can feel gratification that they can get help through the refuge appeal and seek that information through the video
-The audience can feel that they can sort out their similar situation at home because it relates to them and they know they're not alone in that certain issue
-There is a strong message that violence is wrong, leading people away from the idea of domestic violence being okay
-It provokes social interaction, meaning the victims can feel they can talk to somebody because they have seen the video and understand
-The video can help someone admit that they are in that same situation and seek help
-The video has a gratifying feeling that you are in a much better state than many people today, the video diverts you from issues you are facing
-The video is well scripted to give a powerful impact on audiences watching it

I then had to independently analyse a music video of my own choice. I decided to analyse 'Same Love - Macklemore and Ryan Lewis Feat. Mary Lambert' , embedded below. The video tells the story of a male teenager facing troubles with his sexuality, his parents disagreeing and he is struggling to accept who he is. He then finds a partner and they get married, his parents also accepting who he is.

By applying the two audience theories, my analysis was as follows:

The Effects Model
-The video has a positive message towards homosexuality, the couples conveyed in the video are happy and proud to be who they are
-The video shows people that if they are also in the same situation (their parents don't agree with their sexuality), it is okay and they will understand in the end
-It conveys a dominant representation of straight people being homophobic towards homosexual people, portraying through the perspective of the male couple that it is hurtful to be discriminated against
-the creators of the video hope to have a positive impact on people and encourage them to be who they are and proud to be who they are

Uses and Gratifications
-The video dominates in happiness and positive messages of same sex couples, encouraging people of the same sexuality to accept themselves and be proud of it
-The video can help people realise who they are and tell others about it
-They can speak out about it without being afraid of discrimination, knowing people have seen the video and can understand their problems
-People watching the video can find pleasure in the video, seeing people being happy and proud of who they are and not caring about anyone else's opinions
-The video can trigger social interaction, talking about gay rights and the recent issue with legalising gay marriage, strongly shown in this video as being the right thing to do.