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Reception theory is a version of reader response literary theory that emphasizes each particular reader's reception or interpretation in making meaning from a literary text. Reception theory is generally referred to as audience reception in the analysis of communications models.
For example, a film may be received as a comedy by some viewers, while others might perceive it as a tragedy, depending on their own experiences and cultural backgrounds. Reception theory further highlights the complex nature of media consumption, as audiences are not passive recipients but active participants in the construction of meaning.
How things are circulated influences how audience members will receive the message and put it to use. According to Philip Elliott the audience is both the "source" and the "receiver" of the television message. For example, circulation and reception of a media message are incorporated in the production process through numerous "feedbacks."
The Media Group at the CCCS selected the BBC television current affairs programme Nationwide to study the encoding/decoding model, a part of reception theory, developed by Stuart Hall. This study was concerned with "the programme's distinctive ideological themes and with the particular ways in which Nationwide addressed the viewer". [1]
Audience theory offers explanations of how people encounter media, how they use it, and how it affects them. Although the concept of an audience predates modern media, [1] most audience theory is concerned with people’s relationship to various forms of media. There is no single theory of audience, but a range of explanatory frameworks.
For example, analyses of quality television, such as Cathy Come Home and Twin Peaks, have attracted the interests of researchers for their cinematic qualities. However, television studies can also incorporate the study of television viewing and how audiences make meaning from texts, which is commonly known as audience theory or reception theory.
However, despite being one of the oldest models of communication, Lasswell's model is still being used today. Such uses are often restricted to specific applications where the cited criticisms do not carry much weight. Examples include the analysis of mass media and new media. [2] [15]
Active Audience Theory is particularly associated with mass-media usage and is a branch of Stuart Hall's Encoding and Decoding Model. Stuart Hall Active is when an audience is engaging, interpreting, and responding to media messages and are able to question the message.