Reception Theory

 

1) What are the preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings for the RBK 50 Cent advert?

Preferred reading: The preferred reading of this advert would be for the audience to feel that Reebok is for those who have a strong sense of individuality or for those who have may feel they need a change for the better in their lives and who are trying to succeeded in their own way or that wearing the Reebok brand establishes you as a person who his an individual with goals and aspirations, that you are completely unique to everyone else in one way or another.

Negotiated reading: some of the audience viewing this advert might be a little confused as Reebok as a sports company is only represented through a log as none of their sportswear is on display possibly making a consumer wonder whether or not the advertisement is for Reebok or for 50 cent and so people may assume that this advert is not even sports related but is instead some type of promotion of 50 cent and his life by Reebok making it seem like an advert for the music industry.

Oppositional reading: Some people might associate the Reebok as brand as being for criminals and those breaking the law as the fingerprints might be misinterpreted as to do with crime and being arrested or in a gang as might be assumed from 50 cent. however another inference that can be made is through the filled in O's that can give of the idea of supporting gun violence as it is meant to represent the amount of times 50 cent has been shot which could create the idea that you are in danger when wearing Reebok. People could assume that 50 cent is being used by Reebok to be relatable to some communities.

2) What are the preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings for the advert of your own choice that you analysed for last week's work?

Preferred reading: A person can see that this energy drink gives a performance boost to anyone who drinks it as a credible sports player is seen with the drink being advertised next to him while from the text the viewer could see that the drink is a better drink for sports than water

Negotiated reading: some might be confused by whether or not this drink is for them or professional athletes, while the text can also make this confusing as the energy drink company is apparently stating that this drink hydrates you even better than water and that maybe we should be drinking this instead.  

Oppositional reading: Some might think that the energy drink is only for athletes and that they have to be one in order to gain the full benefits of the drink, while also they could make the assumption that this ad is trying to inform the audience that they should be drinking Lucozade instead of water as it is said by the company that it hydrates you better than water.

1) Complete Activity 1 on page 2 of the fact sheet. Choose a media text you have enjoyed and apply the sender-message-channel-receiver model to the text. There is an example of how to do this in the fact sheet (the free diving YouTube video).

Activity 1:

Sender: the video and podcast makers at TLDR (Ben Blissett as host for this video) 

Message: A 10 minute audio-visual video of a host with images and statistics that are shown to explain global politics such as when certain plans are explored in the video while also showing important figures

channel: The YouTube channel of TLDR daily and the internet itself as you access YouTube through the internet so it could even come up in a google search

receiver: The person who watches the video

2) What are the definitions of 'encoding' and 'decoding'?

Encoding: simply means constructing a message using a shared code and language.

Decoding: Someone else can then read it who shares that cultural understanding and is able to decode it.

3) Why did Stuart Hall criticise the sender-message-channel-receiver model?

He didn’t believe that the ‘message’ had a fixed meaning, encoded by the sender to be passively accepted by the

receiver, although he was certain that the senders of the message probably hoped it did. He felt that meaning was actually being produced in the spaces between this relationship, in a dynamic way that varied depending on who received the message. He thought there was more nuance to their relationship with the text as a cultural product and its producers.

4) What was Hall's circuit of communication model?

PRODUCTION: Could include the technical skills and production methods, market research surrounding the intended audience, assumptions about who will be consuming the text.

CIRCULATION: The way audiences encounter texts and perceive them, including media technologies, services

and the ways producers reach audiences. A text that reaches its intended audience has been circulated successfully.

DISTRIBUTION/CONSUMPTION: The point at which the audience ‘receive’ the text and interpret it, perhaps in varied ways, and ‘use’ the ideas they come across. Crucially, the makers of the text must construct its discourse in a way that makes sense to the audience based on previous experience, such as narrative and genre codes or reference to real world events – but what the audience do with these cannot be reliably predicted.

REPRODUCTION: The way ideologies perpetuated through the audience’s acceptance of or engagement with them; the way the media and culture might shape their communication of ideas

5) What does the factsheet say about Hall's Reception theory?

a preferred or hegemonic reading (the one intended by the producers of the text).

a range of potential negotiated readings (where the preferred reading may only be partially accepted by the audience for differing reasons specific to their cultural background).

An oppositional reading (where the message of the text is rejected entirely by the audience).

One of Hall’s best-known ideas to emerge from his encoding/ decoding model is his contribution to Reception Theory, which challenged the idea that audiences all understood media texts in a broadly similar way. It’s a way of exploring connections and relationships in the decoding process, the ‘non-linear’ processes between the construction of representations and audience interpretations of them. Reception theory is a core part of Hall’s work because he believed that media products as complex signs are polysemic, meaning they have multiple meanings depending on the background and experiences of the person consuming the text. People do not therefore experience them in identical ways. Elsewhere in Hall’s work on representations, he describes a person’s individual interpretation of a media text as being influenced by their conceptual map, their ‘world view’. This may be shaped by all sorts of factors: age, social class, gender, ethnicity, education and so on.

Summary: Encoding and decoding are intrinsically linked to reception theory and emphasises the thought that the interpretations of the audience are flexible and so all pieces of media have to be polysemic as they are so complex. Everyone has their own interpretation influenced by their conceptual map (world view) that is influenced by many factors from age and gender to education and social class.

6) Look at the final page. How does it suggest Reception theory could be criticised?

Some people have pointed out that Hall’s model assumes that everyone is able to recognise the dominant or hegemonic reading. We don’t know for certain whether this is always the case. Hall’s work is politically inclined to seek out evidence that popular culture has a role in reinforcing cultural hegemony, a shared agreement of values that helps preserve class structures. Hall’s theory as considered valuable for drawing attention to the significance of the audience in bringing their own meanings to the media they consume. The theory is valued for its recognition that communication between the audience and producers of a text is not a straightforward, one-way process.

Summary: Some people may not be able to identified the meaning trying to be portrayed in a piece of media and assumes that everyone is able to take the 'obvious' connotations of a piece of media. Halls theory aims to prove through reception theory that popular culture reinforces cultural hegemony. Important in showing peoples personal additions and perceptions of a piece of media. Identifies that recognition of a piece of media is not straightforward.