Audience theoryHannah Charles

Herbert Blumer & Julian McDougall

Blumer - 1950• Mass audience is an

anonymous group or anonymous individuals

• Audience are not interactive with one another

• The mass is loosely organised

McDougall - 2009• Suggests that in the online

age, it’s getting harder to conceive a media audience as a stable, identifiable group

Blumer is saying that you definitely could get an audience in the 1950’s because the only way to watch films was at the cinema. It’s VERY different to nowadays with the growth in technology where linearity isn’t necessary & other devices are used to watch films: TV, computer, phones etc.

Mass audience ‘broadcast audience’ those who consume

mainstream or popular texts such as soaps or blockbuster films. Large group of people

Type of mainstream films watched by mass audience:

Niche audience much smaller group but still influential

and has very unique interests

Type of films that are watched by a niche audience:

Key

ter

ms

High Culture & Low Culture

Low culturePopular and widespread, can be interpreted as commercial so popular

culture = low culture, for the common people

• Magazines Heat, Now, Look • TV Eastenders, X Factor, TOWIE

• Film Fast and Furious, Twilight, Skyfall

High culture Cultural value = high culture traditionally associated with dominant or powerful groups

• Magazines Marie Claire, Horse & Hound, Good Housekeeping • TV University Challenge, Question Time, Countryfile• Film Anna Karenina, The Queen, The Passion of the Christ

Alternative & Youth Culture

Alternative culture • ‘folk’ culture, minority groups with possible

subversive values • Punk scene for example as they began to rebel

against authority but although they were a minority, they were able to become dominant in society and challenge the high and low culture power groups

Youth culture

• ‘folk devil’ • ‘Demonised by the media’• Portrayed negatively by films, TV & magazines

Passive & Active

Audiences

Passive • The media ‘injects’ ideas & views into the brains of the audience like a hypodermic needle

(Frankfurt), controlling the way that people think & behave.• The media has a direct & powerful effect on its audience. They control the thoughts and

beliefs of the audience as the media in many formats so the audience can’t escape from the forced views of the media.

Active • Audience are actively involved, often unconsciously, in making sense of the message within

their personal and social contexts.• media message may be influenced by such things as family background, beliefs, values, culture,

interests, education and experiences.• Audience are diverse, the media is influenced by society. The media need to please the

audience, so they try to reflect the values and beliefs that are predominant in society. They give the audience what they think they want rather than telling us what to think and believe.