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Audiences

5 dot points across 5 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do you apply Gerbner's cultivation theory, that long-term exposure to repeated representations shapes how audiences see the world and reinforces dominant ideologies, to analyse the product and audience relationship?

Cultivation theory (George Gerbner): repeated, long-term exposure to consistent patterns of representation cultivates audiences' beliefs about the world; this gradual shaping tends to reinforce mainstream, hegemonic values rather than change behaviour suddenly.
How to apply George Gerbner's cultivation theory in WJEC A-Level Media Studies. Covers cultivation through repeated long-term exposure, the shaping of beliefs about the world, mainstreaming and the reinforcement of dominant ideology, how it differs from immediate effects, and how to use it on the product and audience relationship in the exam.
12 min answer →

How do you apply Shirky's end-of-audience theory, that digital media turn former consumers into producers who speak back and create content, to analyse the product and audience relationship?

End of audience (Clay Shirky): digital and networked media have changed the relationship between media and audiences; consumers are no longer only passive receivers but have become producers who 'speak back' to the media, creating and sharing content with one another.
How to apply Clay Shirky's end-of-audience theory in WJEC A-Level Media Studies. Covers how digital and networked media change the media and audience relationship, the shift from passive consumers to producers who speak back, content creation and sharing, the criticisms of the theory, and how to use it on the product and audience relationship in the exam.
12 min answer →

How do you apply Jenkins's theory of fandom, that fans are active participants who poach and rework texts and build identity and community, to analyse the product and audience relationship?

Fandom (Henry Jenkins): fans are active participants, not passive spectators; through textual poaching they appropriate and rework media texts in ways not fully intended by producers, and they build social identity and community around shared cultural materials.
How to apply Henry Jenkins's theory of fandom in WJEC A-Level Media Studies. Covers fans as active participants, textual poaching, participatory culture, fan production such as fan fiction and conventions, the building of identity and community, and how to use the theory on the product and audience relationship in the exam.
12 min answer →

How do you apply Bandura's media effects theory, that audiences can acquire and imitate behaviours modelled by media, to analyse the relationship between products and audiences?

Media effects (Albert Bandura): media can influence audiences directly; audiences acquire attitudes, emotional responses and behaviours by observing and imitating behaviours modelled in media products, so represented behaviour such as aggression can be learned and reproduced.
How to apply Albert Bandura's media effects theory in WJEC A-Level Media Studies. Covers the effects tradition and the hypodermic model, social learning through modelling and imitation, the link to aggression, the strong criticisms of effects research, and how to use the theory on the audience and product relationship in the exam.
12 min answer →

How do you apply Hall's reception theory, that meaning is encoded by producers and decoded by audiences through preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings, to analyse the product and audience relationship?

Reception theory (Stuart Hall): communication is a process of encoding by producers and decoding by audiences; audiences decode the encoded message through a preferred (dominant-hegemonic), negotiated or oppositional reading, shaped by their social position.
How to apply Stuart Hall's reception theory in WJEC A-Level Media Studies. Covers the encoding and decoding model, the preferred or dominant-hegemonic reading, the negotiated reading and the oppositional reading, how social position shapes decoding, and how to use the theory on the product and audience relationship in the exam.
12 min answer →