Similarities and differences between the theories and how relevant they are

Reception theory is similar to effects theory and uses and gratification as it believes the audience are both active and passive.

The reception theory is different as it uses qualitative and quantitive research.
The effects and uses and gratification theory are different because the effects theory believes the audiences are passive and are controlled by the media whereas the uses and gratification theory think the audience are active and consume the media texts to escape from everyday problems/daily routine, using the media for emotional interaction, learning behaviours and values and lastly gathering information.

I think the uses and gratification can be used for my main text which is Shrek 2 as it suggests the reason why the audience watch the film is for entertainment, escapism as it the sub genre is fantasy, moreover it is humorous because its subverts the convention of fairytales. On the other hand, the effects theory can also be applied as it is an American text American ideologies and values are likely to be pick upped. I think the reception theory can be applied as well as the children are likely to pick up the hegemonic reading, whereas an adult or a teenage may grasp a negotiated reading or a oppositional reading.

homework

Hollyoaks (Monday Friday on c4 6.30pm/Monday-Friday on E4 7pm omnibus E4 Saturday 2pm C4 Sunday 10.30am)

News (on BBC1 everyday 6pm)

Watchdog (BBC 1 Tuesday on 7pm)

That’s so Raven (Disney channel 6pm)

The Simpsons (C4 Monday-Friday 6pm)

Hollyoaks is a soap that may be consumed by higher culture audience as well as it get played on E4 as well as channel 4 which portrays that it is aimed at two audiences.

The news on BBC1 gives the audience what they want because they make sure the news they report to us in accurate and they see it as a duty to inform/report to us to let us know what is going on.-so they are acting as a fourth estate.

Watchdog is a TV series that educates the audience and exposes corruptions therefore acting as safe guards.

The audiences have a variety of choices for prime time TV for example you could watch the News, Hollyoaks, That’s so Raven, Watchdog or The Simpsons as you have the choice of conforming (accepting),accommodating (being aware) or rejecting (ignoring) the texts.

Marxism Summary

Marxist Ideologies
Based on the accumulation of wealth so this means the rich will continue getting richer while the poor will continue becoming poorer.
Capitalism- aimed on a profit purpose, so workers are exploited.

Capitalist society:

Working class/proletariat:
Sell the labour but don’t own the production

The bourgeoisie (ruling class):
Wealthy bourgeoisie- employ the working class people and own the production however they don’t work themselves
Petty bourgeoisie- employ others but also work as well.

Marxism and the Media
They keep society as it is and keep the “status quo” therefore the working class the same and bourgeoisie the same. Examples of this is in adverts and newspapers. For instance in most adverts they have a male voiceover portraying that males have high authority compared to females and that they have more power and that you could trust them. This is reinforces patriarchy. Which could be said to be the dominant ideology.
The texts made are aimed at a mass audience so they “dumb down” the output. An example of this is the news. Instead of challenging the audience they dumb it down so that audiences are not educated so that they don’t question the bourgeoisie. Moreover, the news reinforces stereotypes which gives misrepresentations of groups of people.