Types of audiences

There are two different types of audience

passive audience- the audience that don't think about what they're seeing, they don't get involved, engage or pay attention to anything. they just sit back and absorb in what they are looking at.
a theory that can be applied to the passive audience would be the hypodermic needle theory which talks about how the media basically injects information into you such as values,ideas and images.

Active audience- the audience that choose what they see in the media, they evaluate, think about and make judgements about what they see. A theory that can be applied to the active audience would be Blumler and Katz's uses and gratification theory.

the ways in which the media allows us to be an active audience are;
voting e.g. the x factor
voicing our opinions
joining organisation or protests
buying the product being sold

Blumler and Katz uses and gratification theory

Blumler and Katz identified a number of ways that we as an active audience, engage with and the use of media.

gratification meaning that you get pleasure from the experience.

Escapism- people use media texts to divert their attention away from other things for example; the problems in their lives.

Personal relationships- individuals develop 'relationships' with people or characters they encounter through the media for example; a character in a TV show.

Personal identity- people take aspects of the personal identity from images,characters,people in the media for example; buying the same outfit as one of your role models such as a celebrity.

Surveillance- people gain an understanding of the world around them through the media for example; watching the news and documentaries.

  

Rogers concentric circle.

The public self- what you show others
The private self- What you don't show others
The core self- what you are really like

three theories generated around signs

De Saussure

De Saussure proposed two ideas about the ways signs function, he suggested that a sign= signifier+signified.

the signifier means the physical signs for example the; sound,inscription, smell,drawing,that it exists in the outside world. eg/ the pig

the signified means the mental concept, the meaning the signifier evokes in the mind of the receiver, this exists in the minds of people who see the sign and interpret the sign. eg/ the pig, its not about what the pig looks like(what the sign is), it's more about who is looking at the pig and how they see it. such as in different cultures a pig can be seen as a holy animal.

Barthes
 
Barthes proposed that there are two things that make up a sign.

the denotation- what you see and why you think that object is that object.(the sign) eg/ a pig you think curly tails and pink skin.

the connotation- what the sign mean. eg/ the pig- you think messy and loud


Pierce

Icon- what the object looks like eg/ a pig is a pig

the index- a sign that associates that thing to something else eg/ with a pig you think of bacon.

the symbol- a sign that has no meaning on it's own because it doesn't look like anything, but society has agreed on a meaning eg/ the police are known as pigs. 

Sub-cultural groups movie maker.