In this blog post I will look at the different types of responses that audiences can have to a media product.
Different responses
Negotiated
A negotiated response is when the audience put their own opinions and values towards the product.
Within radio this can mean the way you listen to the radio. If you like listening to the radio when you're in the car, but a presenter is on the radio at the time, you won't want to listen and that's purely down to the fact of your opinion on the person. Another example would be if you really loved listening to the radio - but it stops you from concentrating on your work, therefore your value of the radio won't be as high.
My own personal example would be that I like listening to the radio but I don't like listening to the radio when presenters are talking because I'd rather listen to music instead of people talking for a long time, therefor I either don't listen to the radio or I choose station's that don't have presenters.
A preferred response is what the public will take from the product.
Within radio the morning shows on might be extremely happy to wake everyone up properly, so this would make the audience happy and want them to listen again next time they are in the car or near a radio or late at night the music will be slightly night club themed which would make people want to party and get out and do something.
Within the film side of media I thought of an example too. Many girls watch romantic comedies and as an example the film "The Notebook". Many girls watch that film and think the main character Ryan Gosling is what every boy is going to be like in the real world, therefor they build an expectation from the product and take away unrealistic emotions from the products and build up things from the movie in real life.
A oppositional response is when a person that isn't in the target audience will think badly towards to the other responses. Instead they will take a bad look on the product.
Within the radio area of media most radio stations won't play songs on the radio if they are inappropriate for children to hear because of legal and ethical reasons but some radio stations will play songs with very very light inappropriate language in, e.g, the word "ass". Therefore someone would listen to the whole show and then hear one bad thing happen and instead of thinking anything good, they'll take a bad look on the product and think badly instantly.
Within the film side of media I thought of an example too. There is a movie out called Pitch Perfect and there's a character called "Fat Amy". This may offend a lot of people because without even going into the movie they're highlighting and being proud of the fact there's a fat person. Instead of thinking "That's really good she isn't afraid to be happy with her weight", oppositional responses would be more likely to say "That's inappropriate, it will make other people think it's okay to go around calling people fat all the time"
Participatory
Participatory is when the audience can join in and be apart of the product.
For example the film "The Break-Up". The way you can join in with the film is in the beginning their is two sides to the story and you can pick either the man or the woman's side to follow and watch throughout or in the music video "coming to get me" by Professor Green you can choose which camera angle you want to watch the video in. Both of these examples are showing of ways to interact.
My own example for radio would be if on the radio's site, there would be a poll for a song to be played next and if the person chose, this would be a way of joining in and interacting with the product.
Cultural competence
Cultural competence is the way we communicate with people through modern technology and how we are able to access and understand people of other cultures
For example, the internet. The internet has improved in massive amounts in technology and we can view how different things are for different cultures, this can sometimes cause trouble as other cultures want to behave like the one they see on the internet and it turns around to rebellions of government.
An example in the film industry is Brokeback Mountain. The reason Brokeback Mountain would be a cultural competence is because the film pushed the boundary as in at this time homosexuality wasn't accepted and people stereotyped cowboys as the sort of men that would not be homosexual.
An example in radio is that their could be a show on and they're having a discussion about different cultures. One of the presenters could talk about a culture you haven't heard about and make an opinion on this culture that sounds slightly harsh, therefore I could go onto the internet and search this culture for myself as their opinion is only an opinion and not fact so I could find my own research onto it.
Fan culture
Fan culture is the way that fans are having an active influence on the media product and society
For example in television and film, their is a programme called Veronica Mars that is popular in the USA and the company who made it wanted to make a movie, they attempted to make the movie but didn't have enough budget to create it but with the extremely wide fan base they had, the fan base started to donate money in to the budget and now the movie is being made.
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Audience theory
