Stuart Hall - Reception Theory

 Part 1) Applying Reception theory to adverts

Look back at the adverts you have been analysing in last week's lessons on Reading an Image and media codes (RBK 50 Cent and one of your choice). 

1) What are the preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings for the RBK 50 Cent advert

Preferred- anyone from any background can be powerful and be themselves

Negotiated- some people may think the advert is positive as it shows anyone from any background like disadvantaged backgrounds can build themselves up from the bottom however some people may think that since he was in jail its promoting a bad image on people in jail

Oppositional- people may think that since he was in prison the brand is promoting illegal behaviour and criminals and could light backlash on the company for doing that

2) What are the preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings for the advert of your own choice that you analysed for last week's work?

preferred- the drink will make you refreshed and its really tasty as it implies it wants you to drink it a lot

negotiated- some people may think the drink will make you refreshed and its tasty so you drink it a lot however some people may think its not good as it promotes alcoholism and some people underage may consume it which isn't good

oppositional- some people may think its not good as it promotes alcoholism and some people underage may consume it which isn't good

Remember to highlight or bold any media terminology you are using.

Part 2) Reception theory factsheet #218

Use our extremely useful A Level Media Factsheet archive to find Factsheet #218 Spotlight on Stuart Hall: Encoding, Decoding and Reception Theory. Read the factsheet and complete the following tasks and questions:

1) Complete Activity 1 on page 2 of the factsheet. Choose a media text you have enjoyed and apply the sender-message-channel-receiver model to the text. There is an example of how to do this in the factsheet (the freediving YouTube video).

ok

2) What are the definitions of 'encoding' and 'decoding'?

The encoding/decoding model is a communication framework that describes how messages are created, transmitted, and interpreted. 

3) Why did Stuart Hall criticise the sender-message-channel-receiver model?

criticized for its linearity and for its lack of structured conception of various moments as a complex structure of relations

4) What was Hall's circuit of communication model?

Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model of mass communication (1980), in which the traditional linear model of sender–message–receiver  rendered in the context of mass communication as a loop involving production–*distribution– (re)production, was broken down into several linked but distinctive ‘moments’: production, circulation, distribution/*consumption, and * (cultural) reproduction.

5) What does the factsheet say about Hall's Reception theory?

Reception theory is a core part of Hall’s work because he believed that media products as complex signs are polysemic, meaning they have multiple meanings depending on the background and experiences of the person consuming the text. People do not therefore experience them in identical ways. Elsewhere in Hall’s work on representations, he describes a person’s individual interpretation of a media text as being influenced by their conceptual map, their ‘world view’. This may be shaped by all sorts of factors: age, social class, gender, ethnicity, education and so on.

6) Look at the final page. How does it suggest Reception theory could be criticised?

criticised the previous dominant previous model of communication, which focused on sender/message/channel/ receiver (often abbreviated to SMCR).