A2 - Theories of Audience

The Hypodermic Needle Theory (AKA the Magic Bullet theory) suggested that audiences would blindly believe whatever information was fed for them, and that all audiences were passive audiences. It suggests that information is passed directly from the media source (the gun or the syringe, depending on which metaphor is used) into the passive audience member, and the audience believes it without question. This idea was prominent in the 1930’s, and inspired many propaganda campaigns. However, it was proved to be ineffective against many audiences by Lazarsfeld, who suggested instead that audiences choose which media sources they allow to influence them.

For my trailer, I do not believe that the Hypodermic Needle theory is particularly applicable. This is because in practice, the majority of the time, the majority of people do not blindly follow whatever they see on TV or in films. If this was the case for my film, it would end up with the audience going out and becoming serial killers, which is clearly not true. However, the Hypodermic Needle played a major part in the creation of age ratings, for fear that younger audiences would carry out the actions that the films portray, many of which are inappropriate and offensive.

Another theory of audience is the Uses and Gratifications theory, as created by Blumer and Katz. This suggests that audiences actively choose which film they want to see based on what they get out of it, for a variety of different reasons including entertainment, to gather information, to develop socially and as a diversion to avoid a problem they are having.