Week 3 & 4

Audience Theories
The Media is the window on the world, the watchdog for the public. There are so many audience theories with their suggestions on how the attitudes and persona of people in society are affected by the media. The cultivation theory suggests that the more TV the audience consumes, the more likely it will be that they will start to develop certain views about the world. But the fear is that these views that are developed through the large consumption of TV will be forced views. Another theory is the Desensitisation Theory, suggesting that audience attitudes towards violence can be affected by having seen too much violence in the media. Also the Copycat/modelling theory with the idea that by watching a film such as Harry Potter it may influence in a positive or negative way where the Media itself will be responsible for maintaining the view that there’s a connection with the Media. These three audience theories all have the same negative outcome; the Media is influencing the world to do wrong. I don’t feel that these Media theories are entirely correct, of course no one can really tell if the reason a child is violent as an adult is due to the amount of screen violence they have consumed throughout life. But I feel that the blame is on the entire upbringing of a child, whether they go through big changes or a family is falling apart, the Media is not wholly to blame. With the Cultivation theory I believe that lies within a person’s literate thinking, for instance if someone is likely to take anything to be truthful and influential whether it be a cat running the world or a protest shown on TV to support a worthy cause, then that will reflect the outcome of how the view the world, but really I feel or at least would like to hope the world has a bit more common sense and ability to think for themselves.
When planning my teaser trailer film synopsis, I will of course consider each of the theories I have highlighted above, however this will not make much of an influence to the way I choose to represent my film, as I suspect my teaser trailer will probably end up falling into the copycat theory, as I have found the majority of films do in this day in age. Unfortunately I feel that escaping the banding of audience theories is near to impossible. But that is the beauty of the Media, every opinion is valued and considered - whether good or bad.