Report

Hypodermic needle-
Hypodermic needle is when the audience are influenced by watching a type of media. This means that they
follow and believe what the media is suggesting, the audience dont use the media to their advantage.
Hypodermic needle is related to passive audiences and audience that mindlessly accepts what is said. This
term is linked with the media injecting their ideas, beliefs or attitude towards a situation into the audience
watching, much like a needle does with blood. An example of this would be views and attitude on politics on
the news and in magazines as most of the channels or media companies have their own opinion on the matter
and they manipulate stories to deceive the less mature mind.

In the 1920s -1930s after the great world war was when this theory was first developed. The Nazis used
propaganda to influence people to join them. This was due to peoples need for someone to look up to and to
take charge, meaning they where vulnerable and easier to brain washed into believing things that arent right.
The Hypodermic Needle Theory continues to influence the way we talk about the media, people believe that
the mass media has a powerful effect. Parents worry about the influence of television and violent video
games.

Are people influenced by violence they see on TV and video games? The copycat killing is when someone
copies a murder they have seen from a film or video game, this shows that the hypodermic needle theory is
correct. However people have to
think about different factors to apply this theory. This is due to most people not copying what they see on TV
as they have common sense of what is right and wrong. One of the main factors people look at when they see
this happen is if the person has any mental health problems, or even family problems that may make
them seek attention.

Uses of gratifications theory-

The gratification theory differs from Hypodermic Needle. The gratification theory allows the audience to
come up with their own opinions on the media that theyve seen. The audience use this media to educate them
selfs on said matter and not just accept what is said with out developing an opinion of their own. This means
that the message isnt being forced onto them like Hypodermic Needle, they are just interpret the message.
This theory is linked with active audiences an audience that is on the ball and questioning what is said.

What we find in media;

Personal identify; The younger generations may watch the television in order to look for models for our
behaviour. For example our favourite characters we see in films or soaps have some similarities to ourselves.
These characters help us decide what we think about ourselves and what is cool and what is not as we can
find our selves aspiring to be like them.

Information; the information we gather and obtain about society and the world is a way we satisfy our
curiosity to learn new things. This is why we watch the news and documentaries to learn more. But do we
believe to much we see on the television?

Entertainment; sometimes we simply use media for our own enjoyment, relaxation or to kill time. A popular
source of media we watch our entertainment on is the internet and TV.

Integration and social interaction; we use the media in order to and out more things about the living conditions
or life style of others such as different religion. Its the same time TV may help us to get on with our real
friends as we can make small talk about things on TV such as different programs or news throughout the
world.
Receptions study-
The reception study theory is where there is a hidden message in the the subtext of the media. Sometimes the
audience understand the message or interpreted wrongly and some times they just reject it. These three
reaction of the hidden media messages shows wether the audience is either dominant, negotiated or
oppositional. Dominant is understanding the message and agreeing with it. Negotiated is when the audience
accepts parts of it and disagrees with other parts. While oppositional means they dont agree with it and
have their own opinion on the matter. Its all about interpretation. The reception study allows people to have
their own opinion which I believe is better than being forced to believe something or having ideas injected into
their head. It also analyses how different groups of people react to media differently, interpreting the
message in their own way. However I believe this theory has a down side because people may interrupt the
message in the wrong way, and discredit or follow something for the wrong reasons.