Humans - Audience Exam Question

Question

Is it essential for a TV programme to simultaneously target both mass and specialised audiences. Explore this statement with reference to Humans

Answer

It isn't essential for a TV programme to simultaneously target both mass and specialised audiences an example of a show which doesn't is Humans, a sci fi tv series which targets a mass audience throughout various readings, using Stuart Halls Reception theory I will explain how the pilot episode is targeted to a mass audience rather than a specialised audience.

From looking at Humans pilot episode, it is clear for the producer to target a mass audience. Although Humans is a sci-fi tv series, the sci-fi elements are subtle, such as it not being a full on robot show, we have human characters and the robots themselves are disguised as humans. This is just one small example of how Humans is targeted to a mass audience rather than a specialised audience without using Stuart Hall's Reception Theory.

Stuart Halls Reception theory explores the different ways in which a media product can have several readings. There are 3 readings in this theory they are, Dominant reading which is where the audience agrees with the dominant ideologies in the text. Oppositional reading where the audience completely disagrees with what they see and negotiated reading where the audience generally agrees with what they see however they may disagree with certain aspects.

Taking Stuart Halls theory and looking at the scene of Odie collapsing in the supermarket with George the audiences dominant reading is to feel sorry for Odie as we see his lifeless body laying with nothing able to be done to fix him as he is an out of date machine this scene is also made to make us feel bad for George so we carry this emotion with us for George throughout the episode, this isn't a confusing reading to take it is the first reading and the dominant it is also an identifiable situation as it can be linked to a close friends/ family members death as we know the relationship between George and Odie is a strong bond. So when George is then told to get rid of Odie and gets given a new cyborg he is hurt and we as the audience automatically do not agree with the new synth and carry the emotion of her being a nuisance throughout the episode as this is the dominant reading. This reading isn't hard to come by meaning a mass audience will be able to follow this without having to be a specialised audience to the tv series and sci-fi fans. This scene has elements which are in the majority of genre's in a romantic film there is usually some death that is meaningful and in action genres there are deaths some are more heartfelt than others.

Another scene in Humans is the scene when Laura meets Anita for the first time, it is clear to see from the first moment that Laura doesn't like Anita so straight away the mass audience is identifiable within this situation. The mise-en-scene of Anita's makeup showing she is naturally beautiful we also know she is deemed as attractive due to the mid shot of Laura's son Toby licking his lips the first time Toby saw her being a symbolic code that she is attractive to males of the household. Also through the mise-en-scene of Laura's non verbal communication through facial expressions clearly shows that she is not happy with this situation so straight away us as an audience understand there is competition and jealousy with Anita and Laura there is no use of a hermeneutic code as we know and do not need to be a specialised audience to get our head around the ideologies behind this scene.

Regulation

Regulation

• Regulation
• Rules and Restrictions.

• Why?
• To make sure children don't see inappropriate shows as it may be traumatising.

• How is television regulated
• The watershed is a voluntary time that they agree to put some more inappropriate shows so they do not get complaints.

• The mass media
• considered that audiences are stupid and easily influenced and the mass media is used to explain this - cultivation theory - passive audience.

• Ofcom
• Regulation comes down to harm and offence of the under 18's.

• Harm and Offence
• 'Ofcom is required to assess the likelihood of material encouraging or inciting the commission of crime or of leading to disorder.'

• Regulation is ineffective - Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt
• Media in general is getting harder to regulate due to digital technologies, for example, if a child wants to watch something on Netflix they can watch whatever they like and it isn't regulated.

• Self Regulation
• Parents being able to put pins on certain shows so there child cannot watch it.

Imitable behaviour - bullying - rebellion against social norms - teenager using a gun - sadism - potentially racist from an allegorical perspective

Leo attacks Sadiq - Violent, intimidating scene - may be particularly offensive to those involved in violence - possible racial violent undertones.

Kidnapping - may trigger memories - depicts unconscious woman being dragged away - connotations of murder and sexual assault

• Niska in brothel
• Were supposed to feel sorry for Miska, so potentially this will traumatise the audience. 
• The scene is depicting prostitution
• Objectification of women
• Taboo theme: man having sex with a robot
• Depiction of sexual assault

• Fred in Picking Scene
• Fred has been branded connotations of slavery
• Also alludes to the holocaust
• Audience may have family members affected by these events

• Odi collapsed in supermarket
• Depiction of lifeless/dead Odi - may be potentially upsetting to parents. Odi is a son figure to George - emotionally distressing

Key Theory - Stuart Hall - Reception Theory

• How we receive a media products (3 ways)
• Dominant / Preferred
• Negotiated
• Oppositional

• All about the ideology of the producer
• We are too dependant on technology

Key Theory - Henry Jenkins - Fandom

• Textual Poaching

• Fandom refers to a particularly organised and motivated audience of a certain media producer franchise.

• Unlike the generic audience or the classic spectator, fans are active participants in the construction and circulation of textual meanings.

• Fans appropriate texts and read them in ways that are not fully intended by the media producers ('textual poaching'). Examples of this may manifest in conventions, fan fiction and so on.

• Rather than just okay a video game or watch a TV show, fans construct their social and cultural identifies through borrowing and utilising mass culture images, and may use this 'subcultural capital' to form social bonds. For example, through online forums like Reddit or 4chan.

• A fan is a more enthusiastic audience member

• Fansub
• Subtitle file made by a fan. 

Newspaper Unit: Audience Responses

Audience Responses

• Ideologies of Christmas
• Family
• Christmas Dinner
• Birth of Jesus

• Stuart Hall - Reception Theory
• The ways in which the audience process the ideologies of the producer.

• 'P.N.O'
• Preferred
• Negotiated
• Oppositional

• Preferred Reading
• Birth of Jesus and be involved in going to church Christmas Eve.
• Everyone loves Christmas.
• Joy of giving gifts.

Cambridge News Facts

• Local Tabloid
• Genre

• 'TOO CLEVER FOR PRISON'
• Were not supposed to like her and have passion towards her.
• We feel distrust towards the court system as they are giving someone freedom for a crime which shouldn't be dismissed due to her career choice and qualifications.
• The picture used makes us dislike her even more as she looks smug in the photo used so we dislike her even more.
• The representations of people with mental health issues is that they may be dangerous, out of control, another stigma with mental health issues is that they don't exist, and they're just an excuse to get away with things because they cannot control their 'mental health issues'.
• Women are hysterical
• They mentioned that they met on tinder.
• Oppositional - She is the victim as nobody has helped her with her mental health issues.

Representation Paragraph

Scantily-clad women's sizzling selfies are overshadowed by their very messy backdrops.

(P) The media product is focusing on the representation of teenage girls, these teenage girls are posting 'racy' selfies online but there is more focus onto their messy bedrooms rather than the actual photo's they have posted. (E) The technical devices that the producer uses in order to present this group is the large amount of images and captions. The article uses 22 pictures all of which are captioned which is conventional for a media product however, there is less dialogue in the article than expected, perhaps aiming this to a more working class demographic through the fact that they have a shorter attention span. The mode of address used in the article is more of a patronising tone to the audience, saying 'These pictures are guaranteed to make you think twice before sharing a selfie online.' (A) The message this brings across to the audience is that this is an extremely embarrassing thing to do, and that these girls are perhaps seen as a 'disappointment' to society meaning the impact this has on the audience is that they do not want to feel embarrassed, maybe telling them to get their life's together.  This constructs a representation that the girls presented are messy and more worried about being sexualised than sorting themselves out.

Extra Notes

• 'Scantily-Clad Stunners' this chosen lexis is something that someone in their 50's/60's will use, perhaps suggesting that the audience is more older males.

• These images were supposed to go to their other half perhaps (boyfriends) which unfortunately got out, but it shows that the teenage girls are messy and they're more worried about being sexualised than sorting there messy selfs out.

• There are issues with this article that Stuart Hall's Reception theory backs up as we are not sure what reading we prefer, we don't understand how to feel about this article. It also encourages a discussion between it as we are supposed to either find these girls sexually attractive and enjoy seeing these photos of them or we are completely against it and we dislike seeing this and think that they're scummy for doing something like this. 

• Cultivation Theory - If we carry on to look at this article and think what we think about it again and again we begin to grow our understanding of it until it turns into something completely different. 

Improvements

• Things to include;
• This constructs a representation that...
• This stereotypes...
• The audience is being manipulated by the ideology...

Media Hegemonic Ideologies

Media Hegemonic Ideologies

• Money Supermarket Advert; 
• Male wearing tight shorts is not something we normally see, it is a hegemonic idea of gender in the fact that a male wears jeans and shirt but he is breaking these hegemonic ideologies by wearing this.
• People were disgusted and outraged by this advert (homophobia)
• There is an example of binary opposition, his top half of clothing is a stereotypical man as he is wearing a suit whereas his bottom half is a stereotypical women with a big bum. 

• Adidas Advert - Arvida Bystrom;
• It is an expectation for women to not have hairy legs and if they do they cover it up but that woman had it out on show. 
• Men threatened to rape her, which could be that they are trying to reinforce the idea of a patriarchal society, as she is challenging their masculinity as she is doing something which is considered a norm for the male gender whereas not normal for the female.  

• Hegemony is important if we break them hegemonic ideologies then it will indeed be noticed. 

Key Theory - Stuart Hall - Reception Theory

• Audience Responses to WaterAid Advert;
• Uplifting
• Don't really care
• Positivity
• Happiness for the Zambian villages
• Annoyed (shows one place lot more places than one)
• Cynical (judgemental)
• Better than the average charity advert
• Cute
• Rewarding
• Frustration (wouldn't be singing in english / its all staged) 

• Audiences can respond in lots of different ways, this contradicts the ideas of Hypodermic Needle Theory that the audience believes the ideology by the producer, as we have proven that we all have different concepts of this advert from happiness to frustration. 
• 'By donating money you can help a vulnerable african child' - the producer's ideology, but we didn't all see that side of things. 

• Dominant Reading
• The audience agrees with the dominant values in the text, and agrees with the values and ideology it shows.
• Eg. Donating money to WaterAid as we feel sorry.

• Oppositional Reading
• The audience completely disagrees with what they see, and rejects the dominant reading.
• Eg. They dont trust WaterAid with their money
• Extreme Oppositional Reading Eg. They hate Africa and don't care, I'm British.

• Negotiated Reading
• The audience generally agrees with what they see, but they may disagree with certain aspects.
• Eg. I admire what WaterAid does but I can't stand children singing. 

• Factors which affect audiences responses;
• Moral Beliefs
• Personal Issues
• Financial Situations
• Class Structure
• Religion
• Ethnicity
• Age
• Sexuality
• Location
• Gender (identity)