3 - AUDIENCE NEGOTIATION
WHAT IS IT?
When exploring a media product, it is essential to consider the complex negotiation that takes place between the producer, the audience, and the product itself. Producers are keen to use specific representations and modes of address in order to ensure that their audiences decode their creation in exactly the right way. They need to make sure that the audience 'gets' the advertisement.
DOMINANT READING:
The audience agrees with the dominant values in the text, and agrees with the values and ideology it shows.
NEGOTIATED READING:
The audience generally agrees with what they see, but they may disagree with certain aspects.
OPPOSITIONAL READING:
The audience completely disagrees with what they see, and rejects the dominant reading.
Readings from the WaterAid audiovisual advertisement:
We are positioned as someone from a first world country with constant access to water. The preferred reading is that the charity is helping and that this is shown during the advertisement.
Dominant reading - The charity is helping, and the people who donate are helping the cause (Shown by the green tree and the water fountain)
Oppositional reading - Some people may think that people from first world countries are being criminalised for taking the rain they have for advantage (As the radio host sounds dismayed at the amount of rain currently falling). Traditional gender roles with the men working (No young men in the advert), all the females are cleaning clothes. Shot in Zambia, no culture shown there, though its shown as a very stereotypical view of Africa. Could also patronise Africa, they need help because they're weak or vulnerable.
Negotiated reading - They may agree on the fact that the charity is helping, but they may disagree that everyone is happy, but not everyone in impoverished villages are happy and some are lacking water.
Very few audiences completely accept or reject the ideological implications of the text. The vast majority of readings are negotiated. A negotiated reading is not just "I liked some bits but I disliked other bits". It is more complex than that.
Lucozade advert reading:
Preferred reading - The consumer will accept it as fact and buy some Lucozade.
Oppositional reading - The consumer does not agree with it because it is a false statement and therefore will not buy Lucozade because of this.
Negotiated reading - They may agree that it 'fuels' them better than water but will disagree about the hydration.They might like the flavour but still disagree with the text.
Dominant reading - They agree completely with this advertisement and will buy Lucozade because it is labelled as better than water.
When exploring a media product, it is essential to consider the complex negotiation that takes place between the producer, the audience, and the product itself. Producers are keen to use specific representations and modes of address in order to ensure that their audiences decode their creation in exactly the right way. They need to make sure that the audience 'gets' the advertisement.
KEY THEORY 17 - STUART HALL - RECEPTION
PREFERRED READING - The 'right' reading of a text, which can be enforced by positioning.
This concept has to be approached carefully: Often texts intentionally have multiple meanings and readings, audiences can potentially get whatever they want out of any media text.
Hall set audience response into three groups.
These can help us to understand whether or not an audience sticks to the preferred reading, or if they decide to make their own decision as to how to decode text.
DOMINANT READING:
The audience agrees with the dominant values in the text, and agrees with the values and ideology it shows.
NEGOTIATED READING:
The audience generally agrees with what they see, but they may disagree with certain aspects.
OPPOSITIONAL READING:
The audience completely disagrees with what they see, and rejects the dominant reading.
Readings from the WaterAid audiovisual advertisement:
We are positioned as someone from a first world country with constant access to water. The preferred reading is that the charity is helping and that this is shown during the advertisement.
Dominant reading - The charity is helping, and the people who donate are helping the cause (Shown by the green tree and the water fountain)
Oppositional reading - Some people may think that people from first world countries are being criminalised for taking the rain they have for advantage (As the radio host sounds dismayed at the amount of rain currently falling). Traditional gender roles with the men working (No young men in the advert), all the females are cleaning clothes. Shot in Zambia, no culture shown there, though its shown as a very stereotypical view of Africa. Could also patronise Africa, they need help because they're weak or vulnerable.
Negotiated reading - They may agree on the fact that the charity is helping, but they may disagree that everyone is happy, but not everyone in impoverished villages are happy and some are lacking water.
Very few audiences completely accept or reject the ideological implications of the text. The vast majority of readings are negotiated. A negotiated reading is not just "I liked some bits but I disliked other bits". It is more complex than that.
Preferred reading - The consumer will accept it as fact and buy some Lucozade.
Oppositional reading - The consumer does not agree with it because it is a false statement and therefore will not buy Lucozade because of this.
Negotiated reading - They may agree that it 'fuels' them better than water but will disagree about the hydration.They might like the flavour but still disagree with the text.
Dominant reading - They agree completely with this advertisement and will buy Lucozade because it is labelled as better than water.
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