Media theories

Male gaze theory

First of all, there is the male gaze theory. The male gaze theory, created by Laura Mulvey, states that the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual man. A scene may focus on specific appealing parts of a woman, basically giving the audience a man's perspective. In addition, the male gaze theory suggests that women are denied human identity and are instead intended to be almost objects to be admired for their physical appearance. Finally, the theory also states that the media is dominated by men.

As well as this, Mulvey has stated that the role of a woman in a narrative has only two functions:

• To provide a visual pleasure for the characters in the narrative.
• To provide visual pleasure for the audience of the media text.

Examples of media texts that use the male gaze theory are shown below.

Cultivation theory

Furthermore, another theory is the cultivation theory. The cultivation theory states that if something (e.g. A stereotype or an idea) is repeated over and over, eventually it will become normalised. For example, certain things have become normal in the media due to constant repetition, including sexualisation of women and negative stereotypes of gypsies. Below is a video to explain this further.

Hypodermic needle theory

Another theory to be noted is the hypodermic needle theory, although it may also be named as the Magic Bullet Theory. This theory implies that the media has a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences. The word "needle" implies that the media "shoots" or "injects" you with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response. Both images that are used to express this theory (A bullet and a needle) suggest a powerful and direct flow of information from the media to its audience.

Uses and Gratifications theory (UGT)

The UGT states why people use the media. In 1974, Blumler and Katz came up with 4 uses that people have for the media. These include:

Entertainment and escapism e.g. YouTube, radio and Netflix

Surveillance

Personal identity

Social interaction e.g. Facebook, Twitter

Media Studies - Audience and theory

Demographics and psychographics

Demographic audience categorisation (Demographics): This is where an audience is grouped and classified based on qualities such as age, gender, race, occupation and income. In basic terms, demographics describes who someone is and what kind of life they lead. For example, an advert advertising a car may be targeted at people who are middle aged, male and have a high income. Demographics may also be referred to as lifestyle or lifestage factors.

Psychographic audience categorisation (Psychographics): Psychographics are used in order to describe the attitudes and values of a target audience. The Young and Rubicam's 4-C model groups everyone into seven categories based on these attitudes and values. These are:

The Explorer: These people are driven by the need for challenges and new experiences. They respond to brands that offer new sensations and instant effects. They value new ideas, new experiences and their core need in life is discovery.

The Aspirer: These kinds of people are materialistic that are driven by others perceptions of them rather than their own values. They value image, appearance and fashion. Their core need in life is status.

The mainstreamer: These are people who live in the world of the domestic and the everyday. They are the mainstream of society and they respond to family brands and value for money. Also, they are interested in things that they can trust and value. Their core need in life is security.

The Succeeder: Succeeders have a strong goal and they know where they want to be. They possess self-confidence and seek the best things because they feel like that is what they deserve. Their core need in life is control.

The Reformer: Reformers are socially aware and pride themselves on tolerance. They are often perceived as being intellectual and being the leading edge of society. They believe that they're well informed. Their core need in life is enlightenment.

The Struggler: Strugglers live for today and make few plans for tomorrow. Some people may perceive strugglers as victims, wasters and losers with little aims and few resources. They may be heavy consumers of alcohol and junk food and may also be unemployed. Their core need in life is escape.

The Resigned: These are predominantly older people with constant and unchanging values that have built up over time. They like nostalgia, tradition and brands that they can rely on. Their core need in life is simply to survive.