MDSA01H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 9: George Gerbner, Ethnography, Speech Community
Document Summary
Reception scholars primarily seek to understand the personal meanings that individuals make of mass media texts in relation to their lived social systems and experiences . Reception analysis supports the notion of an active" audience constantly reformulating the meanings of a media text across lines of race, gender, sexuality, and more . Reception theory stresses audience interpretation as the primary site of meaning- making. Meaning is fluid and communication is imperfect within this perspective, and negotiation between media producers and consumers constantly skews the true" meaning of media texts. Classic audience studies and media effects research: hypodermic needle approach conceived of the audience as mindless vessels ready to receive media messages and was interested in how the mass media injected" particular meanings into consumers. Media messages signified only what produces intended them to mean, and audiences were unable to ignore or negotiate them.
