Effects Theory

Quick deffinitions:

- The effects of individual media texts on an audience

- Forced idologies on passive audiences

- The audience manipulated and indoctrinated by the hegemony of the ruling class

The Frankfurt School

- A group of social scientists based at the Institute for Social Research during WW2.

- Exiled to New York as they were concerned about the propaganda used by the fascist Nazis in

Germany

- The founders are said to be left-wing

- Criticised capitalist systems as they controoled media output, creating a mass culture

eliminating opposition and alternatives

- Their argument was with the impact of the rise of the media industries on society, and that the

rise of this culture industry resulted in increased standardisation in society

- Under capitalism, society controls everything where culture is something that can be bought

and sold, processed by the mass media

- The mass audience (passive consumers) are manipulated and indoctrinated by the hegemony

of the ruling class (society)

- The mass media prevent culture being authentic and original until it has been commodified to

fit the capitalist system

The Hypodermic Needle Model

- Demonstrates the effects of mass media on their audiences

- Based around the power of the mass media controlled by the ruling classes

- Like how a needle works, the passive audience are injected with hegemonic ideologies

- In particular film, e.g. Triumph Of The Will, Lenni Reifenstahl

- Repressive regimes control the media organisations in their countries, in belief of strict

regulation in contilling the media will help control their populations

- The audience seen as passive, will accept whatever version of events is given in the media

Violence in the Media

- Effects theory used as evidence for the portrayal of violence and dangers in the media

- Moral majority argue that T.V. output is too explicity sexually and violently

- Has to be censored as it may influence audience, who are passive, absorbing ideologies present

- Moral panics are generated

Cultivation Theory

- A single text does not have that much of an impact on its audience

- Repeated exposure will make the audience less sensitive to it (desensitised)

- The effects of a text can change with time; social attitudes/expectations

Two-Step Flow

- The audience are seen as more active than passive

- Will discuss media texts with each other

- Audience may still be influenced by media yet are considered more media-literarte

My View On Effects Theory

- I agree that the mass media indoctrinate and manipulate the audience with hegemonic

ideologies

- E.G. Rupert Murdoch; media mogul, through BSkyB, Fox and The Sun, is able to impose his

ideologies on society

- I disagree withe the fact the audience are totally passive, the two-step flow seems more

accurate

- Present day, audience consume media more actively, are media literate and discuss current

affairs amongst one another

- Hypodermic needle model is accurate in depicting passive audiences being injected with

information composed of propaganda, however in present day, only occuring in current fascist,

communist countries

- Violence in the media is there to dramatise situations, acting as a aid for escapism for the

audience. Sex and violence fulfill our sadistic and masochistic needs, and are essential in life.

There are only a few that will leave watching a film, to act on what they have just

watched. This is also the reason for ratings, and that it is up to the parents descretion if they

want to expose their child to that information. However, if they are protected too much, they

will be more influenced than those exposed to it regulary, who will be desensitised to it