Hypodermic Theory
The Hypodermic Needle Theory is the idea that the mass media injects thoughts into the audience, it influences and changes opinions. An example of this is Red Bull, they put their brand name on a lot of things that are stunt based like on the programme X fighters, this, therefore, creates an aspirational character which then makes people think that they are buying into the lifestyle of a stunt biker. This theory also suggests that films and advertising has a direct impact on and the industry assumes that the whole audience will react the same. The theory is all about people copy so for James Bond people would try and copy the lifestyle of James Bond by wanting to have things like an Aston Martin or a tailored suit, this is called being passive because you are allowing yourself to become or aspire to what you see.
If I was applying the hypodermic needle theory to my focus group then after my focus group I would assume that my group would want to own a fast car and become a spy.
This theory worked to an extent in my focus group, to the girls in my group Maddy and Erin, it did not make them aspire to be like Bond but I suspect this is because they are girls and they are not the films core target audience whereas George would aspire the be the masculine powerful figure that James bond is.
Uses & Gratifications Theory
This theory looks at an active audience, this theory assumes people choose to watch the media for different reasons, this can be summarised into different reasons;
- Information and education
- Entertainment
- Personal Identity
- Integration & Social Integration
When watching James Bond I think it falls into two of these categories, entertainment and personal identity, this would be because Bond it was made to entertain people with its story line and conventions. In this theory people are a lot more active in it, this is because people will be watching the film to be entertained in the first place because they either would have watched it at the cinema or rented at home, either way, they did to it be entertained. The personal identity side of this theory mostly applies to men because James is the main character, therefore, males will want to be more like him.
They way the group related was according to this theory, Maddy and Erin both found it entertaining as a film but could not relate to the personal identity but George could.
Reception Theory
This is the theory that the people that make films have a specific code for what they want the film to be and then the audience of the film will be the people who will be un-coding the film. There are three ways to uncode a film, you can either have a dominant response, negotiated response or an oppositional response.
For mainstream films the meaning of the film would normally be that good defeats evil and so if you side with the good, then you are dominant, but if you take the villains side and take the other message then you are being oppositional to the film because you aren’t going with what they want you to go with.
For this theory, I thought that they would respond well to this theory because i think it is the most natural process for people to follow when watching a film.
The reaction was as I expected with Maddy and Erin having a negotiated response and George having a dominant response.
Passive Audience
Being passive is when you just don’t react to the content you are watching, you agree and don’t question it. If you accept the conventions of Bond, then you are being passive, if you see someone being killed and just accept it and don’t react then you are just being passive about what you are seeing.
Active Audience
Being active is when you actively respond to something. For example, being inspired to be like a character out of a film, this could be after you watch James Bond, you could want to be one of the characters from the film. Being active could also mean that you question what you see so if someone dies, you don’t accept it because it has some effect on your mind.
Impact of violent/sexual content
For this theory, people argue that watching something or playing something like a video game can affect the way think towards a certain topic and make you act the same take a certain side whether that be good or bad. Personally, I don’t think that watching something or playing something can change your behaviour so much that it would make you do something that you wouldn’t normally do.
The only time I think something like this can affect you is if you are already mentally unwell or have had a bad upbringing which has been a result of these things in the past. James Holmes went on a rampage in a cinema during The Dark Knight Rises in Colorado in July 2012, this was a result of him playing violent video games.
Cultural Competence
I think this theory connects with the audience in a really personal way, additionally, I think everyone would act differently. I think this film appeals to everyone on the NRS social grade, but if i had to narrow it down to one i would pick D because I think this group would aspire to be like James Bond the most.
George said in the focus group that “this type pf genre of film would appeal to me the most. George is from a working class background and typically would have a particular cultural competence because she has studied media studies, George demonstrated this by identifying the genre.
Fan Culture
James Bond has a massive fan base, all over the world there are die hard fans on the bond franchise. There has been a lot on merhendise made over the years by different companys one being toy cars from the films, which sometimes have sold for a lot of money. Fans have even done to the lengths to create websites for the fandom which have also gained a very large following.
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