Audience essay

The theory of the Hypodermic needle suggests that the consumption of media texts has a (typically negative) effect or influence on the audience, through the ‘injection’ of messages. The audience react passively to this, as they are unable to reject influence. However, audiences can also have beneficial reactions through this model, for instance, the 1938 broadcast of ‘The War of the worlds’ provoked fear in it’s American audience, resulting in research movements. The effects of the hypodermic model take place in our summer trailer through the message of a negative representation of teens who suffer from mental health conditions. While this message was unintentional, our trailer presents a character with an exaggerated lack of control, who unleashes her inner evil which can only be managed through use of medication. This is an unrealistic representation of teens with mental health issues, which an audience could come to believe after viewing our film/trailer.

The Uses and gratifications theory suggests that different people have their own personal purposes for consuming a media text, whether that be as a form of escapism from everyday life or to provoke an emotion/response etc. In the case of the horror genre, audiences often view these media texts to receive thrills which we lack in our everyday lives such as fear, mystery, violence and a face-off between good and evil. Alternatively, the target demographic of horror (ages 15-25) may find themselves identifying the characters presented in the text, through the focus on characters of a similar age range. This theory could apply to our summer trailer through our trailer’s attempt to indicate an emotional response from the audience, through the focus on our character’s tragic lifestyle and transformation, and the build up of tension and mystery. However, our trailer falls flat through our lack of details on the character’s back-story, giving the audience no reason to care or sympathise with the character, and overall lack of action/violence, failing to create a sense of thrill.

The desentisisation theory suggests that consistent exposure to graphic content results in the loss of sensitivity to the viewer. This can result in negative effects such as the loss of shock in response to violence in the real world. This theory applies to the horror genre due to the genre’s focus on violence/graphic content, most notably in the slasher/splatter sub-genres. While an audience is usually disturbed by the content of these films, the target demographic of people aged 15-25 are able to separate fiction from reality, which is why these films are not recommended for a younger audience as they may have a stronger emotional impact on minds that are less exposed to these concepts. In our summer trailer we have failed to include this theory due to our trailer’s overall lack of graphic content, and as a result failing to focus on the genre’s target demographic of 15-25 year olds as most of the trailer’s content would fail to thrill a typically desensitised audience.

The catharsis theory suggests that the implementation of violence in films is used by the audience to ‘cleanse’ negative emotions e.g. anger or fear, as viewing violence helps to neutralise the viewer’s urge to commit similar actions.
This theory applies to horror, due to the genre’s heavy focus on violence, especially so in the slasher/splatter sub-genres, meaning that viewers who consume media products to create a cathartic effect are likely to choose these films due to their content. Their inner urge to perform these actions, can allow these viewers to relate more to the antagonist, who typically act upon their desires. I believe that our summer trailer is ineffective at producing a cathartic effect in terms of violence, due to it’s overall lack of graphic content, but may carry cathartic effects related to depression/anxiety, which are an important aspect of the character, and something many people can relate to.

The Cultivation theory suggests that overconsumption of media products can begin to cause consumers to fail to separate the real world from worlds presented in the media, resulting in people’s actions and choices corresponding with those presented in the media. This can have negative effects such as overestimation of levels of violence in their communities and the world. In context of horror films, without the ability to differentiate the fictional exaggerated situations of horror films with real world problems, a viewer is much more likely to have a longer lasting emotional impact. Our trailer relates to this theory through it’s unrealistic representation of teens with mental health issues, which could be misinterpreted as an accurate depiction, potentially resulting in a negative impact how on those who suffer from these conditions are treated.