Audience

Hypodermic Needle Theory

Believing that the mass audience were passive and could simply be ‘injected’ with messages created by media producers. Even though some critics still believe that there is some truth to this model (hence why age restrictions exist and some products are banned completely) others felt that this model over simplifies the situation. For example, David Morley did a nation wide ‘Reception Theory’ study in 1980 to determine how different audiences view the same text (he showed them all the same edition of Nationwide – a local news program shown after BBC One’s main evening news bulletin). He found that the way audiences interpreted a text generally fell under one of the following:

• A preferred reading of the text most likely to be received by the intended target audience who share the same ideologies (people read it as the creators intended – this is the closest to the hypodermic needle).
• An oppositional reading, generally by people who are not in the intended target audience (they reject the meaning intended and receive an alternative meaning).
• A negotiated reading (basically accept the meaning but interpret it to suit their own position/ideologies.

In short, what this shows is that the majority of consumers are not passive and their reading of a text is influenced by their own ideologies – a product simply cannot ‘brainwash everyone’ like an injected drug. However, some are more susceptible and easily influenced (especially children who have yet to complete the early years of the socialization process), hence age ratings etc.

There is also another theory: “Any media text is created for a particular audience and will usually appeal most to this particular target audience” (Hall and Holmes, 1998). 

UK Age Rating

Rated by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).

• U - Suitable for all - should be set within a positive moral framework and should offer reassuring counterbalances to any violence, threat or horror.
• PG - Parental Guidance - Some scenes may be unsuitable for young children. The film should not disturb a child aged 8 or older.
• 12A / 12 - Suitable for 12 years and over - categories are awarded where the material is suitable, in general, only for those aged 12 and over. Works classified at these categories may upset children under 12 or contain material parents may find unsuitable. 12A exists only for cinema. 12 only exists for video works.
• 15 - Suitable for 15 years or over - allowed a lot more inappropriate acts, but not too severe
• 18 - Suitable only for adults - lots of inappropriate acts allowed
• R18 - To be shown only in licensed cinemas, or supplied only in licensed sex shops, and to adults of not less than 18 years - explicit works

USA Age Rating

Rated by the Motion Picture Association of America. 

• G - General Audiences - contains nothing in theme, language, nudity, sex, violence or other matters that would offend parents whose younger children view the film. 
• PG - Parental Guidance - some material may not be appropriate for children. May be some profanity and some depictions of violence or brief nudity (not deemed as intense). No drug use content.
• PG-13 - Parents strongly cautioned - may go beyond the PG rating in theme, violence, nudity, sensuality, language, adult activities or other elements (generally unrealistic with less detail)
• R - Restricted. Children under 17 require accompanying parent/guardian - may include adult themes, adult activity, hard language, intense or persistent violence, sexually-orientated nudity, drug abuse or other elements
• NC-17 - No one 17 and under admitted - does not mean "obscene" or "pornographic", signals that the content is appropriate only for an adult audience.

Blumer and Katz

Uses and Gratification Theory: 

This theory is the opposite of effects theory because it relies on the premise that audiences have free will and choose to consume certain things for different reasons. The theory was developed in the 1960s and was in expanded in 1974 by Blumer and Katz who suggested a series of possible reasons why audience members might consume a media text:

• Diversion (escape from everyday problems - emotional release, relaxing, filling time etc.)
• Personal relationships (using the media for emotional and other interactions e.g. substitution soap opera for family life OR using the cinema as a social event). 
• Personal identity (constructing their own identity from characters in media texts, and learning behavior and values – useful if trying to fit into a new country/culture)
• Surveillance (information gathering e.g. news, educational programming, weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains etc).

Genre Appeal and Uses & Gratification 

Catharsis or emotional release (dramas/romance)

Visceral or gut thrills (horror)

Intellectual puzzles (thrillers)

Ideological acceptance (action and war movies)

Personal identity counter-culture reading (slacker films)

Diversion (fantasy/sci-fi) 

THE FOUR C’S (cross-cultural consumer characteristics): This is one of the earliest, but still most popular, ways of profiling audiences. It profiles the audience in terms of wants and needs, not simply demographic. The categories are as follows:

• Mainstreamers (this is the largest group. They are concerned with stability, mainly buying well-known brands and consuming mainstream texts).
• Aspirers (they are seeking to improve themselves. They tend to define themselves by high status brands, absorbing the ideologies associated with the products and believing their status alters as a result)
• Succeeders (people who feel secure and in control – generally they are in positions of power. They buy brands which reinforce their feelings of control and power).
• Reformers (idealists who actively consume eco-friendly products and buy brands which are environmentally supportive and healthy. They also buy products which establish this ‘caring and responsible’ ideology).
• Individuals (highly media literate, expects high-production advertising and buys product image not product, requires high-profiling sophisticated advertising campaigns).

Why people watch films

• Entertainment
• Information
• Socialisation
• Relationships

MASS AUDIENCE: mass audiences are basically large mainstream audiences who consume mainstream or popular culture (Marxist would claim that this audience is largely made up of the ‘working class’), such as Hollywood films, Eastenders, reality TV, Premiership football, simple Hollywood, tabloids etc. High culture, by contrast, is usually associated with broadsheets, opera, ballet and BBC Four. Social grades C1-E.

NICHE AUDIENCE: A niche audience is smaller than a mass audience but usually very influential e.g. those Marxist would define as upper class/middle class who controlled the media may wish to see ‘high culture’ programs hence the launch of BBC Four for those who wish to hear/see artistic high culture programs. Niche audiences don’t have to be this group though, they can be any small dedicated group who advertisers feel are worth targeting/marking products for. Examples could include, certain films (e.g. 'adult' movies - which can not really be called ‘high art’), fishing magazines, farming programs. Social grades A and B are likely. 

One of the most common ways of identifying a target audience is the social-economic model. Even though this model, used by the NRS (National Readership Survey Ltd), has been used for a long time, it is still useful way of identifying an audience and deconstructing a text. The basis for the system is money – AB audiences for example are assumed to have more spending power that CDE audiences. However, it is also presumed AB audiences prefer high culture (e.g. art-cinema, broadsheets and late night art programs on TV). While CDE, who stereotypically like Hollywood commercial films and watch more TV/films makes up a lager proportion of society making this the 'mass audience.'

Nationality/values:

IDEOLOGY: Ideology is an important factor to consider when creating a product because you have to represent the ideology your target audience wish to see. Ideology refers to the systems of beliefs that is constructed and presented by a media product. As Marx claims, the dominant ideologies are those that already underpin society. This can differ country to country, for example a soap made for a UK audience will differ to one made for a US audience, Spain or Iran (the same can be said for social realist programs like Shameless, music and comedy). 

This should in theory mean that British audiences should prefer British films, however this is not the case because Hollywood films have dominated the market for so long that American ideologies have been adopted in these countries (a form of cultural imperialism). As Kissinger (2011) stated; "globalisation is really another name for the dominant role of the United states" because they consider national and international cinemas as vehicles to represent and protect USA values. 

In short, Hollywood caters first and foremost for American audiences, but because Hollywood films have dominated the market place for so long many other countries, the UK included, see themselves represented by the values portrayed.

This sort of language in films subtly attempt to influence the reader through putting forward the ‘facts’ in a way that supports the dominant ideology of the institution (e.g. 'America is good/powerful' 'capitalism is good' and racist connotations like 'Russia is bad' - have you noticed how many villains are foreign?!). Gramsci defines dominant ideologies as ‘hegemonic’ and argues, like Marx, that media institutions are used by those in power to maintain their control. 

Athusser argues something similar, that ideology is a force in its own right. Class rule is sustained by organized power in two ways, by force (military, police and laws) and at an ideological level by subtly reinforces the ‘dominant’ values through the media, education and religion. 

In the case of Hollywood films some countries have banned them (France being the most local example) as they believe that their own culture will be erroded if audiences start to see American culture as the norm.  

Chomsky argues something slightly different, he argues that the mass media is used to divert attention from real issues such as poor living conditions, unemployment, global warming etc. He maintains people prefer to escape into popular culture (soaps, reality shows, Hollywood films that often discriminate again groups who are not dominant, e.g. women, people of different class etc) than watch hard-hitting documentaries, for example. This relates to 'escapsim' (Blumer and Katz, Uses and Gratification Theory, 1974).

Is the British Film Industry Giving Audiences What They Want? 

According to Forbes and Street (2000) the majority of spectators just want to be entertained by "deliberately escapist" cinema and Hollywood provides this with "transparent, easy to read, goal-orientated narratives structured around closure" while art cinema films are "psychologically complicated where reality is ambiguous and subjective."
These films appeal to a minority (stereotypically education older viewers in social grades A-C1) but not the masses. As Berfelder (2005) this has lead to European cinema being "accused of elitism." 

In other words, stereotypically the British film industry is making artist challenging films for a niche market and not commercial films that fulfill the needs of the 'mass audience' who find the content of 'art' films too challenging and depressing. Also, because most 'art' films are low budget the image quality is not as good as Hollywood films viewers that just want to be entertained do not feel their needs are being represented (Forbes and Street, 2000).
It is important to remember Britain, though they are having to team up with Hollywood companies to do it, are starting to produce commercial films for mass audiences (the Harry Potter and James Bond Franchises being perfect examples) and this is not having a negative impact on art-films as these are still getting made catering for the needs of 'niche' audiences who do not enjoy simplistic Hollywood films that only represent "straight, middle class white audiences' (Medhurst, 1997).

Art v Industry
Should Britain Make More 'Commercially Viable Films?

 Dowey (2003) feels that the UK should start to produce more commercial products but should not stop producing art-cinema productions; "It is now widely accepted that the European film industry needs commercial products generated in Europe" profits generated from movies that deliver what the mass audience wants in terms of entertainment, genre and formula can then be used to invest in and promote art cinema productions.  

It is important to remember that not only do films considered to be 'art' give niche audiences want they want to see (and why shouldn't everyone have films pitched at them?) but also;

"Films that were popular at the box office but not much admired by critics tended to be forgotten in History which attempted to emphasis European cinema as a superior alternative to Hollywood" (Forbes and Street, 2000).
Keen to encourage the financial growth of the British film industry, David Cameron stated that he feels the British film industry needs to become more commercially minded and be supported to; "Start making more commercially successful pictures" (2012).

The Impact of Age Ratings in the Contemporary Film Industry

Hall and Holmes (1998) said "Any media text is created for a particular audience and will usually appeal most to this particular target audience." 

Age ratings were influenced by the hypodermic needle theory, which believed that the mass audience were passive and could simply be ‘injected’ with messages created by media producers. This meant that age ratings were put into place of the safety of the youth. In the UK we have 6 different age ratings; U (suitable for all), PG (parental guidance), 12A or 12 (12A for the cinema, under 12's only allowed if accompanied by an adult, and 12 for the DVD release only 12 and over can buy), 15 (15 and over only), 18 (18 and over only) and R18 which can only be sold in specially licensed shops. In the USA they have 5 different age ratings; G (general audiences), PG (parental guidance), PG-13 (under 13's to be accompanied by an adult), R (restricted- under 17's to be accompanied by adult) and NC-17 (no under 17's permitted). Most films tend to aim for the 12A age rating in the UK and PG-13 for the USA to ensure that a large audience are available to watch their film- and this is where British film makers in the 1990s ignored market trends and made a lot of niche market films rated 18 like Trainspotting and Human Traffic. Statistics show that 15-24 year olds are the most profitable audience group, and cutting off a portion of that age group can seriously damage their potential box office. From 2000-2016 British films like Shaun of the Dead (+ other Nick Frost and Simon Pegg films), Harry Potter series and Slumdog Millionaire all lowered their age ratings, making their films more marketable.