David Morley (2005), Entry on ‘Audience’ in New Keywords: A Revised Vocabulary of Culture and Society, Ed. T.Bennett, L. Grossberg & M. Morris (Wiley-Blackwell), pp.8-10.
The article states that with new audience research we have stopped seeing audiences as one passive entity to be controlled by the media. Particularly when it comes to being influenced to behave in certain ways. I’ve found that powerful media can still have an influence on my actions when it is meaningful and clever enough. When it comes to safety, the government has issues a number of very impactful ads. Transport Accident Commission campaigns always strike a chord with me because they are so relatable. What makes them powerful is their ability to lull you into a false sense of security and then allow you to place yourself in the situation they show. The scary “this could be you if you’re not careful” idea is indeed very memorable.
This ad takes a different approach by removing the driving and focussing on the family part. Its a beautiful piece that takes the seat belt and replaces it with the metaphor of a family’s embrace of safety. His wife and daughters arms across his chest and around his hips create an undeniable resemblance to the seatbelt. The slow motion enhances our longing for him to stop crashing to his death as we watch his family rush forward.
The idea of how printing allowed audiences to change by dispersing content across not only space- but also time makes me think about what will happen to our grandkids and our own facebook posts. Without knowing it i’ve already set up my own online “life book” where I’ll be easily traceable from my date of birth to my embarrassing year 8 emo phase photos.
The “active audience” theories empower audiences with a new found digital voice. The vlogging phenomenon on youtube has propelled ordinary people to internet fame making them a hybrid media consumer and maker. Although we as consumers have ability to post more things online, our opinions are still filtered through the edited and well refined structures of mainstream social media. For example, facebook takes the knowledge of social conventions and transforms it into their own version of online courtesy. This is especially prevalent with the “birthday posts” it is now considered abnormal to not receive a flood of posts on your birthday congratulation you on achieving yet another full year of life. People count these posts and measure it against their self worth, even calculating the length of the post against the closeness of the person posting it.
It has come to the point where facebook reminds me “hey hey Vanessa say happy birthday to this friend you haven’t talked to for 3 years make their day! Or are you just an lonesome asshole?”
Either way almost everyone falls into the birthday guilt trap. We have to ask ourselves, are we doing it because we want to or because the media wants us to?