When considering what he media does it us, it is impossible for me not to think of VCE 3/4 Media Studies. We looked a numerous different case studies, theories, models and examples of how the media effects its audiences. But to determine what effect the media has on us, we must conduct some audience research which was mentioned in this weeks reading.

Originally, most people believed that audiences were very passive and therefore susceptible to the effects of the media. This would be consistent to the Hypodermic Bullet Theory which suggested that audiences are passive and that texts are closed. This means that every audience member receives the same message and has the same interpretation of the media text. But now it is easy to find the flaws in this theory.

As stated in the reading, “contemporary audience research tends to figure the audience as active in a range of ways.” This claim is consistent with the Uses and Gratification theory which was also mentioned in the reading. This theory suggests that audience members are highly active as they chose what media they consume. Furthermore, as stated in the article, audiences “interpret the messages they receive in ways determined by their own psychological characteristics.” Therefore, this would suggests that no one persons understanding of a media text could be completely identical to the others, as no two people are exactly the same. This is what the article refers to as “active audience theory,” and it is called a theory because there is no simple answer. It is very difficult to determine the nature and degree of media influence and thus researches try to produce theories which can help to explain media influence. But all of these theories have their strengths and weaknesses.