Audience Theories

When looking at audience theories, there are two ways in which the media can be consumed. This is either passively where the audience simply watches the horror film or actively where there is a purpose to watch the horror film, the audience member gains something from it. Mary Cover Jones discusses the desensitisation theory. The belief that we have become less sensitive to what we see in horror films due to over exposure of violence. Therefore, the media tries to keep on top of this by making horror films even more violent and gory. However this can be a threat to society as it may make us less sensitive to real life situations. When analysing my groups trailer it does not feature extreme violence or gore. Therefore it can’t really be considered scary enough to be a horror because horrors nowadays are extremely horrific as a result of trying to find new ways to scare viewers. Therefore, in order to actually scare the audience I will ensure that my trailer consists of more terrifying and gory scenes and elements.  

In addition to this, the copycat theory states the fear of young children or even people with poor mental health imitating what they see in horror films. It discusses the media’s affect on the audience’s behaviour and how they think. When looking at my trailer I feel as though the copycat theory cannot be applied. This is due to the fact that my trailer doesn’t feature anything that can be easily imitated as it is about an apocalypse and involves guns. This is less realistic and therefore less imitable than just seeing a male killer stabbing victims which is more easily copied. I feel as though this is a positive thing as it protects society and innocent people from becoming violent.

The audience theory of catharsis is the opposite to the copycat theory as it claims that by watching horror films and violence, viewers do not feel the need to act violent. It states that by watching horror movies the viewer is ‘cleansing’ and ‘purging’ by getting rid of any negative emotions. This theory does not apply to my trailer as there isn’t enough violence and horror for someone watching to be able to purge on it. There isn’t enough for them to not have to be aggressive or violent in real life. Therefore I can improve by ensuring that my trailer does feature enough violence to meet the needs of the consumer.  

An active audience theory is about the uses and gratification that people gain and use from the media’s text to their advantage to meet and satisfy their own individual needs. 5 needs have been discovered and when looking at my trailer I feel as though it applies to the tension free need. It allows audience members to escape from reality as our trailer clearly does not reflect real life and so audience members can enjoy what they are watching, relieving any tension they have. Therefore my trailer can meet needs and so people have a reason to watch it. However, to improve, I could make my trailer meet more of the needs of viewers in order to make it apply to a wider target audience and be more beneficial to users making them want to watch it. 

The hypodermic needle theory talks about how the media’s texts are ‘injected’ into the audience and received by them. They are considered unable to resist the message being given. When looking at my trailer, it appears to be difficult in trying to find a message within it as a lot seems to be going on which isn’t very clear. I want to ensure that my trailer does give a message and so will improve by ensuring that the message given is powerful and accepted by audience members.