Audience Visual Essay

Blumler and Katz

The uses and gratification model represented a change in thinking as researchers began to describe the effects of the media from the point of view of audiences. The model looks at the motives of the people who use media asking why we watch television programmes/films in the way we do, why we bother to read the newspapers, why we find ourselves so compelled to keep it to date with our favourite soap or consume films. The audience needs have social and psychology needs which generate certain expectations. The audience is the active participant and makes choices in relation to what they consume.

There are 4 main points to this theory; surveillance - based on the idea that people feel better having the feeling they know what is going on in the world around them. E.g. the news. Personal identity - explains how being a subject of the media allows is to confirm the identity and positioning of ourselves within society. personal relationships - is in 2 parts; relationships with the media and using the media within relationships, many people use the television as a form of companionship and then people use media as a form of conversation starter or topic. And diversion - is the need to escape everyday life - forget about our own lives - distract ourselves and forget about our own problems by focusing on someone else's

I will be applying Blumler and Katz uses and gratification theory to the music video ‘Worth it’- Fifth Harmony.

1. What features in this video allows an audience to personally identify with it?

An audience can identify with this video because it’s primarily about women wanting one night stands and that they can be in control of what they do instead of the men. Also the video features many feminist attributes, as it shows women working and succeeding in a male dominated work such as Wall Street, and statements flashing in front of the stock market tickets such as “women in power”, “ feminism is sexy”.

2. Does it appeal to only one age category?

I think the music video is possibly aimed at younger adult generation (16-23) however also can be older generation. I believe it is aimed at 16-23 year olds is because this is the time in life when adults decide and aim for their career paths in life therefore the message is saying that if you try and succeed you can be powerful.

3. Does it appeal to only one gender?

This song appeals to mainly females as the features of feminist shows that women are equal to men so they put that dominant message out there to the women to tell them they can be just as powerful and successful as men.

4. How does it address issues that all members of society can associate to and why does it make the product successful?

Allows women to believe that they can achieve something in life and can have the same persona as the male gender. It makes the product successful as it appeals to the target audience and the product is seen as successful as the video has been viewed 340 million times alone on just on YouTube.

Surveillance

Applying surveillance to Fifth Harmony’s music video is how the video reassures the audience (mainly aimed at a female audience) and makes them aware that women don't have to be controlled by men and that they can take authority over situations. It makes females aware that males are not the dominant and stereo typically 'stronger' sex, which reassures the audience in their self-confidence towards feminist views. The ‘Worth it’ it song shows awareness to others that the working environment is changing also Fifth Harmony also have other songs which are about women been dominant and powerful instead of men like their song ‘BO$$’ this song is also proven to be successful because it has 103 million views on YouTube.

Personal identity

Fifth Harmony members as a celebrity strives to be an empowering role model to her audience and wants the identity that is shown off her to be true and one that the audience can conform with. The audience (primarily female) can have a personal identity when consuming and watching this music video as they will feel enlightened by the powerful message that Fifth Harmony is giving out about women having authority and meaning. The audience will feel gratified to be a part of the experience of consuming the product and being able to relate to the music video itself, which then creates a closer bond between the audience and artist as they feel they can conform to her messages and ideologies. Making the audience feel closer to her as a person. Women who do have a powerful status in their job will be able to associate and relate to the product directly making them feel gratified in one way or another making them understand that they share other people’s identities making them feel ‘normal/ and accepted.

Personal relationships

This music video allows the audience to create a personal relationship in two ways, one is a relationship with the media and the other is using the media within relationships. Females who watch this music video can not only form a personal relationship with the product itself but also with other females that have seen and have conformed to the video, relationships can be formed with other social peers as they may have the same beliefs and attitudes towards the music video as you do.  People may not only watch this video because they agree with the message about females but also just because they like Fifth Harmony as an artist and enjoy her music. Personal relationships in this theory can be made on a variety of platforms. For example they may look on ‘Fifth Harmony’s’ twitter page and go onto other people’s profiles who are fans of them and be able to build a relationship with strangers just by ‘favouring’ their post or even ‘retweeting’ their tweet. This is proven that people create relationships with the stars as they have 2.58 million followers on Twitter.

Diversion

In the music video ‘Worth It’ Fifth Harmony creates a diversion for the audience in that fact that whilst watching this video, they can escape any problems they are dealing with or have to face, this is called 'escapism'. This product has been made so the audience feel fulfilled after watching it, this is massively helped by the editing and lighting used in the video. The video is mainly made up of soft pinks and blues which are calming colours for an audience, the lighting is bright and never dull so the audience’s mood is uplifted whilst watching it and of course the music is made to make the audience sing along and feel good about themselves. 

Stuart Hall

Stuart Hall Reception theory states that media texts are encoded by the producer meaning that whoever produces the text fills the product with values and messages. These messages are then decoded by the spectators (us) and the audience will decode the text in different ways, the audience can have different views on the producer’s encoded message or meaning. The 3 views are Dominant, Negotiated and oppositional. I will be applying the reception theory to the music video ‘Worth it’- Fifth Harmony and I will be talking about the three views within the video.

Dominant or preferred - The audience view the media text in the way the producer intended, they agree with the ideology and the institution are happy. The dominant message for Fifth Harmony’s music video is about the women breaking the conventions and how they all have a high status and powerful stamina in the work force. The intended message that is meant to reach the audience is that they should feel empowered and proud of the video as the woman comes out on top.

Negotiated - the audience compromise between the dominant and oppositional reading. They do not agree or disagree but can see the point being made but still have their own opinion. This could be evident in the ‘Worth it' video as the audience could accept the fact that it is about empowering women but also have a different view of their own, for example the audience could see the video as being about gender stereotypes and see the video as a whole different topic.

Oppositional - The audience rejects the preferred reading and create their own reading of the text, they reject the meaning fully as they do not agree with the message intended by the producer or they may just interpret the product in a totally different light and become upset/offended by the product as they have misinterpreted the intended message from the institution. For example a male may watch the music video and be offended by the way Kid Ink is presented in the video and may misinterpret what the institution is actually trying to insinuate.  Women could too misjudge the videos messages/meanings and create an oppositional view against the video as, for example it may challenge their beliefs and attitudes. 

Hypodermic Needle 

The Hypodermic Needle Theory suggests that mass media has a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audience. Hense the 'needle' imagery, this is used to represent the 'injecting' of the media institutions ideologies and messages into their audiences. The theory suggests that the mass media can influence a very large audience directly and uniformly by 'injecting' them with their messages and ideologies which are in turn designed to trigger their desired response. This is a powerful and instantaneous flow of information from the sender (media institutions/producers) to the receiver (their audiences). These messages are 'injected' straight into a passive audience, who are then immediately influenced by these messages.

The theory expresses the view that the media is a dangerous means of communicating an idea because the receiver (audience) is powerless to resist the impact of the message. The audience is perceived to be passive, as they have a lot of media material 'injected' towards them they must believe  and accept whatever they are told. this may have been the case due to a lack of resources to gain information from. This theory assumes that we believe anything we see or hear in the media, as if the audience is brainwashed by the institutions so that they believe every message and conform to every ideology 'injected' towards them.

This theory can be applied to the music video 'Worth It' as it 'injects' the message of feminism and girl power and the women empowerment is awesome. With this 'injection' the 'desired response' would be for women to get an education and go for the high status jobs. However it is hard to apply this theory to the music video 'Worth it' because the audience may not get the same 'injections' as others as everybody consumes media in the same way and the audience are not simply passive also the new technology has changed how we consume media and the various sources we can gain it from. Also audiences are now more aware of society and the way in which institutions operate. So we now know how the media deceives us, giving us the knowledge to reject messages if we oppose to them.