Audience interpretation, identity and social context

Overview

Situated reading, audience identity and divided audience response.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Why do audiences interpret the same product differently?

   Model answer

   Interpretation depends on age, culture, experience, politics and knowledge. Two viewers bring different frameworks to the same text.

2. 2

   What is meant by a situated reading?

   Model answer

   A situated reading is one shaped by the reader's social and historical position. Meaning does not sit in the text alone.

3. 3

   How do historical circumstances affect interpretation?

   Model answer

   A text is read differently as the values around it change. The Tide advertisement now reads as a document of 1950s gender roles.

4. 4

   How might a modern audience read the Tide advertisement?

   Model answer

   A contemporary reader is likely to notice the assumption that housework is women's work. Ironic and critical readings are common.

5. 5

   How does cultural background shape response?

   Model answer

   References, humour and values familiar in one culture may not carry to another. Recognition affects both pleasure and meaning.

6. 6

   What is meant by audience identity?

   Model answer

   Audience identity is the sense of self that media consumption expresses and supports. Choices of product signal belonging.

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