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Effects theory factsheet 1

1) Complete the questions in the first activity box (beginning with 'Do you play violent games? Are you violent in real life?')


1.1 Do you play violent video games and/or watch violent films? Are you violent in ‘real life’?

I don't play any video games but I do watch action films quite often. I am not violent, if not even an opposite.

1.2 Do you ever see a product advertised on TV or on the internet and decide you want to buy it?

No, not really, it's more like when I see an ad of a product I'd rather not buy it and use my trusted products instead.

1.3 Have you ever seen a documentary which has drawn your attention to an issue which you now feel strongly about?

Yes, I watch documentaries all the time. They're mostly about mature or WW II. 

2) What are the four categories for different effects theories?

Direct Effect Theories
Diffusion Theories
Indirect Effect Theories

The Pluralist Approach

3) What are the examples provided for the hypodermic needle theory - where media texts have been blamed for certain events? 

Child’s Play – The murder of Jamie Bulger
Marilyn Manson – The Columbine High School shootings
Natural Born Killers – a number of murders committed by
romantically linked couples. in one case, the director was sued

for inciting violence although the court case was later dismissed

4) What was the 1999 Columbine massacre? You may need to research this online in addition to the information on the factsheet.

The Columbine High School massacre was a school shooting that occurred on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States

5) What are the reasons listed on the factsheet to possibly explain the Columbine High School massacre?

The ease of access to firearms and the social acceptance of gun ownership.
The alienation felt by teenagers who felt as though they did not fit in.
The hopelessness caused by living in an area where unemployment was high and was economically disadvantaged.
The general desensitisation caused by access to a range of violent images: film, TV, the news, the
internet
[* This is the argument offered by Michael Moore in

his film Bowling for Columbine]

6) What does Gerbner's Cultivation theory suggest?

Through repetition attitudes, ideas and values may become normalised or naturalised; they are accepted rather than considered.
Through repetition the audience may become desensitised towards negative and/or violent representations.

7) How does this front page of the Daily Mail (from this week - Wednesday 16 November) link to Cultivation theory? The Mail Online version of the story is here.



The front page shows us that the idea of young, beautiful skin is a normalised value. 


8) What does the factsheet suggest about action films and the values and ideologies that are reinforced with regards to violence?


9) What criticisms of direct effect theories are suggested in the factsheet?


10) Why might the 1970s sitcom Love Thy Neighbour be considered so controversial today? What does this tell us about Reception theory and how audiences create meanings?

11) What examples are provided for Hall's theory of preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings?

The Sun’s values are bypassed every time an audience member ignores the reporting and opinion to read the TV guide and the sport pages.

12) Which audience theory do you think is most convincing? Why? It is important that you develop critical autonomy in judging the arguments for and against different theories and form your own opinion on these issues.


I think the reception analysis is very effective because the truth is that young and older people watch a lot of different media texts and use different media like television or internet. It's the same with personal values or geographic location.

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