LO6 Essay

Overall, I believe that the media effects debate is not an outdated concept as even though it may not affect us in the same way that it once did, it still does have an effect on audiences. This is because society has changed and therefore preferences and trends have changed within audiences.

FOR

it is an outdated concept as audiences do not view media products due to being controlled by media companies, instead they do it for their own personal reasons, this links to the uses and gratifications theory. This theory states that audiences view media products for the following reasons: escapism, surveillance, building a personal relationship and building a personal identity. This shows that in a sense the media cant control how audiences view the products and its no longer to simply view them, in many cases audiences build relationships with characters in many films, shows or games or they use it in a way to immerse themselves in the media, this portrays how the audience adapts itself to the media instead of just blindly following it. 

it is an outdated concept as audiences have changed how they approach a media product in a way in which the media producers didn't intend, this is called a fandom and it is found around many different media products. This goes against the passive audience theory as it is showing audiences to have free will over how they view a media product and develop a community and other things such as separate products because of it. An example of this being the popular animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars which was developed by fans of the Star Wars movies created by Lucasfilm, and it was said that George Lucas (creator/ director of Star Wars) did not think that he would generate such a fanbase that an entirely new profitable media product would be created from his fanbase.

moreover an other idea supporting the statement would be to do with the idea surrounding the theory on encoding and decoding which is to do with media companies hiding the true meaning to something and the decoding part is where the audience is left to interpret or solve the encrypted meaning. This is different as it shows media have evolved from interpreting an outcome and solving the questions for the audience to letting the audience engage and resolve the questions created. An example is in the movie Captain America: Civil War in which viewers were made to choose a side and interpret which side was right which demonstrates how audiences aren't manipulated by media companies and are instead encouraged to in a sense manipulate their own understandings of the story.

AGAINST

it is an outdated concept as audiences have changed over the years, an example it to do with the cultivation theory which is to do with how audiences have become desensitised to graphic content. An example for this is how the 1996 movie criminal hearts was first released under the rating of R but has since changed to a 15, this is because what would have been considered as graphic or violent then would now be accepted as normal amongst most audience members as they have become immune to it.

another reason is to do with the hypodermic passive theory, which is the belief that media producers hold power through its audience and can almost control them as if they have no free will and will just follow their commands which in this case will be to buy their media products. This has been proven true as to this day advertisement which is media producers persuading their audience to purchase products showing that that theory is still in effect as a lot of people watch a lot of media or play games from seeing trailers or print based adverts for them as it entertains, intrigues and encourages them to purchase those products.

moreover it isn't an outdated concept as the media still have some form of control over its audience, this is presented through the other side to the cultivation theory, this is apparent in a lot of press, film and games in which if the world is presented in a negative way repeatedly, the audience will begin to believe them to be true in the real world, this links with conspiracy theorists who create a lot of conspiracies over what happens in the media and a lot of these repeated ideas and images shown have a huge influence on this. For example, from movies in  the Sci - Fi genre, many people have begun to believe and create conspiracies that aliens are among us, for example the popular one about Area 51 in which media companies exploit within their products.