Audience Theories

Hypodermic Needle Theory:

The Hypodermic Needle Theory effect is, how the media influence their audiences this is done by the
way we think about things whilst watching something. It is the earliest way of thinking about how
the media influenced mass audiences and how it had manipulated their life decisions. It was
developed in the 1920s and 30s and also the rise of Hitler to use it for propaganda. Hitler used it for
Propaganda; he made his audiences believe that what he was doing was right by injecting that media
into their brains. In this day and age, it is more to the video games which get the excuse of the
Hypodermic needle effect, a good game for this would be Grand Theft Auto or other violent video
games out there. In 1999 in columbine, America, two teenagers set out and did a shooting in a High
School, it was said that the two gunman were two teenagers named Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold,
they were said to have dressed in trench coats and just begun to randomly shoot the pupils at the
High School. It was also said that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, were in a social outcast group named
the trench coat mafia whom were fascinated in gothic culture. The blame for the shooting was video
game and also Marylin Manson a rock singer for their actions, that the hypodermic needle effect was
implanted into their brains, that they wanted to live the game, unaware that it was in fact reality.
Another example where the Hypodermic needle theory is used is in 2003 where a boy named Devin
Thompson had repeatedly played Grand Theft Auto III it is said that he had killed three people whom
were police officers, he had reportedly stolen a car and had grabbed an officers gun before shooting
him and then the other 2 officers, and then had fled in a patrol car. Thompson told the officers Life
is a video game. Youve got to die sometime
http://lessonbucket.com/media-in-minutes/the-hypodermic-needle-theory/

Uses and Gratification Theory:
Uses and Gratification theory is a lot like the hypodermic needle theory, although, the difference
with the uses and gratification theory is that rather than with the hypodermic needle theory which
was more on what the media does to people, the uses and gratification theory is more to the fact of
what is does with people. It is also based on why people do it rather than the hypodermic needle
theory where it is more on what it does to people. With different subjects of TV watching, it has a
different feeling toward the individual, for example, entertainment allows that person to escape into
a new world and escape reality and its problems, as well as this, TV also allows you to learn
something from it. This theory is more to the fact of their needs and their feelings and how that
affects their mental stability. When it comes to Grand Theft Auto, you have a lot of freedom in the
game which can then make people think that it is the same in real life. There is a need for
entertainment and diversion for example there is a release from everyday pressures, from freedom
to act in a world of no social or moral boundaries, which can lead to a change of personal identity. As
well as this GTA is such a violent game it can help people feel the need to let their anger out, this
could be through shooting people or in this case, in GTA5 you can use a brutal torture scene and
torture someone, this can also allow the anger to vent out whilst playing the game, which can
therefore, make the person playing the game individually feel obsessed with the game and might
then try to refer that to real life because of how the game made them feel.
In this article, in Thailand, a Thai teenager had reinacted a robbing and murdering a taxi driver from
the game, which they think is related to GTA IV. In the article it quotes Police quoted Polwat as
saying in a statement: "I needed money to play the game every day. My parents give me only 100
baht a day, which is not enough. I am also fed up with them fighting. They are civil servants and do
not make good money," he said. This can refer to the fact that because he was fed up with his
parents fighting that he played the game to vent out the anger he felt.

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/usegrat.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/thailand/2497978/Grand-Theft-Auto-blamed-
over-Thai-taxi-driver-murder.html


Passive or Active consumption

A passive audience relates to the Hypodermic Needle Media theory, this was the earliest mass type
of audience which had started from the 1920s to the 40s where Hitler had then used Hypodermic
needle theory into propaganda because this type of audience are seen as perhaps couch potatoes
and are easily manipulated into certain texts it was easy for Hitler to manipulate them and them to
think that what he was doing was right because of the way the passive audience never questioned
the media that was being thrown at them. Passive Audiences are usually weak willed - so they lack
the ability to resist the influence of other people or to control their impulses, it was easy for Hitler
and the Nazis to do what they did within the 1930s when the second world war started to arise. As
well as this, they tend to follow other people like sheep.
The passive audience members reacted within the same way and the media was easily able to affect
their thought and their behaviour. Passive audiences become desensitised toward violence or
anything that is thrown at them because there is long term exposure in the media that audiences
become immune to them, for the example with violence, the audience ends up with the result that
they are no longer shocked by what they see and it becomes normal for them. For an example of
GTA, because people who play it might not think about what is being injected into them, and that
passive audiences do not question the morals of the violence and are used to seeing the violence
and become immune or desensitised to it, that it can make them believe that what they are doing
is right because of the amount or repeated violence within the game and so they therefore think
that it is right to do it in real life because they have not questioned the moral judgement of the
violence within the game.
In this article, it was suspected that a teen had been suspected of killing his dad and his brother on
how he idolised a violent character from the video game of GTA5, whom had them contemplated
and had mentally prepared himself for his familys murder for months. The boy who was named
Eldon Samuel III who was 14 had told the police that he had shot his dad and brother after calling
911. Domitor said often times video games will create a disconnect between the gamer and reality
It is also said in the article that Dr. Paul Domitor said "What you have is your own little universe in
which you have all this power and violence is seen as a solution,".
As another example as to the repetitive script of the violent video games, that a teenage boy
decided to do a shooting in the high school in Alaska. It is reported that Evan Ramsey had sneaked a
shotgun into the high school, it was then did he shoot down fellow students and the principal as well
as wounding two others, within the article it says he described how playing video games had
warped his sense of reality he also said I did not understand that if Ipull out a gun and shoot you,
theres a good chance youre not getting back up. Within the article it describes that the game he
played was named Doom and that within the game You shoot a guy in Doom and he gets back
up. You have got to shoot the things in Doom eight or nine times before it dies. The game is
described within the article to be more than any other media, these video games encourage active
participation in violence
'Its quite possible that playing this script out numerous times in the game influenced his decision-
making -- and that is in fact what he said.'
- Dr. Paul Weigle, child and adolescent psychiatrist


http://www.slideshare.net/aarchersimmons/passive-and-active-audience-theories-2014

http://www.kxly.com/news/north-idaho-news/teen-murder-suspect-idolized-violent-gta-v-
character/25183960
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/09/12/training-simulation-mass-killers-often-share-
obsession-with-violent-video-games/


An active audience is where they tend to use their brain to think and question the media. Unlike the
passive audience, they do not sit and just consume the media text, they actually use it to their
advantage and they interact with it. There are different audiences because they are questioning it,
some tend to believe and accept the message the media text is giving, whilst others reject it using
the knowledge from their own experience, or they can use the processes of logic or any other ways
to then criticise what is being said to them. In an active audience when they play GTA or any other
violent game, they are able to see the difference in the morals and they know from right from
wrong, they would question the game and although they could be fully engrossed into the game,
their minds are engaged about what they are seeing and they are also responsive to perhaps violent
graphics, as well as this, they are free willed so they make their own choices and are not, unlike
passive audiences, weak willed.

http://www.slideshare.net/aarchersimmons/passive-and-active-audience-theories-2014

Reception Study

Reception Theory is the way that we interpret what we watch. For example, someone might see
what their watching this could be a violent event on the news, and another person could be
watching the same thing but have a completely different view on the matter because of how they
were brought up in their own society. It is able to place the viewer in context, allowing them to take
into account all the various factors that might influence on how he or she would read and then
create meaning from the text given to them. For example, when playing a video game as violent as
GTA, someone who might not play the game often or regularly, or perhaps might be completely new
to the game, might not be used to the violence seen in the game narrative, and might find it rather
disturbing and decide to not play the game, whereas, someone who has seen and might play the
game more frequently, or in some cases obsessively, this could then have a completely different
effect from the person who does not play the game as often. From research and murders/massacres
related to shootings or stabbings are usually blamed on those who play the game more frequently, it
is clear that because they play the game it had effected their view on reality and had then become
desensitised or are used to the graphic content within the game. As an example, the massacre in
Sandy Hook elementary school the murderer Adam Lanza had reportedly notched up 83,00 online
kills including 22,00 head shots using violent games to train himself for his massacre as well as this
he had reportedly used to play violent video games such as Call of Duty and Gears of War.

http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Independent-Film-Road-Movies/Reception-
Theory.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2516427/Sandy-Hook-shooter-Adam-Lanza-83k-online-
kills-massacre.html

There has been a censorship issue to some video games in certain countries; for example, in
Australia the game State of Decay had joined Saints Row IV game to be banned within 24 hours after
it had refused classification within Australia. It is quoted within the article that State of Decay has
been refused classification by the Australian Classification Board (ACB). We've run afoul of certain
prohibitions regarding the depiction of drug use. We're working with Microsoft to come up with
options, including changing names of certain medications in the game to comply with ratings
requirements as well as this it also states Computer games that "depict, express, or otherwise
deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or abhorrent phenomena
in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally
accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they should not be classified, will be Refused
Classification," It is said that it is the second game to be banned in Australia and is alongside the
other banned game named Saints Row IV this was banned due to implied sexual violence and drug
use.
State of Decay image
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/06/26/australia-bans-second-video-game-in-24-hours/
As well censorship there has also been a problem with advertising for violent video games, in an
article it describes Advertising in Violent video games result in poor recall, negative brand
perception In the article is states that advertisements in violent video games lead to lower brand
recall and negative brand attitudes which suggests advertisers should think twice about including
such ads in a media campaign, according to researchers at The University of Texas at Austin. It also
said The study, the first to confirm the link between increased video game violence and impaired
in-game ad effectiveness. In the article it states a study that was made, the participants played one
of the two video games with embedded advertisements. The violent video game had featured
computer operated avatars holding guns and shooting at the participant as he or she navigated
through virtual rooms drenched in blood. In contrast, the non-violent video games featured the
same avatars holding nothing and the virtual rooms were soaked in water. As well as this the article
claims that The video games were identical in every detail except for the presence or absence of
violent cues, such as avatars holding guns. After they were asked to recall some of the brands
advertised in the games and to then share their perceptions of those brands. It also states that the
brand recall and recognition, and attitude were significantly lower for the participants whom had
played the violent games compared to those whom had played the non-violent video games.


http://www.utexas.edu/news/2011/08/30/video_game_ads/
As well as this problem in advertising, in GTA there is a display of high level of violence, heterosexism
and death. In advertising video games, it mirrors many problems with video games in general. There
seems to be a overload of masculinity in video games, as well as this there is a lot that suggests a lot
about our society. In this article it says You might note that there is a parallel between the
representations of women in the video games themselves and the various gender ads. Women are
often thin, wrongly proportioned (especially the example of video game heroine Lara Croft), behave
stupidly, and are the subject of the gaze and actions of men. Males are also stereotyped, particularly
in games like Grand Theft Auto and its spin-offs. Men are thugs, violent, overtly masculine and
without passion or intelligence. This says a lot that our society sees women as being stupid and
subjects of men, whereas the men are without passion or intelligence which is stereotypical.
Grand Theft Auto V
http://www.genderads.com/page10/slideshow-77/

If I were to choose a theory that be the strongest and the weakest, I think that the hypodermic
needle theory would be the weakest because our audience in the 21
st
Century, 2014, are a much
more active audience compared to when it was originally theorised so back in the 30s because
people were a more passive audience it might have been a good theory back then but now it is seen
as old fashioned, whereas the other theories are either scientifically proven (uses and gratification)
or they allow their audiences to talk about it more and engage more as an active audience and are
generally perhaps more modern then the Hypodermic needle theory.