Media theories

• Audience Reception Theory 
• Also known as reception analysis, audience reception theory has come to be widely used as a way of characterizing the wave of audience research which occurred within communications and cultural studies during the 1980s and 1990s. On the whole, this work has adopted a "culturalist" perspective, has tended to use qualitative (and often ethnographic) methods of research and has tended to be concerned, one way or another, with exploring the active choices, uses and interpretations made of media materials, by their consumers.
• Maslow's hierarcy of needs
• Often portrayed in the shape of a pyramid, with the largest and most fundamental levels of needs at the bottom, and the need for self-actualization at the top.
  The most fundamental and basic four layers of the pyramid contain what Maslow called "deficiency needs" or "d-needs": esteem , friendship and love, security, and physical needs. With the exception of the most fundamental (physiological) needs, if these "deficiency needs" are not met, the body gives no physical indication but the individual feels anxious and tense. Maslow's theory suggests that the most basic level of needs must be met before the individual will strongly desire (or focus motivation upon) the secondary or higher level needs. Maslow also coined the term Metamotivation to describe the motivation of people who go beyond the scope of the basic needs and strive for constant betterment. Metamotivated people are driven by B-needs (Being Needs), instead of deficiency needs (D-Needs).
• Different ways of gaining audience feedback
• Primary
• Secondary
• Quantitative
• Qualitative
• Hypodermic Model –  a model of communications also referred to as the "magic bullet" perspective, or the transmission-belt model. Essentially, this model states that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the audience, therefore offering the concept of an idea being 'injected' into the recipient's mind. However, theorists have now thought that the media could not have such an effect on its audiences and that the media is a weak influence on people's personalities, as most people are able to distinguish between the media, whose predominant purpose is entertainment, and real life.
• Uses and Gratifications Theory –  a popular approach to understanding mass communication. The theory places more focus on the consumer instead of the actual message itself by asking “what people do with media” rather than “what media does to people” (Katz, 1959) . It assumes that members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. The theory also says that audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet their needs. The approach suggests that people use the media to fulfill specific gratifications. This theory would then imply that the media compete against other information sources for viewers' gratification. (Katz, E., Blumler, J. G., & Gurevitch, M. 1974)
  
• Todorov’s Narrative Theory – stories begin with an equilibrium or status quo where any potentially opposing forces are in balance. This is disrupted by some event, setting in chain a series of events. Problems are solved so that order can be restored to the world of the fiction. This theory can be applied to films such as High School Musical and rom-coms - fantasy, drama and sci-fi films like 'Shadow' seem to start with a problem so as to instantly grab the audience's attention.
• Vladimir Propp’s character functions – identified 8 character roles and 31 narrative functions.
• The 8 character roles are
• 1. The villain(s)
• 2. The hero
• 3. The donor - who provides an object with some magic property.
• 4. The helper who aids the hero.
• 5. The princess (the sought for person) - reward for the hero and object of the villain's schemes.
• 6. Her father - who rewards the hero.
• 7. The dispatcher - who sends the hero on his way.
• 8. The false hero
• The character roles and the functions identified by Propp can be applied to all kinds of narrative. In TV news programmes we are often presented with 'heroes' and ‘villains'. Just think of the media portrayal of Saddam Hussein or Princess Diana.