Neo-Marxism

• Define reception analysis

  The analysis of how audiences receive and interpret media texts, and therefore what effects they have on audiences
• What is encoding ?

  Media texts are are ‘encoded’ by those who produce them and they contain particular intended meaning which they expect media audiences to believe
• How do different audiences decode media texts ?

  • Most will receive and interpret (decode) in the intended way
  • Some may decode differently, relating to their social situations
• Who came up with encoding and decoding ?

  Stuart Hall
• 3 ways in which Morley suggested people decode media texts

  1. The preferred or dominant reading
  2. A negotiated reading
  3. An oppositional reading
• What is the ”preferred or dominant reading“ ?

  audiences decode media texts in the same way they were encoded- as intended by producers
• What is a ‘negotiated reading’ ?

  Audiences generally accept the preferred or dominant reading, but change it to some extent to fit their own beliefs and expectations
• What is an “oppositional reading” ?

  Audiences reject the preferred or dominant reading entirely