uses and gratification

According to Bulmer who was writing about media in 1950 5 years after the second world war, During which he concluded that most propaganda protests where through media such a newspapers, poster art, radio and films, which attempted to persuade mass audiences to follow their polices, Bulmer concluded that media must have seemed like a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands as it was capable of persuading millions to follow evil men, showing how powerful media can actually be to an audience.

The uses and gratification theory is a popular approach to understanding mass communication. The theory places more focus on the consumer, or audience, 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 holds that audience are responsible for choosing media to meet their needs.

It is suggested that the uses and gratifications theory has to fulfil one of the following when we choose a form of media:

• Identify- being able to recognise the product of a person in front of you, role models that reflect similar values to yours, aspiration to be someone else.
• Educate- being able to acquire information, knowledge and understanding.
• Entertain- what you are consuming should give you enjoyment and also some form of ‘escapism’ enabling us to forget our worries temporarily
• Social interaction- the ability for media products to produce a topic of conversation between other people, spark debates.

 

This could relate to our thriller due to the fact people use thrillers and horrors to put others in that position and make them think it is them in that situation, I think this is a good use due to the fact that we aim to make the audience feel involved and part of the thriller rather than them just watching it and not identifying with it, we aim for the audience to be entertained, be educated and identify with our thriller.