Uses and Gratification Model
As a response to the previous emphasis upon media effects, from the 1970s researchers became interested in how audiences make sense of media texts. The "uses and gratifications" model, associated with Jay Blumler and Elihu Katz, reflected this growing interest in the 'active audience'. One such example of this type of research was conducted by Hodge and Tripp, and separately Palmer, about how school-children make sense of the Australian soap opera Prisoner. They found that pupils could identify with the prisoners: they were "shut in", separated from their friends and wouldn't be there had they not been made to be, etc. Also, the children could compare the wardens to their teachers: "the hard-bitten old, the soft new one, the one you could take advantage of..."John Fiske summarises:
The children inserted meanings of the program into their social experience of school in a way that informed both -- the meanings of school and the meanings of Prisoner were each influenced by the other, and the fit between them validated the other.
Read more about this topic: History Of Media Studies
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