Reception Theory: Encoding and Decoding (Audience Theory Research)

Stuart Hall theorized that the meaning of a message is not fixed or determined by the sender, the message is never transparent and the audience is not a passive recipient of meaning.

When a producer constructs a text it is encoded with a meaning or message that the producer wishes to convey to the audience. In some cases the audience will successfully decode the message or meaning, and understand what the producer is trying to convey. In other cases the audience will reject, or simply not understand the message that is trying to be convened.

Hall describes three types of audience:

•Dominant- When the audience correctly decodes the message of the producer and agrees with it.

•Negotiated- When the audience accepts, rejects or refines elements of the text in light of previous held news (neither agreeing or disagreeing with the message.)

•Oppositional- When the dominant meaning is recognised but rejected for political, cultural or ideological reasons.