Task 2 - reception theory

Reception theory. 

The reception theory indicates that films do not have an effect on the audience whereby they are influenced to carryout similar acts to what is shown on screen, e.g. a viewer that sees a violent act when watching a film brings in their own morals and can determine that using violence is the incorrect way to act. This theory suggests that the audience is able to interpret the meaning of the film based on their own background and life experiences.

The texts that they are in the process of consuming might include a preferred, oppositional, negotiated or aberrant reading.

A preferred reading is a way of understanding the film to be consistent with the ideas and intentions portrayed throughout. This means that the viewers may accept the values shown through the film and are more likely to be effected by the film in terms of how they interpret the different acts of violence in the film in comparison to how they act in everyday life.

A negotiated reading is the understanding that individual has a choice as to whether or not they accept the preferred reading. This means as well as accepting some of the consistent ideas and intentions of the producer, the audience is also able to filter their own ideas and argue that a particular social group may be unfairly represented.

An oppositional reading (or radical response) is where individual members of an audience may completely reject the acceptance of the preferred reading, which would be the dominant values within the text. This indicates that the audience is able to interpret the film in their own way.

An aberrant reading is where an entirely different meaning is produced by the audience from that intended by the producer. This could be when individual members of the audience do not share in anyway the same values of the producer. A famous example of this was the television series ‘To Death Us Do Part’ – the makers of the film created the racist character ‘Alf Garnett’ as a figure of fun but some members of the audience saw this character as a hero.

The reception theory can be used to interpret films 

In terms of how the audience would be affected by the exposure of violent content in films depends solely on the narrative and message picked up by the audience whilst watching the film. In some cases i feel that violent films can have a huge impact on the way individuals react to a film, mainly depending on their age, lifestyle and mental acuity. For example, the Jamie Bulger case is one about a 2 year old boy who was abducted, tortured then murdered by two 10 year olds boys after watching Child's play 3. Jamies body was found tied to a railway track two days after his murder. This shows that violent films do have an affect on people as they choose to interpret these films in their own manor. Although, many will argue that these two boys should not have been allowed to watch this film, others argue that the film may have influenced them to do this but is not the only reason they may have done so, as they had planned it out thoroughly. On the otherhand, people who are more prone to seeing violent acts or have watched a fair share of violent movies are a lot less likely to be affect by them, whereas people who are not exposed to violent acts or do not watch violent movies would not expect to see a certain level of violence and would react a lot differently towards them. Films such as Scarface and City Of God has caused controversy as people believe that the violent scene shown in these films could have a negative affect on the audience, whereby they copy the violent events being shown. 

Scarface is a very violent film that focuses solely around the involvement of drugs.  Due to the fact that the reception theory states that the films are not passively accepted by the audience but the viewer interprets the meaning based on their individual cultural backgrounds and life experiences, i feel that Scarface would have a negotiated reading. This is because the individual has a choice as to whether they accept the preferred reading or not. They may accept some of the dominant values and exsisting social structure but they are prepared to argue that a particular social group may be fairly represented. When an individual watches Scarface they are seeing life through another perspective that may be very different to their own. The audience are able to accept the fact that Tony Montana is a immigrant that came to America for a better lifestyle. They are able to accept this as it happens no matter where you are in the world. Although, killing the lawyer in order to get the green card may come to a surprise to some of the audience as it comes across more exaggerated and non-realistic. Seeing things like this allow the audience to filter the film through their own personal agenda and understand that people react to different situations in a variety of ways without letting it affect them in a negative way. In Scarface the women are very poorly represented in a way by which they are always shown wearing minimal clothing, they take drugs and are generally sexually objectified as the narrative progresses. The audience may feel quite offended (especially female viewers) whilst watching this, although they are willing to accept that women are portrayed this way massively in films, especially in the gangster film genre. The audience would be willing to argue that the women in this film are being unfairly represented, but are able to bring in their own morals to decide that women are not as sexually objectified as they once were, and take into account that in reality the majority of women compose themselves alot better than they are shown to in this film.

 The violent scenes in Scarface that can potentially influence the audience into copying what they see would be Tonys death, Franks death and Manolo's death. These scene are potentially suggesting that killing someone who has betrayed you in any way is okay. In many instances people have already done this in reality which may be linked back to violent films that they have watched. Although, in this case the audience are able to determine that violence is the incorrect way to act, which allows them to interpret the meaning. 

Just like violence, the use of drugs in Scarface is very frequent. Just by seeing the type of lifestyle Tony Montana has before his major downfall may encourage people to start taking drugs or selling drugs. Many people watching this film are influenced into selling drugs by thinking it is a gateway to wealth and power when in reality it isnt. Especially if you are growing up in an area where there is alot of drug related activity going on around you, you are more influenced to join this lifestyle thinking it will be as easy as Tony Montana makes it seem. However, the reception theory shows us that although this is what is being shown to the audience they are open to the idea that people to do live this kind of lifestyle and they are able to interpret the meaning based on their individual background and life experiences. Meaning people from a similiar background to Tony will understand more about the life of illegal sellings of drugs and accept the preferred meaning of understanding that the film is consistent with the ideas and intentions of the producer and potentially determine that taking drugs is wrong. 

Just like Scarface, City Of God is a very violent film based around drugs and a feud between two characters. Due to the fact that the reception theory states thats the films are not passively accepted by the audience but the viewer interprets the meaning based on their individual cultural backgrounds and life experiences, i feel that City Of God would have a preferred reading. This is because it is a way of understanding that the film is consistent with the ideas and intentions of the producer and it may lead to an acceptance of the dominant values within the text. There are many scenes in the film that may influence the audience into copying for example, selling/taking drugs. The selling and taking drugs may influence the audience massively because the film shows young children smoking marijuana so they could possibly think that it is okay to do, especially as almost everyone in the film does smoke it. The selling of drugs may influence people (mainly children in similar circumstances) into doing this aswell, as it is the fastest way to make money in areas where not many people are educated and have a chance of leaving.  The preferred reading shows us that the audience accepts the dominant values within the film, mainly based the film is based on real life events and this is what happens on a day-to-day basis in the City Of God. Although, the audience are able to determine that using drugs is not an acceptable way to act. Other acts of violence include children killing, shooting children and the war between Carrot and Lil'Ze. The fact that the film uses children to illustrate just how bad things are in the City Of God, makes the audience uncomfortable yet realise just how bad people are living. For other children that could be potentially watching this film with a similar cultural background and life experiences, they may feel influenced to start selling drugs as it is portrayed as a positive thing whereby uneducated children can make money. Although, the general audience agrees to the film being consistent with the ideas and intentions of the producer, they can potentially determine that this is an incorrect way to act. 

City Of God portrays the lifestyle of Lil,Ze positive. It shows him making his way to becoming the top drug lord for the city, making money, controlling the city and bribing the police to avoid getting arrested. This can potentially make the audience feel like they can do the same things and get away with them, especially if they have the same cultural background as Lil'Ze. Although the audience understand that it is not the best way to act, they accept the intentions of the producer and the dominant values within the film. 

In conclusion, the preferred reading tells us that the audience accepts the ideas and intentions of the producer and also acceptsbthe dominant values within the film even if they cannot directly relate to the events that occur, however they understand that acting in a way similar to what is shown throught the film is not acceptable and do not allow themselves to be influenced into copying them. The negotiated reading tells us that an individual has a choice as to whether or not they accept the preferred reading based on their own morals and culture. So based on this, the audience is not likely to be influenced into copying the acts shown in the films.