LO3 To critically evaluate and compare all the major audience theories looking at if they

are correct or not.

GRA! T"#$T A%TO
Firstly I am going to discuss the game itself, grand theft auto 5 has been known to
be quite a violent game, and you can understand that through the narrative, the
story line is about three men who are gangstas who get money to commit crimes,
and you get be one of those characters, the content is pretty violent, you can have
scenes of torture in the game, killing, scenes of a provocative nature. The game has
had effects on its players, not all players play the game and thats it, its taken
effect where some people have gotten too involved and found themselves committing
the crimes in reality.
In terms of censor ship with T! 5, its a bit difficult although rated "5, youll
be surprised how many younger teens can get their hands on this game, and its
not good, because younger teens have the ability to be more influenced easily, they
might not be playing for the same reasons at first, but once hooked on the game
its difficult to get back out of it, and for younger teens its a way to escape of
what might be going on in their personal lives, they may well be playing relieve
frustration, but how long before they go and commit a real crime# $ot long ago a
boy was arrested for committing a crime that he played on T! 5, and when he
pleaded he said he %ust wanted to recreate that scene in real life because he thought
he could do it, you see in the game you can do anything, but in real life theres
consequences. http&''edition.cnn.com'()"*')+'(5'us'louisiana,boy,kills,grandmother' ,
an + year old kills a care giver due to rand theft auto.
The problems with advertising T! 5, because its such a well,known game now,
its difficult to advertise it without teens seeing, they have access to the internet
theyll eventually see, in terms of sponsors, they get a bad reputation and also the
game makers when they hear about crimes being committed door to the game.
There are so many fans for T! 5, and mostly there all normal fans who %ust
want to play the game, but the ne-t part of my essay concludes as that kinds of
audience theories there are and what makes people do these kinds of things.
In this essay I am going to discuss in detail the . ma%or audience theories, they are
all going to be compared back to rand Theft !uto.
The first ma%or audience theory that I am going to discuss will be the /0ypodermic
$eedle effect, dont let the scientific name confuse you, the meaning behind it
is as follows. The theory is, is that media has the power to take over our minds, it
is /in%ecting information into the brains of passive audiences, passive audiences
LO3 To critically evaluate and compare all the major audience theories looking at if they
are correct or not.
indicating an audience that are literally sitting ducks. The term hypodermic needle
effect comes from a theorist from the "1*)s and it is believed that the
hypodermic needle evolved as an e-planation for the increase of $a2ism in
ermany, 0itlers $a2i had used the film industry as 3ropaganda, a fake belief,
brainwashing people, he used the film industry to creates lots of films about their
greatest achievements and how they were so superior, of course ermans believed,
they were being /brainwashed. There is a graphical e-planation which everyone
recognises, it is a metal bullet and needle going straight into someones brain,
indicating an intense amount of power and information that is essentially being shot
at into the brain. The image is powerful and gives you a sense of how much media
can influence you, and how it can be the only thing that you can believe from. !n
e-ample from the "1*)s shows %ust how much the use of media can impact
audiences. In the "1*)s 4rson 5ells and 6ercury Theatre had %oined together in
order to create a fake news bulletin over the radio, it was on 0alloween, the
bulletin was about an alien invasion, it was broadcasted after the war of the
worlds story, "( million !merican citi2ens, and it is believed that " million had
seriously believed it and were in a state of panic, it shows how different forms of
media no matter T7 or radio, media has a responsive power. 8elating this theory
back to rand theft auto, I do believe that video games can have the power to
brainwash people, T! 5 in the eyes of some is perceived to not be such a violent
game but a fun game to play, but for others it can go deeper than that, there have
been some cases where peoples lives are literally taken over by the game, and
they continuously play it, this essentially leads them to being brainwashed by the
game because eventually they will begin to think that what they are playing is
normal, and it could lead them in to potentially committing a crime in reality for
instance stealing a car, thats bad enough, but murdering someone, thats taking a
bit too far, all in all its perception, which brings me on nicely to my ne-t audience
theory. 8eception theory is about how you perceive something in the media to be,
so it could be from a film, a T7 series, a game, anything within in the media,
media itself does not create meaning, when you go to the cinema and watch a film
it is not the film that has created the meaning it is you, and its your meaning,
and your perception and what you decide to do with it, the meaning is created
between the viewer and the media te-t. For e-ample if you were at the cinema and
you went to watch fast and furious, one audience member could come away and
find that they found the film really good and for them they en%oyed the cars racing
and the action whilst another member could come away and take from the film that
they want to go and get those cars and live that kind of lifestyle, so its how the
audience previewed. In terms of T! 5 the perception element, how people perceive
the game, a lot of people find that game is quite influential, especially on young
teenagers, although it is not meant for young teenagers, they can still get their
hands on it, as a young teenager they may not understand why others play it and
they may start playing innocent at first but if the teenager gets too involved with
the game, teenagers are more prone to being influenced by a game like this and
LO3 To critically evaluate and compare all the major audience theories looking at if they
are correct or not.
could end up doing something they regret because they have created a meaning in
their own minds that relates to the media te-t.
The ne-t theory that I am going to talk about is passive audience and active, a
passive audience is an audience that will everything that is told to them, almost as if
they are being spoon fed the information, their brains are switched off to anything
else, its almost as if they are controlled by the media, an audience like this is
usually easily manipulated and cheated. 9ompare that to an active audience, its in
the phrase, active, this type of audience is now more in this day and age, we tend
not to believe everything that it is in the media, although engaged, our brains are
switched on, and we ask the questions that are necessary to ask in order to find out
the truth, an active audience can make up their own minds about what the media is
telling them and they can decide for themselves whether or not it is true. In relation
T! 5 if you have a passive audience playing this game, well it couldnt really
end in the best of circumstances because of the amount violence involved, a passive
audience for this game will begin to think what you do in the game is fine to do in
the streets in reality. 5hereas an active audience would play for the fun, and could
make that decision themselves and know that they are %ust playing a game.
The last theory I am going to talk about is ratification theory, this is basically
what you believe, gratification theory is for an audience who wishes to escape
reality, so for e-ample someone who watches dramas they watch it for personal
satisfaction, because they en%oy watching it and they feel as though they can
escape for " hour. 6edia has the power to satisfy your needs, you can educate
yourself as well. There is also a social aspect which ties in well with the relation
T! 5, in relation to the game you are able to play the game with other people as
well as %ust by self, and I think thats good because you can take it in to a social
aspect and talk about, I personally feel that T! 5 can satisfy your needs, in terms
of aggression, you can take it on other people within the game, you can have high
speed car chases, it releases the anger and that case I think that T! 5 is a good
game, but it has its flaws.
4verall then the four ma%or audience theories are different and similar to each
other, but they all have their underlying meanings. 6edia did have the power to
control us once, but as time progresses and people become wiser in this day and age
we have the potential to control the media.