Reception Theory
- 1. R ee io Ther cpt n oy
- 2. • Reception theory emphasizes the reader response from a text. • It is a form of reader response literary theory that was developed in the 1960’s by Hans-Robert Jauss. • Stuart Hall later developed it for media and communication studies and the theory is most influential from the 1980’s onwards. QuickTimeª and a decompressor are needed to see this picture.
- 3. • Stuart Hall’s approach to textual analysis is based on ‘negotiation’ and ‘opposition’. • This means that texts do not have intrinsic meanings but instead have meanings encoded into them which are then decoded by the reader. • The way a reader decodes a text is dependent on sociological factors such as age, past experiences and their own beliefs. • The meaning of a text is therefore created through the relationship between the text and the reader.
- 4. • When a group of readers share a similar cultural background it is more likely that they will decode a similar meaning. • If a reader has a different cultural background to the producer of a text the less likely it is they will decode the meaning that the producer intended. • Producers can try to encourage readers to gather the intended meaning in their text by encoding it but it is still relative to the reader how they decode it.