(This was a research essay written by me for the 2nd Internal Assessment of the Theory of Media course. Over here we had to take any media theory/theories and use them to analyse anything of our choice to see how relevant it is in present context)
Uses and
gratification Theory
The Uses and Gratification Theory is an audience theory and
was propounded in the 1940s and revived in the 1970’s by Blumler and Katz in
the 1970’s and 1985 by Rosengren, Palmgreen, & Werner(1) This theory is an
audience theory which attempts to explain the role of the mass media from the
point of view of the audience. It focuses on how people use the media to get
various gratifications, which is a change from the Magic Bullet theory which
say that media does whatever it has to with a passive audience.
The theory states that people
chose what they want to watch to satisfy their own individual needs.
The Uses and Gratification Theory shows us that in present day with the
explosion of television content which is available on the Television set,
Netflix, YouTube, etc. when the audiences are confronted by a vast number of
choices they aren’t passive but are very active and play an active role in selecting
what they wish to consume, indirectly they also decide which shows air more in
the future and which shows are scrapped as viewership and downloads play a key
role in production companies deciding their show line-ups for a particular season.
There are 5 types of gratifications. Due to hectic schedules
people are very selective and very carefully decide what sort of television
shows they consume. Phone usage, Ipod, PS4, etc., even though they are forms of
media and can be used for gratification purposes will not be looked at.
Cognitive needs
Under this section, audiences use the media to gratify their
need for knowledge of the happenings of the world and information. To gratify
cognitive needs is the reason why audiences choose to watch the news channel or
National Geographic, Discovery, The History Channel, etc. People even watch
MasterChef to satisfy cognitive needs as it helps them gain knowledge of the
methods and techniques behind cooking a particular dish.
Affective needs
It includes all kinds of emotions, pleasure and other moods
of the audiences. In present day due to a hectic life people get stressed out
and suffer from lack of happiness and are often in bad moods due to office
pressure, college work, bad personal life, etc.
People select particular television shows to satisfy their
emotional needs, programs whose content allows
them to be reassured Of their own attitudes and beliefs(2). Such shows
can also be used to make people feel good about their own situations in
comparison with others.eg. People watch shows like Indian Idol as somehow most
of the contestants seem to have gone through immense struggles to get to where
they are as in they are realistic and have real people with real struggles and
real emotions so people can relate to them and know that whatever troubles they
are going through are universal and not exclusively their own.
Personal Integrative needs
Personal Integrative need is the self-esteem need (3). According
to this audiences chose to watch select television shows as it helps them
improve their lifestyle and gain status and credibility in society. Audiences
choose to watch cooking contest shows like MasterChef rather than a cookery
show like Khaana Khazaana as MasterChef features home cooks whom they can relate
to and imitate in cooking something which they can then feed to their family or
friends and achieve status like best chef in the family or friend circle. Other
examples of such shows that audiences choose to watch are Wild Weddings, beach
life, décor shows, etc. Such praise really helps boost an individuals self
esteem.
Social Integrative needs
Man is a social animal and must have contact with other
human beings. In the current era of overload of media content Television shows
there is that need to fit in by watching a particular show. The media provides
the agenda for conversation and assists in the undertaking of social roles (1).
A person watches a particular show for eg. The Flash, he likes it and tells it
to his friend circle and a few more from that circle watch the show. Now one
person refuses to watch that show and he will find himself getting alienated as
he cannot connect with the group conversation that is occurring. Hence in order
to stay socially integrated with the group he too will have to watch the show
and consume its content whether he likes it or not.
Tension free needs
One last way in which media is used is just to escape from
real life tension and stress and enter a world of entertainment and feel
relaxed.
Some research has shown that using media can make us more
relaxed, since it provides a momentary escape from whatever stresses are eating
away at us(4). A momentary escape is what people need on most occasions. People
watch their favourite sit com or put on music channels like VH1.
Some people argue that to rid oneself of tension one should just
take a nap and ‘’do nothing’. "The idea that rest is something that you
lie down and 'do nothing' is really not how the body operates," Matthew
Edlund, a rest and regeneration expert at the Center for Circadian Medicine, says,"The
body is always rebuilding itself, but it rebuilds much better if you vary
activities. 'Turn off your brain' is not really what you want to do. What you
want to do is engage your brain elsewhere."(5). Hence people consume media
and engage their brain elsewhere.
The brain in a sort of limbo state of rest—neurons are still
firing but the mind is not actually engaged—it's taking in a boatload of
information but not processing it, so the brain isn't fully relaxed, but it's
not being exercised either (5) The not being exercised is key here, the brain
isn’t fully relaxed but it is much more relaxed than it would be at the time
prior to the individual switching on his Television set.
Each of these levels is individual in nature and are
satisfied differently according to each individual’s ownneeds. A particular
program can be consumed for a different level of gratification by different
audiences. For example some media users use a news show to satisfy their
cognitive needs whereas other users will watch a news show for Personal
Integrative needs as it helps them socialise with family members who watch a
similar show.
The Newshour with
Arnab Goswami was most casual news watchers favourite news show as the “news”
there was presented under the concept of a “debate” which somehow always ended
up becoming an entertaining shouting match thus providing audience with
entertainment and also satisfying the audience cognitive need.
I have two young children and they both enjoy watching and
learning from quiz shows on TV, as do my wife and I. The people who say the
shows are boring and should be banned must have an IQ of 50 or 500! One end
will not be able to answer or learn from the show while the
"Intelligent" end can answer the questions so easily it makes them
tired, poor things! Have these people never heard of the ON/OFF switch?
-John C, Warwick,
England (6)
This quote shows us that people do watch quiz shows for
their cognitive needs and shows us that some people do find quiz shows boring
and a waste of time, they may watch it as something to gratify their social
Integrative needs so as to fit in with a social circle.
References
Propaganda
Theory
On June 16, 2015, Donald Trump
announced his candidacy to run for the President of the United States of
America and officially received the nomination of the Republican Party on July
19, 2016, at the Republican National Convention.(1) On the November 8, 2016 he
triumphed in the U.S. Presidential Elections and became President Elect of the
United States of America. How did a man who had never held elected office
before beat out competition from senators like Ted Cruz and Secretary of State
Hilary Clinton to become the President?
He used Propaganda which targeted the vulnerable state of mind of
the average people
Harold Laswell’s theory of
propaganda combined behaviourism and Freudianism. The power of propaganda was
not so much the result of the content or the appeal of the message, but instead
it is the result of the vulnerable state of mind of the audience to whom the
message is directed to(2). Laswell rejected the magic bullet theory as one
couldn’t just fire magic bullets to the audiences and expect them to be
consumed (unless of course one is in North Korea). The audience plays an active
role in interpreting messages and will get influenced by propaganda only if it
is something that can solve the fears and problems they face which causes their
mind to be vulnerable.
Firstly Donald Trump borrowed the
Election Campaign slogan (Make America Great Again) used by President Reagan in
1980 (Let’s make America great again). He says that he invented the slogan
himself post Mitt Romney’s defeat to President Obama in 2012. Laswell argued
that successful social movements gain power by propagating symbols over a
period of months or years using a variety of media. He used the example of the
American flag, but even a message like a campaign slogan can bring back
emotions to voters who were young at that time. They will now be in their mid
50s to mid 70s. Ronald Reagan with that slogan in 1980 won 489 out of the 538
seats. The slogan seemed appealing to the American people who came out in large
numbers and voted for Reagan. In 1980 making America great was something like
the need of the hour as Iran was holding American hostages, and the Soviet
Union was taking Afghanistan. “The country seemed weak on the world stage,”
said Southern Methodist University political science professor Matthew Wilson.
“America had lost the war in Vietnam, had been rocked by the Watergate scandal,
and had not seen a completed two-term presidency since Eisenhower. It was easy
to feel that America had fallen from greatness.”(3). In 2016 Trump had seen
something different in the country, and in the daily lives of its struggling
citizens.(4). America was reeling in the 1980 when Reagan used his slogan and
won, and the people found his tenure as President successful as he was re
elected 4 years later. When older voters saw the slogan of Donald Trump the
emotions felt during the delivered promises of the Reagan Presidency must have
been reinforced or aroused and thus propelled the people to vote for him. Trump
didn’t quite sweep the elections like Reagan did, but he won the Republican
Primary with 13.3 million votes which was a record(1)
One of Trump’s campaign promises
was to ban Muslims from entering America(5) was something that possibly
appealed to the vulnerable state of mind of the American voter. Post the 9/11
attacks Islamophobia has increased in the USA. The fear was so big after those
attacks that a Muslim was assumed to be a terrorist. People wearing a veil and
growing beards were not considered Muslims but were considered terrorists,
dangerous individuals whom the American people feared. Veiling was seen as an
explicit sign of a Muslim identity, like the beard, has often been associated
with terrorism.(6)
The Chapman University did a
survey on Fears in America and one of the topics was Fear of Muslims in
American Society. Some of the results were as follows 48.8%, report that they
would not like a Mosque being built in their neighbourhood. 33.1%, say that
Muslims are more likely to engage in terrorist activities. A similar number
agree that the U.S. should halt all immigration from Muslim nations(These
particular 33.1% people have gotten their wish as Donald Trump has banned
travel from 7 Muslim majority nations)58.7% are of the opinion that Muslims
should receive extra security screening at airports(7)
Such a perception of American
towards Muslims indicates that they aren’t comfortable around Muslims and feel
threatened when one is around them. Hence the message of Trump’s campaign where
he continuously promised a ban on all Muslims entering the U.S. created the
symbols of Muslims and people were then taught to associate the emotion of
satisfaction they would get when Muslims were banned and they could roam around
freely and unthreatened should trump win the election.
The average state of mind of the
people was vulnerable, families of soldiers were angry as their sons, fathers,
husbands, brothers were being called to fight wars in faraway lands like Korea
and Afghanistan. He has promised throughout his campaign that the troops will
be bought home and America will not interfere in matters apart from their own
in their own lands. This must have appealed to families of active soldiers as
well as veterans and their families or families who have lost members in
Afghanistan or Vietnam.
The New Jersey Governor Chris
Christie created the symbol of Hilary Clinton as a criminal, listed her
missteps and then asked the audience guilty or not guilty, to which the
audience replied guilty. Then began the famous chant which fit in with the
image of Clinton that Trump was trying to create(8). “Lock her up”, “Lock her
up”. Trump at the Presidential Debate stated that she would be in jail if he
ran the country. The symbol of Hilary was created and the emotion attached to
it was that she was a criminal
Throughout the campaign people
have seen Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump and viewed them as symbols. Specific
emotions were attached to these symbols. Trump was the saviour who was here to
Make America Great Again and Hilary Clinton was a criminal. The sight of the
two at events led to people’s emotions getting aroused. When they saw Trump a
saviour they chanted “Make America great again”. When they saw Hilary they saw
a criminal and chanted “Lock her up.”
Laswell states that for every
successful propagandist there were a hundred who failed, Donald Trump can be
regarded as the successful propagandist who despite never ever holding elected
office managed to appeal to the American voters and win the election. He
successfully appealed to the vulnerable state of mind of the people,
successfully created images in the minds of the people and over time associated
emotions with images. This victory of Donald Trump shows that propaganda is
still relevant in the present day and age if one knows how exactly to use it
and cultivate images in the mind of the audiences.
References
2.
The Introduction of Mass Communication- Barron
and Davis
