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Audience Studies (3P18) Blog Post #3

In this blog post I will be analyzing my audience experience of binge- watching the tv series “Brooklyn Nine- Nine” on Netflix. I will start my analysis with a synopsis of the tv series. I will then move on how this audience experience relates to topics that have been discussed in lecture, and finally I will relate this audience experience to the course readings.

Synopsis of show

           Brooklyn Nine-Nine follows a group of detectives through their lives at the 99th precinct in Brooklyn, New York. This show is a comedy but showcases real world issues by making light of them in order to make them easier to swallow. The show follows mainly with nine characters as the main focus. The show follows Detectives Jake Peralta, Amy Santiago, Rosa Diaz, Charles Boyle, Michael Hitchcock, and Scully (whose first name is never really said). It also follows Sergeant Terry Jeffords, Captain Raymond Holt, and the captain’s assistant Gina Linetti. This rag tag team creates endless laughs. The show follows these characters through their daily lives as detectives solving cases and through their personal lives. The show plays out as a sitcom. The show also showcases such issues as homophobia, sexism, and racism. It does this by giving minorities, high ranking characters. For example, the Captain of the 99th precinct is black and gay, two of the smartest detectives are women. It helps fight the aforementioned issues by giving these groups powerful representation. The show currently has five seasons on Netflix. Its original maker was going to cancel the show but it received an overwhelming amount of online support when fans of the show learned of its impending cancellation, and the show was saved and picked back up.

 Relation to topics learned in lecture

Who has the power in the digital age?

           A topic that has been debated in class is who really has the power in the digital age. Is it the audience who consumes and produces the content they want to see, or is it business who track the data they receive from the audience in order to produce ads and content that they believe that the audience wants to see?  If we look at the audience experience, I had watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine we can see answers. Originally, I did not want to watch the show. The show stars Andy Samberg and I wasn’t sure how I felt about his acting skills, and therefore thought the show was doomed to be stupid. Looking back at my reaction I believe I might have been confusing him with another actor that I did not like, Michael Cera. The show resurfaced in my mind when I saw all sorts of articles pertaining to the shows impending cancellation and how fans were swarming with campaigns to save the show. I thought to myself “Wow that’s so dumb. Why are they trying so hard to save that dumb show?” The show was saved within maybe two weeks due to the overwhelming audience support. This is a show of audience power. The content creators were ready to give up on the show and have it cancelled, but when fans showed how much support they had for the show it was saved and is due to run on. After this show of support for the show and how it was saved, I was more receptive to trying out the show and watched a few seasons with my boyfriend. I found it quite hilarious but when his visit ended, I didn’t watch it any longer, going back to thinking it was stupid for some odd reason. A few weeks ago, I picked it back up again when I needed something new to watch, since then I have binge-watched the five seasons on Netflix multiple times, even keeping the Netflix playing on through my computer while I sleep. So, in the digital age I do believe that audiences have great power over the content they receive if they convince an entire company to save their favorite show. However, this situation can be twisted as well. Is it businesses that really have the power if they create content that causes such a reaction in the audience? Also do businesses really have the power because of how they advertise this content. As I was watching this tv show I changed tabs on my computer and suddenly there was an ad on my Facebook timeline for a fan group of the show. By collecting data from the audience, content creators can tailor their ads to generate even more attention to their content and help create stronger feelings toward the content. This can lead to situations such as the revival of Brooklyn Nine- Nine.

Generic Frames

In lecture the topic of framing was discussed. Within the topic of framing was generic framing was discussed. Generic framing was defined as “…broad and structural themes and are limited to conflict, human interest, economic impact, responsibility and morality (Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000).” [ Audience studies 3p18 lecture November 15 2018]. In Brooklyn Nine-Nine these structural themes are used to build the story and attack certain issues in society. This is evident in many episodes but most specifically in season one, episode eight “Old School”. [Brooklyn Nine-Nine, s1, ep.8, 2013] Detective Peralta’s old school hero, who writes crime stories, comes to the precinct to write a piece on how police work has changed from the 1970’s to today’s climate. This hero turns out to be “old school” in the sense that he is homophobic. This becomes extremely evident when Peralta stands up to him about Captain Raymond Holt, and the writer calls the captain a “homo” and Peralta punches him in the face and knocks him into a pool. This showcases conflict, human interest and morality. Homophobia and slurs/insults directed in this fashion are morally incorrect, and create conflict between people as well create human interest stories. The whole episode was based around “old school” ideals and how they create conflict and are no longer applicable in today’s society.

 Relation to articles and textbook

In one of the articles we see the concept of patronage fandom. “This concept of patronage fandom takes into account the ways in which fans may have power over creators…” [Navar-Gill, 213] This concept is clearly evident in the fandom of the Brooklyn Nine-Nine tv series as the fans have taken power over the content’s creators and told them what they wish to see. In today’s media, although more popular, LGBTQ+ and POC are underrepresented and rarely get a starring role. In Brooklyn Nine-Nine the societal need for these people as main characters has been acted upon with Captain Ray Holt, a gay black police captain. He is both a main character and a character in a position of higher power. Also, the fans have power over the content because as the show was due to be cancelled, the fans rallied together in order to save it. That being said it is important to acknowledge the fan’s power over content as “Television continues to be the most important and widely used media technology in the domestic context…” [Sullivan, p. 171]

If we look back to the concept of power in the digital age, there is the question that lingers and is still debated on. Whether or not the audience or big business has the power over media content. Speaking from personal experience, being in many fandoms myself I would have to say that the audience has more power over content in the digital age. Evidence of this can be found in the many parodies, and art created by fans of different things for other fans of those same things. In Sullivan chapter ten we see how the audience is important in the digital age but we also see how the audience could possibly be the side that has more power. “Thanks to the expansion of media texts and technological platforms, the independence of the audience from content providers is greater than ever before.” [Sullivan, 243] This independence from content providers shows how much power the audience has. With the creation of fan fiction and fan art we can see that the audience with their independence writes their own stories and the stories they wish to see played out, for themselves. The audience has the power to create the stories they wish to see. This shows that the audience has a lot of power in the digital age due to the advancement of technology. This relates back to the show by using the concept of gifs from the show to help convey meaning. The concept of “shipping”, or the pairing off of individuals in a show is also present. For example, my favorite “ships” in this show are Captain Raymond Holt and his husband Kevin, and detectives Jake Peralta and Amy Santiago, and in my mind, I impose stories on how I want their relationships to go, and many other fans do the same with their fan art. Another thing Sullivan teaches us is that “media audiences today have come to expect the ability to provide instant feedback to media producers and to other audiences.” [Sullivan, ch.9] This was represented in Brooklyn Nine- Nine through the social media feedback/ backlash the producers and content creators received about the cancellation of the television show. With the power of social media, the content creators and producers of the show were able to provide instant information to the audience about the show’s imminent cancellation. Social media and technology also provide the ability for the audience to provide immediate feedback about their feelings towards this. Also, this technology provides the ability for the fans to connect with each other and share their feelings about this. It also helped fans band together to create a petition to show the content creators and producers that they were serious. The feedback was immediate and concise. Technology and social media have allowed us as content consumers to provide instant feedback to content creators. Content creators can be the producers and writers of the show but it can also be other audience members that are creating their own stories and creating their own art. Technology and social media can allow us to also share our stories and our art as an audience and receive immediate feedback from other audience members immediately through the power of the internet. For example, I am a fan of Tim Burton and am part of several fan groups pertaining to his works, on Facebook. Some of the fans put up some of their fan art and ask for others opinions on their art and feedback is immediate through the comment section and through likes, and also re-blogging is available sometimes in order to share the art farther than it originally could be shared. Before technology sharing art and content was very limited and could not go farther than a certain circuit with a very long timeline. Now with social media and technology, art and content can go around the world within seconds and have feedback within seconds. “Mass participation through a global interactive system apparently realises one of the major aspirations of computer science: the advent of infinitely regenerative data.”[Anthique, A, p.62] With mass participation, we can generate and create a lot of data and respond to it infinitely.

 Conclusion

In conclusion, the main power lies with the audience in terms of content creation, revising content, and creating new content based on an original. Brooklyn Nine- Nine and my experience with this show has shown me the power of the audience. If the audience feels so passionately about a certain content, they can make it ‘rise from the ashes’ if you will, and can also create the story anew, the audience can also control the way they are represented and how they are represented. This is shown in the way that society has changed and content has changed with it. Before society today there would never be a high-ranking black LGBTQ+ character because that would be so taboo. My conclusion is that I am answering the question that has been debated throughout lecture. Audiences hold the power over the digital age. The audience controls the monopoly on what content they receive and how they receive it.

 Resources

Athique, A. (2018). The dynamics and potentials of big data for audience research. Media, Culture and Society, 40(1), 59-74.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine[Television series]. (n.d.). Netflix.

Good, J. (2018, November 15). Audience Studies (3p18). Lecture presented in Brock University, St. Catharines.

Navar-Gill, A. (2018). Fandom as symbolic patronage: Expanding understanding of fan relationships with industry through the Veronica Mars Kickstarter campaign. Popular Communication, 16(3), p211-224.

Sullivan, J. (2013). Media Audiences: Effects, users, institutions and power. Sage Publications Inc., New York, NY.

 Analysis by: K. Dailey

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Audience Studies (3P18) Blog Post #2 By K. Dailey

Comm 3p18 blog post 2

The audience experience I will be reflecting on will be watching Red Riding Hood (2011) film in my Issues in Popular Culture: Fairy tales in Popular Narrative, Television and Film class, PCUL 3p96, this year. I will be analyzing it using uses and gratifications theory, reception theory, and audience ratings. Throughout these sections I will also be taking a look at the audience experience through the lens of Sullivan chapter four, which discusses media ratings and target marketing, Sullivan chapter five which discusses Uses and gratifications and Sullivan chapter six, which discusses interpreting and decoding mass media texts.

The premise of the movie Red Riding Hood is that a small village is trying to find out who the wolf terrorizing the village is. It is revealed in the movie, that the wolf in this version of the classic fairy tale story, is actually a werewolf. The film stars Amanda Seyfried who has starred in such movies as “Mean Girls”. It is directed by Catherine Hardwicke who directed the first Twilight saga movie “Twilight”. Miss Seyfried plays the lead role of Red Riding Hood known in this rendition as Valerie. Valerie is being forced into an arranged marriage by her mother. Valerie is to marry Henry who is portrayed to be very well off. However, Valerie does not love him. Her heart belongs to another, a man named Peter. Peter is portrayed as the darker, bad boy with a heart of gold. When a werewolf threatens the village, the townspeople are scared and try to hunt the wolf down themselves unsuccessfully. The help of a priest is brought in. He is portrayed as a van helsing type, more concerned with hunting monsters than protecting the townsfolk. His idea of interrogation slowly drips into torture as he tries desperately to get any and all information of who the werewolf could possibly be. The timing in which the movie takes place is during what is known as a “blood moon”, the priest reveals that during a “blood moon” a man or woman can not only turn into a wolf but also bite another person and turn them into a werewolf as well. Throughout the film it is a constant guessing game on who the werewolf could possibly be. The story leads you in many directions. Is the grandmother the wolf? The mother? The father? Peter? Henry? Or Valerie herself? It is a darker version of red riding hood than most people would be used to in the age of Disney, and is closer to the original tale by the Grimm brothers. Many deaths occur in the movie, the final death being that of the wolf, but not before the wolf was able to infect another with his bite. The wolf ended up being Valerie’s father who had been terrorizing the town as a wolf to get Valerie to run off with him. Before his untimely demise he killed his own mother for figuring out that he was the wolf, and that her husband before him had also been a wolf. Also, before his death he infected the love of Valerie’s life, Peter. Peter in order to protect Valerie then leaves until he can control his new-found wolf self. He then returns to Valerie when he has learned to control it and it is assumed that they live happily ever-after as the movie cuts to the credits after they reunite.

           Now if we look at this through the scope of audience studies and consider the setting that this was watched in, lecture hall, we can assume that everyone sitting in the lecture hall had a different experience. This one is mine. In this section of the analysis we will be looking at the audience experience of watching red riding hood through the scope of uses and gratifications theory. Sullivan chapter five states that “Audience members are aware of their own individual needs and motivations in selecting certain media.” [ Sullivan, J. (2013). pg. 113] In this particular case I did not select the film but did know my need was to be entertained and use the movie as a sort of escape from reality. In the article by Sunder and Limperos, it states “Usage implies volitional action, not simply passive reception.” [Sundar, S., & Limperos, A. (2013). Pg. 505] This applies to my audience experience since I myself am never good at simply being a passive audience member or exude any air of passivity throughout my daily life in any way shape or form. That may be a slight exaggeration but the premise of the argument still stands. Passivity is not my strong suit especially being an audience member. While watching this movie, I often made remarks or talked back, under my breath, reacting as if I was with the characters in the scene. I also talked out theories with myself about who the wolf in the movie could be and why I thought that. A lot of this theory talk was going on in my head but my reaction remained non-passive. I did not simply sit and take the film in with little attention. I took in the experience, with every detail, every word that was spoken, and emotion that was felt. Any discrepancies and continuity errors were considered. As for being an active audience member, the article mentions that with the invention of the internet, not only can users take in different content but also create their own. If we look at this experience we can see that I am an active audience member. I not only did a quiz based on my knowledge of the movie, but I am now writing this analysis of the movie as part of an audience experience.  My first reactions as an audience member to this film were before the film began and in the opening credits of this film. My professor let the class know that the film we were about to watch was directed by the same woman who had directed the first twilight film which in my opinion could have been done a lot better and done with better actors. In the opening credits hints of the same style of the first twilight film were visible and it made me audibly groan, believing that because of my past experience with the twilight films, that this film was going to be in a similar category of disdain. However, Twilight being released in 2008 and red riding hood being released in 2011 we can see that the director was fresh off the twilight film when starting to direct this feature film and seemed to want to cater to the audience she had attracted with Twilight. “The ability to utilize this massive information source to track and, yes predict consumer behaviour.” [ Sullivan, J. (2013). pg. 77] After seeing the success Twilight had gained it is obvious that the director though that adding similar notes to this film would yield the same results for this film. This, would be under the category of target marketing. Where the director hoped to target those that liked the twilight films and get them to play as an audience member for this new film. I used to like the twilight movies and have a little bit of a soft spot for them as an audience member purely in a nostalgic sense. However, as an active audience member, this information provided made me groan with displeasure. The real-world applications for uses and gratifications theory is to help guide media content creators in targeting their audience, if they know why people watch, they can tailor their content to fit that.

If we look at this audience experience through the lens of reception theory and the article by Granelli and Zenor, Decoding “The Code”: Reception theory and moral judgment of Dexter.  [Granelli, S., & Zenor, J. (2016) Decoding “The Code”: Reception theory and moral judgment of Dexter. International Journal of Communication, 10, 5056-5078]. We can see a few characters that can be viewed as morally ambiguous in how the audience receives them. Reception theory in its most basic form is a theory that gages how an audience reacts to things in the media. In the study in the article it was used to look at how audiences reacted to morally ambiguous characters in the tv show Dexter. The morally ambiguous character in my audience experience of watching Red Riding Hood was the father of Valerie who ended up being the wolf. In the movie, Valerie’s father in wolf form can speak with those who share his blood, and any other who do not share the same blood cannot hear him. In the movie he wishes to run away from the small town with his two daughters. He forges a letter to his eldest daughter Lucy, making her think that her crush had sent it. When he tries to communicate with her she screams, but does not hear him. In this moment the father realizes that because Lucy did not hear him speaking to her, she must not be of his own blood, and that his wife had had an affair with another man, Lucy was not his child. He then loses control of himself and kills her. This fact is not revealed until approximately the end of the film. It is revealed in the middle of the film by Valerie’s mother to Valerie that the reason Lucy was not the one she had arranged to marry Henry was because Lucy was Henry’s half sister and was not in fact her father’s daughter. The father in his wolf form, killed many people and can be considered morally ambiguous as he was only trying to take his daughters out of their village presumably for a better life somewhere else. If we look at my reaction we can see that I felt sympathy for the morally ambiguous character and understanding for him as well without condoning his actions. In the study conducted in the article I would be placed in the category of factor 2: Psychological puzzle. [Granelli, S., & Zenor, J. (2016) pg. 5068-5069.] I believe, he should not kill but I understand that there is a deep-seated reason for his actions and it is hard to justify his actions but also hard to not justify them at the same time. So, for this audience experience we can see how I react to morally ambiguous characters and how I react to psychological puzzles, by finding that there is no black nor is their white but varying shades of grey. The real-world applications for something such as reception theory is to help content creators target their specific market. For example, fans of the Twilight might translate into fans of Red Riding Hood.

Now, I will analyse my audience experience through the article by K. Buzzard, “The rise of market information regimes and the historical development of audience ratings.” [Buzzard, K. (2015). The rise of market information regimes and the historical development of audience ratings. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 35(3), 511–517.] I will also pay attention to Sullivan chapter six. [ Sullivan, J. (2013)., pg.133-158] In the article it states “In particular, advertisers sought to quantify audiences in order to assure the success of their advertising efforts” [Buzzard, K. (2015). pg.513] How this relates to my audience experience is in its directing style. As the movie has similarities to twilight in directing, editing, and production, the producers and other people involved with the film must have quantified the numbers of those who like twilight, and with the same director must have focused their efforts on advertising to reflect it to look like the same style movie as twilight. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM8V3cHdSC4

In Sullivan chapter six, we visit Stuart Hall’s work on decoding mass media. Semiotics is the study of signs and is relevant in this audience experience. “We use signs to help us achieve understanding with one another” [Sullivan, J. (2013). pg.136] In this audience experience I was desperately trying to find out the wolf’s true identity using the signs the characters were exhibiting. For example, Peter was emotionally darker, wore dark clothing and had sort of the lone-wolf personality. The real-world applications of semiotics are all around us everyday. In lecture we see how signs help us to decode mass media but we also see signs about the other people we are taking the lecture with. If the professor clears her throat, I know she is most likely going to begin, if someone yawns, you can tell they are bored.

In conclusion, we can analyse my audience experience through uses and gratifications theory, by looking at why I watched it, hoping for a little entertainment to cut through the stress of daily life. We can also see how I react to morally ambiguous characters and receive media text. Most media with a morally ambiguous character I tend to lean more to the side of understanding but believe they are mostly a psychological puzzle and deserve to be studied more in depth before judging their actions. Finally, in order to develop audience ratings and mold advertising, the advertisers of this movie seemed to have gone with what had worked previously. Looking at semiotics in decoding mass media, we use signs and quite often stereotypes in order to figure out and decode the actions of the characters in the media we watch but also to decode the actions of those around us in order to cope with our daily lives.

 Bibliography:

Buzzard, K. (2015). The rise of market information regimes and the historical development of audience ratings. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 35(3), 511–517.,

C. (2010, November 17). Retrieved November 01, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM8V3cHdSC4

Granelli, S., & Zenor, J. (2016) Decoding “The Code”: Reception theory and moral judgment of Dexter. International Journal of Communication, 10, 5056-5078

Hardwicke, C. (Director), Killoran, J. D., DiCaprio, L., & Yorn, J. (Producers), & Johnson, D. L. (Writer). (2011). Red Riding Hood [Motion picture on DVD]. United States: Warner Bros.

Hardwicke, C. (Director). (n.d.). Twilight[Video file].

Sullivan, J. (2013). Media Audiences: Effects, users, institutions and power. Sage Publications Inc., New York, NY.

Sundar, S., & Limperos, A. (2013). Uses and grats 2.0: New gratifications for new media. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 57(4), 504-25.

Waters, M. (Director). (n.d.). Mean girls [Video file].

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Audience Studies (3p18) Blog Post #1

The audience experience I will be analyzing will be my experience of going to the see the singer P!nk, in concert, on her “Truth about Love” tour.  First, this experience will be analyzed by looking at it through the lenses of the second chapter of the text for this course, “Audiences as objects/Effects of Media Messages” [Sullivan, J. (2013). Media Audiences: Effects, users, institutions and power. Sage Publications Inc., New York, NY.] and the effect media has on the audience through cultivation theory. Second, the event will be analyzed through the lens of the lecture of September 13th 2018 for the COMM 3P18 course at Brock university, paying specific attention to audiences throughout history and the parallels to this particular audience experience. Third, this audience experience will be looked at by using the lecture material for the COMM 3P18 course on September 20th 2018, paying particular attention to the words of James Cantril on the concept of critical thinking in relation to audience experiences. In this section, the concept of involvement will also be discussed and related to the experience, and the concept of audience involvement with an artist during their show.

If analyzed through chapter two of the text [Sullivan, J. (2013). Media Audiences: Effects, users, institutions and power. Sage Publications Inc., New York, NY.] the experience can be related to the section on Long-term media effects and cultivation theory. It can be related in the way of cultivation theory as Cultivation theory states “that audiences’ conceptions of reality are developed through exposure…” [Sullivan, J. (2013). Pg.46. Media Audiences: Effects, users, institutions and power. Sage Publications Inc., New York, NY.]. If we take a look at my audience experience in the relation to P!nk’s ‘Truth about love’ tour, by exposing myself to this concert and exposing myself to her music, my concept of the reality of love was changed, as well as my reality of her music. By exposing myself to the concert I was indeed seeing that this woman that I had idolized was in fact a real woman with real problems and not someone that had gone through no pain or that could do no wrong, she was a real person that had been hurt in her past and was using her music to voice that truth. My reality before being exposed to this truth was that she was a goddess who could do no wrong, and angel with a beautiful singing voice and an amazing body, I had put her on almost a pedestal of sorts. However, exposure, and seeing her in concert with my own two eyes, I was able to see that she was and is a regular person with problems that regular people face on a daily basis. She is still an amazing singer with an amazing body, but my new reality is that she is also a regular person who understands the truths of everyday life and everyday love. By exposing myself to her music on a consistent basis my reality has changed. As a child you are exposed to many ideas of what love can be like, what it should be like and what it is like. You are exposed to your parents type of love, to people around you and their type of love and you can be exposed to the love of the people in movies, tv shows and books. Most of these exposures in movies, tv shows and books teach you that love is this beautiful thing that nothing can tear apart, where truth is freely given along with beautiful roses everyday and delicate kisses. However, listening to her music I developed a more complicated idea of what love was like. In her music she writes about pain and sacrifice in the name of love, putting up with flaws, and less grand gestures of love, than slaying dragons to rescue your one true love. It gave me personal perspective on how difficult love can be, but also told me that if love is strong, it can last if worked upon. Therefore, by exposing myself to this new idea of love in P!nk’s music, as shown in cultivation theory, my reality about love changed [Sullivan, J. (2013). Pg.46. Media Audiences: Effects, users, institutions and power. Sage Publications Inc., New York, NY.] from one of dramatic ardor to the complicated mess of forgiveness and change.

If we analyze the experience of seeing P!nk through the lens of the COMM 3P18 lecture on September 13th 2018 and look at the audiences throughout history we see many parallels from audiences throughout history to the audience at the show that day. In the audience that day to see P!nk perform there were many thousands of people. The concert was held at the Air Canada center, which made for a large arena experience which allowed for many people to be quite loud. Now if we look at the lecture material on Greek audiences they are described as “talkative and unruly”. [Good, J. (2018, September 13). Audience Studies (3P18). Lecture presented at Audience Studies (3P18) in Brock University, St. Catharines. Retrieved October 3, 2018 from Issak, Brock’s Sakai-Based LMS: COMM-3P18-D02-S01-LEC: Resources] At this concert, people were talking loudly throughout the performance as well as singing back to or with the performers, and not sitting quietly and just enjoying the concert. Everyone was up and involved with the performance. In the 20th century audiences that were low class were seen as rowdy where high class was seem as stoic and silent. As this particular experience was a pop/rock concert it was rowdier, indicating by 20th century standards that it was a low-class event. These 20th century standards of judging audiences are still seen today as audience experiences classified as high-class are events such as the opera or a professional play, where silence is expected. If we judge the experience of this concert by these standards we see that this was a low-class event because audience participation was expected and encouraged. As we still use these same standards, for the most part, for judging events we can see the parallel to 20th century audience experiences, because this concert was for the everyday person and not reserved only for the well to do or the high-class citizens of society. In this concert experience, we also see the concept of ‘Mass’. Mass is defined as “a large collection of people who scattered across time and space who act autonomously and have little or no immediate knowledge of one another.” [Sullivan, J. (2013). Media Audiences: Effects, users,  institutions and power. Sage Publications Inc., New York, NY.]. In this audience, the only person I was aware of was my mother beside me and the artist performing. I had no previous knowledge of the people besides, behind, or in front of me, yet we were all moving and singing along to the same music and with the same artist. None of the audience members really acknowledged each other and knew very little about each other. All that was known was that we had an interest in the same particular artist, yet we moved and sang in sync with each other and our person of interest. We became one mass, one audience, having known nothing about each other before hand, yet enjoying each other’s company as we listened to a common audible enjoyment.  

 If we compare the experience of seeing P!nk in concert to the lecture for COMM 3P18 on September 20th 2018 we can see the application of critical thinking in the context of an audience. If we look at James Cantril’s take on what critical thinking in an audience requires, we see “a capacity to evaluate the stimulus in such a way that they were able to understand its inherent characteristics so they could judge and act appropriately” [ (1940, pp. 111-112); Good, J. (2018, September 20). Audience Studies (3P18). Lecture presented at Audience Studies (3P18) in Brock university, St. Catharines. Retrieved October 3, 2018, from Issak, Brock’s Sakai-based LMS: COMM-3P18-D02-S01-LEC: Resources]. The stimulus in this case was the music of P!nk and her performance that accompanied that music. As stated above in relation to mass, the audience acted as one and determined the right action was singing along and participating in the concert. In this case the audience evaluated the words in the music and took them in internally and evaluated their meaning to be about love and the truth about how love works and how it related to their lives. The audience judged the music’s meaning and the meaning of the concert to share  meanings of love, and the meaning of what a concert of this magnitude and genre required and acted appropriately by being actively involved by singing and dancing and enjoying the celebration of life and love. This leads us to the concept of involvement. A definition for involvement which can be applied to this concert experience is “…cognitive, affective, and behavioral participation during, and because of, media exposure” [(Rubin and Perse (1987) in Brown p. 260).; Brown, W. (2015). Examining four processes of audience involvement with media personae: Transportation, parasocial interaction, identification, and worship. Communication Theory, 25, 259-283]. In this concert that I had attended, audience members were very actively involved and participating as if they were interacting with the performers on the stage. As stated above the audience were actively analyzing the lyrics and situation and how to react to the stimuli, whether they were aware of their actions or not, this is the representation of cognitive participation. The audience took the stimuli into themselves to create a meaning, cognitive participation, in their individual brains which in turn created the affective and behavioural participation they showed during the concert. Affective participation is seen in this situation as the cheering can be shown as making the artist happy and making her even more energetic and excited as the audience showed that they were very excited and happy with her performance. Behavioural participation is seen in the actions of the crowd.  The crowd was cheering, singing along, dancing, and actively enjoying themselves through participation with the songs and overall performance of the artist. I also noticed behavioural participation in myself and my mother. We were both singing, dancing, talking and getting into the mood of the collective audience. We also engaged in speaking with each other and evaluating our experience in between each act and then between each song that P!nk performed. We also evaluated our experience and our behaviour after the concert while purchasing souvenirs and on the train ride back from the concert. The evaluation of our amazing experience continued long after the  concert had concluded as we continued to discuss months after. In this way we continued our participation in the event by analyzing our experience. By continuing to analyze our experience we were still participating cognitively as well as affectively and behaviourally. We continued to participate affectively because we relayed our experience to others, encouraging them to check out the artist and her performances, affectively spreading the word about her. We continued our concert behaviour every time a song by P!nk came on, we would sing and dance and get rowdy, continuing our same behaviour we had the day we saw her. 

In conclusion, by analyzing my experience at P!nk’s concert I have a new understanding of cultivation theory and how your reality or perception can change through exposure to media and different view points. Through my analysis I have also seen that audiences in the 21st century have similarities to audiences throughout history such as in the periods of ancient Greece up until as late as the 20th century. I also have a better understanding of the psychology of ‘mass’ and how an audience can move as one in reaction to stimuli without any previous knowledge of other audience members history or anything about the other audience members other than the knowledge that they are enjoying the same stimuli that you are. By analyzing this experience, I have learned that audiences, whether aware or not, are using their critical thinking skills in order to choose how to react to the provided stimuli, as well as how to actively be involved and participate in the audience experience that they are enjoying.

References:

[Good, J. (2018, September 13). Audience Studies (3P18). Lecture presented at Audience Studies (3P18) in Brock University, St. Catharines. Retrieved October 3, 2018 from Issak, Brock’s Sakai-Based LMS: COMM-3P18-D02-S01-LEC: Resources]

[ (1940, pp. 111-112); Good, J. (2018, September 20). Audience Studies (3P18). Lecture presented at Audience Studies (3P18) in Brock university, St. Catharines. Retrieved October 3, 2018, from Issak, Brock’s Sakai-based LMS: COMM-3P18-D02-S01-LEC: Resources].

[(Rubin and Perse (1987) in Brown p. 260).; Brown, W. (2015). Examining four processes of audience involvement with media personae: Transportation, parasocial interaction, identification, and worship. Communication Theory, 25, 259-283].

[Sullivan, J. (2013). Media Audiences: Effects, users, institutions and power. Sage Publications Inc., New York, NY.]

[Sullivan, J. (2013). Pg.46. Media Audiences: Effects, users, institutions and power. Sage Publications Inc., New York, NY.]