Audience

Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory explains that the audience is in charge of what they want from a media product, and will purchase a media product to fulfil their needs and their specific gratifications. It asks the question 'what do people do with media' instead of 'what does the media do to people'. This theory takes an audience-centred approach, for example it says that people may feel more confident in social situations by talking about common types of media they watch. By seeking out media, the audience fulfil the need to be informed.

An audience may watch a Beyonce music video for a number of reasons:

• For mood management, as people prefer keeping a pleasant medium stable mood. When in a bad mood or bored, people may seek media as regulation for their mood. Music videos such as Partiton may make the audience feel better. 
• For sensation seeking, if they want to be gratified in a particular way. If an individual were getting ready for a night out, they may put on Partition as a way of getting them excited to go out.
• Vicarious experiences, for example this use and gratification would take an individual away from the problems of real life by living through the characters in the text and imagining themselves as the characters. Beyonce's videos are a perfect example of this as many people watch her videos because they want to be just like her and get the attention that she gets.
• Sometimes an audience may consume a media product because they need to gratify a need for social connection and become very attached to the characters in the text. Many people rush to watch Beyonce's videos as soon as they are released because they have become attached to her.

Stuart Hall's Reception theory said that there are 3 ways in which an audience decodes a media text; dominant or preferred, negotiated and oppositional. 

A dominant reading is how the producer wants the audience to view the media and agree with the message which is is conveying. For example, with the Partition video, the intended message is that Beyonce is empowering women and showing that they are in control. 

A negotiated reading is when an audience understands the message of the text, but have their own opinion on it. For example, people may like the Partition video but disagree with the nudity and explicit lyrics.

An oppositional reading is where the audience completely reject the intended meaning and create their own, and fully disagree with the message being submitted.

The hypodermic needle theory suggests that mass media has a direct, immediate and powerful effect on it's audiences. The mass media in the 1940's and 50's were perceived as a powerful influence on behaviour change. The movie 'A Clockwork Orange' was blamed for a lot of juvenile delinquency and youth gangs in the 70's, including a case in March '72 about a 14 year old male accused of the murder of a classmate. The film was said to have has some relevance in the crime. This supports the hypodermic needle theory as it shows how people can be influenced by mass media. It suggests the media effects a large group of people directly by 'injecting' them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response. Beyonce can be linked to this theory because she often sings and talks about feminism in the media, which has empowered and helped large amount of her female (and male) audience.

A criticism of this theory is that it its very out of date, and that media can be consumed in a variety of different ways. This links back to Stuart Hall's theory, as he shows that an audience can decode a media text in different ways. As an audience we are aware of how institutions operate and understand conventions, therefore can reject messages if we deem them insignificant.