Analysis Of Hall’s Theory Of Communication In Terms Of Mass Media
Hall believes that the mainstream media played an indispensable role of portraying and shaping the perception of the general public and our society in ways that the dominant group of the society wanted to. One of the dominant ideologies of our society would be women being inferior to men. According to MSN Entertainment, “20 Best Late-night Talk Show Hosts Ever”. Only one out of twenty the best late-night show hosts is a woman. This rating sends a subtle message that men rule the late-night talk show. In spite of the increasing awareness of gender equality in today’s world. The gap between men and women is still wide. Therefore, this is a good example of Hall’s theory.
Hall introduced the encoding and decoding model of communication. The media message is encoded by the producer with a specific objective behind it. However, the interpretation of the message may differ from person to person. According to Hall, the message can be read in three ways: Dominant Reading or Preferred Reading, Negotiated Reading and Oppositional Reading. The Preferred Reading refers to the audience views and understands the message the way the sender intended to be read. The message is clear, relevant and relatable to the reader. The Negotiated Reading indicates the audience somewhat agrees with the ideas placed by the sender but also has their own opinion and interpretation of the text. The audience may not agree or comprehend the narrative of the idea. Therefore they were unable to relate to it. In Oppositional Reading, the reader disagrees or disapproves with the message that the sender tries to communicate, and draws their own input and understanding of it. Usually, this type of reading occurred when the message is controversial and difficult to understand or related by the reader.
The article Flabless Is Fabulous provided an example of how Anglo and Latina women view the ideal body figure in magazines. An Anglo woman expressed that “everyone says it’s gross, but they still strive toward it. ” This is an example of the Negotiated Reading, the Anglo woman agrees that the idea of the excessively thin figure is not an attractive look, but they still want to look like that. The Versace’s 2016 Fall adverting campaign sparked a huge public debate. In this ads, Gigi Hadid, the supermodel, portrayed as a chic, professional woman and a mother of two children, walk alongside her husband. Some people think that this campaign sent a positive message of women empowerment. She maintains a balance between her life and work and yet remains stylish. The founder of Versace, Donatella Versace said during an interview, “She's a superstar, and she runs her business, and she runs her family too. ” However, this advertisement received some major critics from the public over the fact that 21-year-old Hadid as a mother of two, this would have made Hadid a “teenage mom. ” Some people argue that “This ad represents the glamorizing of teen pregnancy and therefore utterly approves of it. ” Others thought this is just an ads campaign, it depicts the glamorous lifestyle that every woman dreams of. This commercial is a good example because it demonstrates how the audience interprets it according to three different types of readings
In my opinion, I think when people read a message, they would interpret it based on their own experience, personal preference, understanding and cultural background. However, the media definitely played a huge part in terms of influencing how people perceive and comprehend those messages.
