MA in Television Studies

        EDM0120 The Active Viewer

        Dr Daniel Chandler

        Page contents

        • Introduction
        • Aims and Objectives
        • Lecture Topics
        • Assignments
        • Assignment Options Page
        • Some General Reading


        Introduction

        This first semester MA module is part of the inter-departmental MA in TV Studies. It leads directly to its compulsory sequel in the second semester, Television and Socialization.

        Lectures for 1998/9 have provisionally been timetabled for Mondays 11.10 am to 12.00 noon from 5th October to 14th December. Tutorials are provisionally on Thursdays at 11.10 pm to 12.00 noon from 8th October to 17th December.

        The focus of this module is primarily (though not exclusively) psychological. It introduces theories and evidence regarding the active role of the viewer in constructing the world in general and television programmes in particular. Students will be introduced to such factors as the role of cultural frameworks, individual differences, viewers' purposes and the role of inference. There will be an exploration of theories and research about television audiences, with a particular focus on viewers of soap opera and news programmes. In addition, the issue of gendered styles of viewing will be examined.


        Aims and Objectives

        Aims

        • to examine processes of mediation in the construction of reality, focusing on visual perception;
        • to explore the active processes involved in making sense of what we watch on television;
        • to explore the diversity of television viewing styles.

        Objectives

        Students successfully completing this module should show a critical awareness of:

        • some of the processes of mediation involved in the visual construction of reality;
        • their own standpoints on the constructedness of reality;
        • some of the processes of interpretation involved in making sense of television programmes;
        • theories of active interpretation by viewers;
        • their own experience of watching television;
        • some of the functions which television can serve for viewers;
        • key research evidence concerning young viewers' understanding of television.


        Topics

        Provisional coverage of topics is offered below:

        1. The Active Viewer (1): Making sense of what we see; striving for meaning; patterns; visual illusions.
        2. The Active Viewer (2): Cultural frameworks; the interpretation of depth; contexts.
        3. The Active Viewer (3): Individual differences: cognitive styles; purposes; needs.
        4. The Active Viewer (4): Schema Theory.
        5. Interpreting Television: Forms and processes; interpreting 'cuts'; the role of inference.
        6. Learning what's 'Real' on TV: The development of children's understanding
        7. Interpreting Children's Talk About Television
        8. Why people watch TV: Uses and gratifications theory; reception theory.
        9. Styles of Viewing: Gendered viewing?
        10. TV Audiences: Diversity of Interpretation; Cultural Differences; Watching Soaps


        Assignments

        This core module is assessed on the basis of an essay of around 3,500 words: for choices, see: assignment options.

        Essays should normally be word-processed to allow easy revision where required. Leave wide margins (at least one-and-a-half inches) for comments, and use double-spacing. A list of references should always appear at the end, using the format used here. In-text references should always appear thus: (Bates 1984: 120), and page references must always be given. Quotations of 4 lines or longer should be indented (from the left margin); avoid over-use of direct (especially lengthy) quotations. References to TV programmes should refer wherever possible to the title, country of origin, broadcast channel, and date and time of broadcast. Titles of books journals and programmes should be italicised. Failure to acknowledge sources explicitly may be regarded as plagiarism. Avoid sexist use of language (as in the universal 'he'). Check for accuracy of spelling and grammar (particularly the use of apostrophes).

        A dated copy clearly bearing your name and course title must be submitted to the Education Degree Office (never directly to tutor) in a transparent folder. You must keep a copy for yourself!.

        Click here for general guidelines on writing essays for this module. Remember in particular that your essays should always offer the best evidence which you can find to illustrate the point you are making. Above all, avoid relying on simple assertion ('we all know that...'), avoid wide-ranging generalization ('everyone who watches television...'). Simply quoting some published assertion is not evidence either (except of that person's attitude).

        A wide range of World-Wide Web resources is available on the Media and Communication Studies Site. You are expected to consult these as well as conventional printed sources.

        Student essays which are awarded 'A' grades and which are subsequently made available in a suitable format on disc may be submitted for possible publication on the World-Wide Web.

        For examples of essays by UWA students click here.


        Some general reading

        • Ang, I. (1985): Watching 'Dallas': Soap Opera and the Melodramatic Imagination. London: Methuen
        • Ang, I. (1991): Desperately Seeking the Audience. London: Routledge
        • Ang, I. (1995): Living-Room Wars: Rethinking Media Audiences for a Postmodern World. London: Routledge
        • Bloomer, C. M. (1976): Principles of Visual Perception. New York: Van Nostrand
        • Blumler, J. & E. Katz (Eds.) (1974): The Uses of Mass Communication. Newbury Park, CA: Sage
        • Bruce, V. & P. R. Green (1990): Visual Perception. Hove: Erlbaum
        • Condry, J. (1989): The Psychology of Television. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
        • Coren, S., L. M. Ward & J. T. Emms (1994): Sensation and Perception. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace
        • Cruz, J. & J. Lewis (1994): Viewing, Reading, Listening: Audiences and Cultural Reception. Boulder, CO: Westview
        • Geraghty, C. (1991): Women and Soap Opera: A Study of Prime-Time Soaps. Cambridge: Polity Press
        • Graber, Doris A. (1988): Processing the News: How People Tame the Information Tide (2nd edn.). New York: Longman
        • Gregory, R. L. (1970): The Intelligent Eye. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
        • Gregory, R. L. (1972): Eye and Brain. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
        • Hodge, R. & D. Tripp (1986): Children and Television. Cambridge: Polity Press
        • Izod, J. (1984): Reading the Screen. London: Longman
        • Lewis, J. (1991): The Ideological Octopus: An Exploration of Television and its Audience. London: Routledge
        • Livingstone, S. (1990): Making Sense of Television. Oxford: Pergamon
        • Livingstone, S. (1991): 'Audience Reception...'. In J. Curran & M. Gurevitch (Eds.): Mass Media and Society. London: Arnold
        • Lull, J. (1990): Inside Family Viewing. London: Routledge
        • Messaris, P. (1994): Visual 'Literacy': Image, Mind and Reality. Boulder, CO: Westview Press
        • Monaco, J. (1981): How to Read a Film. New York: Oxford University Press
        • Moores, S. (1993): Interpreting Audiences: The Ethnography of Media Consumption. London: Sage
        • Morley, D. (1986): Family Television. London: Routledge
        • Morley, D. (1992): Television, Audiences & Cultural Studies. London: Routledge
        • Sekuler, R. & R. Blake (1994): Perception, 3rd edn. New York: McGraw-Hill
        • Seiter, E. et al. (1989): Remote Control: Television, Audiences and Cultural Power. London: Routledge

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