Reception theory

Reception Theory

• Formulated in the 1970's.
• Formulated by Stuart Paul - British theorist.
• Other theorists added and developed it e.g. David Morley.
• The text does not have one meaning.
• The text has lots of different meanings.
• Each meaning is dependant on the audience who is reading that text at that particular time.
• Influenced by things such as culture, gender, social status, life experiences and religions.
• Empowers the audience as you create your own meaning of something.

Encoding

Somebody who creates the text then encodes and puts in what they want it to mean - genre, how people speak.

Decoding

We then decode the meaning - interpretation. They want us to see what they were trying to put in there.