Modes of Reception: A Consolidated Analytical Framework

Abstract

Drawing on a synthesis of existing models of reception and findings from audience research, this article outlines a conceptual framework for the (meta)analysis of existing and new reception data which delineates four primary modes of viewer interpretation and response: transparent, referential, mediated, and discursive. I argue that the adoption of this consolidated analytical framework may facilitate a more systematic investigation into how viewers' interpretations are shaped by social group memberships, cultural competencies, and discursive affiliations.

Notes

1. This is not to say that Schr⊘der's model does not echo concepts already identified across many of the existing typologies previously discussed. His concept of “discrimination,” for example, is described as “the ways in which informants signal their awareness of the constructedness of the signifying structures of the media text in question” whereby the text is perceived as “the outcome of a production process” (Schr⊘der, 2000, p. 237). This concept is clearly paralleled by the concepts of attributional reading (Worth & Gross, 1974), analytic decoding (Neuman, 1982), mediation reading (Corner & Richardson, 1986), media awareness/demystification discourse (Dahlgren, 1988), and syntactic criticism (Liebes & Katz, 1986, 1989, 1990).

2. All names of participants have been changed to protect anonymity.

3. In the case of my original research, an in-depth textual and discursive analysis of the episode in question was conducted, taking into consideration both the way in which this story was told and what was actually told. My analysis suggests that the narrative structure and mode of discursive articulation in Murphy's Revenge worked to strongly assert a rhetorical message that was clearly intended by producers, and immediately apparent to most participants. In terms of my method, a verbatim transcript of the episode in question was first prepared and a synopsis compiled. An analysis of the episode's narrative structure was conducted following Tzvetan Todorov's (1977) model of classic realist narrative structure. This was followed by a detailed examination of the episode's narrative content and process of comic enunciation. Having previously charted the “discursive pool” available to the producers of this episode, it was possible to undertake a close examination of the nature of the interactions that occurred between these different discourses within the text itself. By attending to the frequency with which certain discourses were given voice through the dialogue and subject-positioning of the characters, the process of comic enunciation and, to a lesser degree, the mode of visual articulation, it was possible to demonstrate how one particular discourse came to be privileged by both the structure and content of this narrative.