Old Theories:

This lesson was more theoretical rather than practical. The class as a whole had to comprehend the aspects of Understanding the Audience.

Within this, we were informed about what was called 'Old Theories'. In addition to this, there are three theories of which make this up, and these are:

• Syringe Theory - the media text injects ideas directly into it's audience, of whom then soak the ideas without complaint.
• Desensitisation Theory - The more the audience see of a certain thing, the more the audience think that it is 'normal'. Also, if the audience were to watch a lot of violence, they are more likely to be violent.
• Sensitisation Theory - If the audience were to see the effects of a bad action, for example: masses of blood from a shooting, the audience are more likely to think of the consequences of actually doing it themselves.

In addition to this, these theories treat the audience as the mass, that will all react in a exact similar way. However, this is clearly not true of today's audience, and was arguably not true at the time as well. On the other hand, more modern theories try to observe the relationship with the audience on a more individual foundation.