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Abstract: With the spread of mass media, mass communication is significant in daily routine. Media content can be read as texts, which are made up of semiotic symbols. TV texts are read frequently. Audiences receive information and enjoy the entertainment by decoding and encoding TV texts. However, impacted by some social factors, different culture backgrounds and educational backgrounds, audiences always make different interpretations on same TV text. Stereotype and prejudice will lead to incorrect interpretation and influence insufficient reading of texts in depth. Media- oriented people believed everything portrayed on the screen. Audiences’ subjectivity in decoding and encoding TV text lead to what kind of people we are, we have become or we are becoming in our mass mediated world.
Keywords: mass communication;audience;TV text ;decoding and encoding subjectivity
1.Introduction
Mass communication is communication received by or used by large numbers of people. (Dou, W.L, 2006) Mass media include books, magazines, newspapers, recordings, radios, movies, TV and the web, ect. For most of us, the use of media is a very routine activity that takes up a considerable amount of our free time, we can surround ourselves with powerful forms of media by which many of us experience or learn about many aspects of the world around us. Even when we don’t learn about these things directly from media, we learn about them from other people who get their ideas of the world from media. Hall draws on French semiotic theory to argue that any media content can be regarded as a text that is made up of signs. (Hall, 1980) We engage in decoding and encoding media texts everyday. Media may be unwittingly influencing us in beliefs about things we see portrayed on the screen. TV, as one form of mass media and a shaper of cultural thought process, influence personal view of information.
Audiences decode and encode the images or semiotic symbols of TV texts in different ways. “The visual information is so powerful that it overwhelms the verbal. Viewers are left with striking mental images but little contextual information.” (Stanley J. Baran, 2003, p.283) However, with the spread of mass media, one same current event is portrayed on the screen in various ways.
We can not change of the spread of modern mass media. It is important to remember our audiences’ personal subjectivity in decoding and encoding information transmitted from the media. Audiences are capable of decoding and encoding different TV texts in a correct and rational way. This paper introduces the roles of TV play in our daily routine and discusses the reasons of producing different decodings and encodings as well as provides some useful suggestions for better decoding and encoding TV texts.
2.Literature Review
Mass communication has already dominated everyday communication. Media effects are directly influential. As one form of media, TV creates awareness and accelerates change. TV influences interpersonal sources of information as well as stimulates rumors. Audience may improve their lives and keep their lives in good order by using different forms of media. Audiences may choose to be wise or foolish towards media. In order to decode and encode media texts (TV texts) correctly, it is of significance of knowing some mass communication theories of abroad and domestic.
2.1Abroad
“Media are a prime source of indirect experience and for that reason have impact on the construction of social reality”(Faules & Alexander, 1978, p.23) Faules and Alexander are clearly reminding us that our understanding of our world and place in it are created by us in interaction and involvement with media symbols. Lazarsfeld and Stanton produced a series of books and studies throughout the 1940s that paid significant attention to how audiences used media to organize their lives and experiences. (Stanley J. Bara & Dennisk, Davis, 2003, p.256) Herta Hergon, a colleague of Lazarsfeld, is the originator of the uses and gratifications approach, which approaches to media study focusing on the uses to which people put media and the gratifications they seek from that use. It focuses attention on individuals in the mass communication process and respects intellect and ability of media consumers.(Stanley J. Bara & Dennisk, Davis, 2003)Hall suggested media texts are polysemic and are read as possible meanings, which are tied to the sociological context. Each audience brings his or her own social history, attitudes and beliefs to read the media texts, so that the encoded meanings might well either be accepted, refuted or partly qualified. It has something with the cultural competencies and creative resources the audience might draw on.(Hall, 1980) Cultivation analysis, a theory developed by George Gerbner during the 1970s and 1980s, analyses that television “cultivates” or creates a world view which is possibly inaccurate, and then becomes the reality because people believe it to be so. In Cultivation analysis, television’s major contribution is to create a culture’s framework or knowledge and to underly general concepts. Scholars have different views on the potency of television’s effect on the society. But they all agree that there is some degree of influence. The primary issue was no longer whether media have certain effects on individuals, but what kind of people we are, we have become, or we are becoming in our mass mediated world. (Stanley J. Bara & Dennisk, Davis, 2003)
2.2.Domestic
Media studies have short history in China. Studies focus on the culture aspects mostly. People in different cultures have their own ways of expecting and decoding messages from others, which are influences by variations in intercultural communication, such as stereotypes, prejudice, cognitive styles and patterns of thought. (Wang J, 2002) Encoding refers to the process of the sender putting the message into a signal (the encoding message), and decoding refers to the process of the receiver interpreting the signal from the sender. (Dou W. L, 2006) In addition, decoding is the process of sender decoding/ interpreting the information into semiotic symbols and transmitting into the receiver according to the rules of encoding symbols. (Ding, H, 1998) When one culture is transmitted to another culture by media, it is necessary to study and understand the audiences. Audiences do not accept information passively but have individual selectivity of information. (Tong Z. X, 2004)Pictures, sound and languages are main components for TV messages transmission. TV messages are visual, vivid, in motion and auditory.
3.Discussion
3.1 The roles of TV play in daily routine
The mass media fall into three categories based on the technology by which they are produced: print, electronic and photographic. The primary electronic media are television, radio, sound recordings and the web. TV has strong influences on people, on the culture and on other media. In a remarkably short time, TV has become the most popular medium for entertainment.
3.1.1 TV as a provider of information
Children begin watching television attentively by the age of three. Before most children start school or form close relationships with peers, they have learned the names of countless television characters and are fans of their reality behavior. Most people are growth in time spent with television and radio. Through the mass media we learn almost everything we know about the world beyond our immediate environments. How would you know about the Sichuan earthquake or Beijing Olympic Games if it were no newspapers, television and other mass media? TV messages are visual, in motion, auditory and live. Media (TV) create a new world of information.
3.1.2 TV as a creator of consumer and entertainment needs
TV can be wonderful entertainers, bringing together huge audiences. Some people laughed during watching film “Tom and Jerry”. Some people watch the piano performance on TV or web. TV creates a motivation of audience to buy new technology and other consumer products. Mass media content can solve audience needs. According to “use and gratification theory” media may satisfy different social and emotional needs in different ways. Take advertisement for example, people are persuaded to buy certain products. Some TV talk show and soap operas create entertainment for people. Audiences are persuaded to buy the new mobile phone or new washing machine to make their lives easier and more comfortable.
3.1.3 TV as a shaper of cultural thought process
“Through repeated exposure, television cultivates an indirect, cumulative set of beliefs and ideas.” (Doddy, 2006, p.243) TV actually changes the way people think. The mass media is an intuition of culture and an influential shaper of culture. By the 1920s, Magic Bullet theory assumed that media stimuli were assumed to operate like magic bullets that penetrated people’s minds and instantly created associations between strong emotions and specific concepts. The messages penetrate to their subconscious minds and transform how they think and feel. Moreover, the information transmitted by media reflects cultural aspects.
3.2 Model of decoding and encoding TV texts of audiences
According to the models of interpersonal communication, such as J.DE Vito’s model of interpersonal communication, Osgood-Schramm’s circular model and contextualized model, it is possible to create a possible communication model between audiences and media (TV) as below.
Figure——Model of communication between media texts (TV) and audiences
As the above figure shows, media texts (TV) as an encoder transmit information or entertainment to audiences. Audiences decode and encode media texts (TV). In the communication process, advertisement interrupts the communication. In the process of decoding media texts (TV), there falls into three levels of decoding---dominant decoding, negotiated decoding and oppositional decoding. Hall argues that dominant decoding means to accept the encoding inscribes by the media. Negotiated decoding means to not merely accept dominant readings, but nor completely reject them either. It is frequent taken up by audience members. Oppositional decoding means audiences directly contest the text’s message. (Hall, 1980)
When encoding the media texts, there divides into four levels as well: cognitive level (what the TV portrays), emotional level (like or dislike), rational level (right or incorrect) and performing level (go or stop). Audiences have their subjectivities in decoding and encoding because of different sociological factors, educational backgrounds and cultural backgrounds. “Social factors like one’s social status, gender, age and race can shape the textual reading the reader might make”. (Lisa Taylor & Andrew Willis, 2004, p.172) Actually speaking, there exists a distance between the reality portrayed on the screen and audiences themselves. Especially the whole society and culture are under changing. Distance or knowledge gap can’t be removed.
3.3 Factors of audience subjectivity in decoding and encoding media texts (TV)
When reading one same TV text, audiences bring in their own beliefs, attitudes and experiences, and then make different interpretations. For example, watching the NBA, teenagers consider it as entertainment. They pay much attention to their idols’ performance. To most housewives, they show little interest in it. For basketball athletes, they focus on details such as skills for passing ball or shooting baskets as well as cooperation in the competition. Three main aspects can contribute to the different interpretations of the message---social factors, educational backgrounds and cultural backgrounds. As a result of differences in interpretation, the same symbol can have different meanings for different cultural groups.
3.3.1 Different cultural backgrounds
Audiences of their own cultural background decode and encode the same TV text differently. Take the funeral ceremony for example, foreigners interpret Chinese funeral ceremony as ridiculousness. Why we show sadness by crying aloud and burning some things and then have the funeral banquet which seems happily. On the contrary, we consider that western funeral ceremony is simple and not sad. Some TV texts are acceptable in that culture group and denied by another culture group, such as gay’s marriage. In different cultural contexts, our different values and beliefs cause different interpretations.
3.2.2 Different social factors
Social factors include social status, gender, age and race ect. Female and male interpret the same TV text differently. Children and adults decode and encode the TV texts in different ways. Children may just watch for amusement. But adults watch for reasons and information. Children decode the media text (TV) on the cognitive and emotional levels. Simply speaking, they only know who is a good man and who is an evil person. Policemen are respectable. Thieves are contemptible. However, for adults, they encode the symbols of TV texts on rational and performing levels. They make judgments on the texts. Why does it happen?What the influence does it have? Should I follow the example or accept the idea?
3.3.3 Different educational backgrounds
A junior student and a professor decode and encode the Sichuan earthquake definitely different. What a person knows before influences the information process. Scholars will decode the earthquake academically by referring to the reasons, the effects, and the geographic factors. On the contrary, many ordinary people treat this disaster as a punishment given by god or natural phenomenon. If audience bears more background knowledge of a certain text, the interpretation may be in depth. Decoding and encoding are influenced by people’s different educational backgrounds.
3.4 Skills for correct decoding and encoding media text (TV)
3.4.1 Avoid stereotypes and prejudice in decoding and encoding
In decoding and encoding TV texts, the stereotypes in audiences’ minds will affect to make incorrect judgments. And the forming of stereotypes are cultivated by education, mass media, historical events ect. For example, some Chinese people bear the stereotypes of Japanese as evils. In addition, prejudice also has negative effect on decoding and encoding TV texts. People hold prejudice on certain issue more or less. This is unavoidable and natural. We are members of certain society. As a matter of fact, we always hold positive prejudice towards our own culture and hold negative prejudice towards others. Prejudice is the extreme form of stereotype. In the process of communicating with TV, stereotypes and prejudice will lead to incorrect decoding and sense-making. Therefore, in order to have correct decodings and encodings, audiences should reduce the incorrect stereotypes and prejudice. It is wise to understand and learn more about others’ culture and values.
3.4.2 Be active audiences
Mead believed that mind, self and society are internalized as complex sets of symbols. They serve as filtering mechanisms for our experience. (Mead, 1934) TV texts illustrate our experiences and society around us. Audience engages in information process in their minds. Some audiences are media-oriented. They accepted the information transmitted by the media passively. They are unable to make sense of specific forms of content. Their minds are controlled by media. Media do with audience as well as audience can do with the media. The media can portray positive stereotypes or negative stereotypes. And we are wise to be aware of the positive value of the media and interpret the TV texts critically. Media texts are not the only instrument of producing meaning and controlling information transmission. What’s more, the process of various meanings’ production, disappearance and collision and mixture is controlled by audiences themselves as well. Audience is able to interpret texts according to his or her interests and needs.
3.4.3 Use media as a tool for understanding one view of culture
Media and their audiences do not exist in a vacuum. They are part of the larger society. The mass media also indirectly or directly affect teaching and promotion of social models. We know the table manners of American by watching TV. The poverty and hunger of Africa people are often portrayed on the screen. However, not every African is poor and suffers from hunger. The scenes portrayed on the screen only illustrate one aspect of that culture. TV is just a tool for understanding some parts of that culture. Audiences bear the distance and knowledge gap when decoding and encoding the TV text. Especially, the concept of globe village penetrates into human minds. Multiple cultures mix together. Can the TV texts demonstrate mixed culture completely? Actually, the distance between the reality and TV texts actually can not be erased. What the audience can do is to learn more about culture and increase world knowledge as well as understand the cinematic codes and format structure of television to reduce the knowledge gap.
4.Conclusion
As the Wright and Harold Lasswell notes that media have four classic functions: surveillance of the environment, correlation of the parts of society in responding to the environment, transmission of the social heritage from one generation to the next, and entertainment or amuse. (Wright and Harold Lasswell, 1959) People read media texts frequently in their daily routine. Most people are familiar to read TV texts. Audiences decode and encode the images / semiotic symbols of TV texts according to their own needs and gratifications. Impacted by the social factors, different cultural background and different education background, audience makes different interpretations on one TV text. Audiences actively negotiate and read media output as a result of a whole range of social variables. Audience, as one member of one culture, can use media as a tool for understanding one view of the culture. Avoiding stereotypes and prejudice can aid audience to make correct interpretations. Audiences put specific need or set of needs gratified by communicating with the mass media.
If the triumph of electronic media is inevitable, why not get on with it? We are able to handle our minds and get ourselves performing rationally to adapt ourselves in the promising society with multiple cultures.
References:
[1]Chen,B.Z(2004).Talks on intercultural communication. China Mass Media University Press.
[2]Dou, W.L (2006). Intercultural business communication. Higher Education Publishing House. pp.2-23.
[3]Ding, H (1998). Study of information in intercultural communication [M] Wu Han, Hua Zhong Science and Technology University Press.
[4]Doddy, H.C. (2006). Dynamics of intercultural communication. Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. pp.236-247.
[5]Faules, D. F, and D.C. Alexander (1978).Communication and behavior: A symbolic interaction perspective. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
[6]Hall, Stuart (1980). Encoding/decoding in the television discourse. In Straut Hall et al. (Eds), Culture, Media, Language, London, Hutchinson.
Keywords: mass communication;audience;TV text ;decoding and encoding subjectivity
1.Introduction
Mass communication is communication received by or used by large numbers of people. (Dou, W.L, 2006) Mass media include books, magazines, newspapers, recordings, radios, movies, TV and the web, ect. For most of us, the use of media is a very routine activity that takes up a considerable amount of our free time, we can surround ourselves with powerful forms of media by which many of us experience or learn about many aspects of the world around us. Even when we don’t learn about these things directly from media, we learn about them from other people who get their ideas of the world from media. Hall draws on French semiotic theory to argue that any media content can be regarded as a text that is made up of signs. (Hall, 1980) We engage in decoding and encoding media texts everyday. Media may be unwittingly influencing us in beliefs about things we see portrayed on the screen. TV, as one form of mass media and a shaper of cultural thought process, influence personal view of information.
Audiences decode and encode the images or semiotic symbols of TV texts in different ways. “The visual information is so powerful that it overwhelms the verbal. Viewers are left with striking mental images but little contextual information.” (Stanley J. Baran, 2003, p.283) However, with the spread of mass media, one same current event is portrayed on the screen in various ways.
We can not change of the spread of modern mass media. It is important to remember our audiences’ personal subjectivity in decoding and encoding information transmitted from the media. Audiences are capable of decoding and encoding different TV texts in a correct and rational way. This paper introduces the roles of TV play in our daily routine and discusses the reasons of producing different decodings and encodings as well as provides some useful suggestions for better decoding and encoding TV texts.
2.Literature Review
Mass communication has already dominated everyday communication. Media effects are directly influential. As one form of media, TV creates awareness and accelerates change. TV influences interpersonal sources of information as well as stimulates rumors. Audience may improve their lives and keep their lives in good order by using different forms of media. Audiences may choose to be wise or foolish towards media. In order to decode and encode media texts (TV texts) correctly, it is of significance of knowing some mass communication theories of abroad and domestic.
2.1Abroad
“Media are a prime source of indirect experience and for that reason have impact on the construction of social reality”(Faules & Alexander, 1978, p.23) Faules and Alexander are clearly reminding us that our understanding of our world and place in it are created by us in interaction and involvement with media symbols. Lazarsfeld and Stanton produced a series of books and studies throughout the 1940s that paid significant attention to how audiences used media to organize their lives and experiences. (Stanley J. Bara & Dennisk, Davis, 2003, p.256) Herta Hergon, a colleague of Lazarsfeld, is the originator of the uses and gratifications approach, which approaches to media study focusing on the uses to which people put media and the gratifications they seek from that use. It focuses attention on individuals in the mass communication process and respects intellect and ability of media consumers.(Stanley J. Bara & Dennisk, Davis, 2003)Hall suggested media texts are polysemic and are read as possible meanings, which are tied to the sociological context. Each audience brings his or her own social history, attitudes and beliefs to read the media texts, so that the encoded meanings might well either be accepted, refuted or partly qualified. It has something with the cultural competencies and creative resources the audience might draw on.(Hall, 1980) Cultivation analysis, a theory developed by George Gerbner during the 1970s and 1980s, analyses that television “cultivates” or creates a world view which is possibly inaccurate, and then becomes the reality because people believe it to be so. In Cultivation analysis, television’s major contribution is to create a culture’s framework or knowledge and to underly general concepts. Scholars have different views on the potency of television’s effect on the society. But they all agree that there is some degree of influence. The primary issue was no longer whether media have certain effects on individuals, but what kind of people we are, we have become, or we are becoming in our mass mediated world. (Stanley J. Bara & Dennisk, Davis, 2003)
2.2.Domestic
Media studies have short history in China. Studies focus on the culture aspects mostly. People in different cultures have their own ways of expecting and decoding messages from others, which are influences by variations in intercultural communication, such as stereotypes, prejudice, cognitive styles and patterns of thought. (Wang J, 2002) Encoding refers to the process of the sender putting the message into a signal (the encoding message), and decoding refers to the process of the receiver interpreting the signal from the sender. (Dou W. L, 2006) In addition, decoding is the process of sender decoding/ interpreting the information into semiotic symbols and transmitting into the receiver according to the rules of encoding symbols. (Ding, H, 1998) When one culture is transmitted to another culture by media, it is necessary to study and understand the audiences. Audiences do not accept information passively but have individual selectivity of information. (Tong Z. X, 2004)Pictures, sound and languages are main components for TV messages transmission. TV messages are visual, vivid, in motion and auditory.
3.Discussion
3.1 The roles of TV play in daily routine
The mass media fall into three categories based on the technology by which they are produced: print, electronic and photographic. The primary electronic media are television, radio, sound recordings and the web. TV has strong influences on people, on the culture and on other media. In a remarkably short time, TV has become the most popular medium for entertainment.
3.1.1 TV as a provider of information
Children begin watching television attentively by the age of three. Before most children start school or form close relationships with peers, they have learned the names of countless television characters and are fans of their reality behavior. Most people are growth in time spent with television and radio. Through the mass media we learn almost everything we know about the world beyond our immediate environments. How would you know about the Sichuan earthquake or Beijing Olympic Games if it were no newspapers, television and other mass media? TV messages are visual, in motion, auditory and live. Media (TV) create a new world of information.
3.1.2 TV as a creator of consumer and entertainment needs
TV can be wonderful entertainers, bringing together huge audiences. Some people laughed during watching film “Tom and Jerry”. Some people watch the piano performance on TV or web. TV creates a motivation of audience to buy new technology and other consumer products. Mass media content can solve audience needs. According to “use and gratification theory” media may satisfy different social and emotional needs in different ways. Take advertisement for example, people are persuaded to buy certain products. Some TV talk show and soap operas create entertainment for people. Audiences are persuaded to buy the new mobile phone or new washing machine to make their lives easier and more comfortable.
3.1.3 TV as a shaper of cultural thought process
“Through repeated exposure, television cultivates an indirect, cumulative set of beliefs and ideas.” (Doddy, 2006, p.243) TV actually changes the way people think. The mass media is an intuition of culture and an influential shaper of culture. By the 1920s, Magic Bullet theory assumed that media stimuli were assumed to operate like magic bullets that penetrated people’s minds and instantly created associations between strong emotions and specific concepts. The messages penetrate to their subconscious minds and transform how they think and feel. Moreover, the information transmitted by media reflects cultural aspects.
3.2 Model of decoding and encoding TV texts of audiences
According to the models of interpersonal communication, such as J.DE Vito’s model of interpersonal communication, Osgood-Schramm’s circular model and contextualized model, it is possible to create a possible communication model between audiences and media (TV) as below.
Figure——Model of communication between media texts (TV) and audiences
As the above figure shows, media texts (TV) as an encoder transmit information or entertainment to audiences. Audiences decode and encode media texts (TV). In the communication process, advertisement interrupts the communication. In the process of decoding media texts (TV), there falls into three levels of decoding---dominant decoding, negotiated decoding and oppositional decoding. Hall argues that dominant decoding means to accept the encoding inscribes by the media. Negotiated decoding means to not merely accept dominant readings, but nor completely reject them either. It is frequent taken up by audience members. Oppositional decoding means audiences directly contest the text’s message. (Hall, 1980)
When encoding the media texts, there divides into four levels as well: cognitive level (what the TV portrays), emotional level (like or dislike), rational level (right or incorrect) and performing level (go or stop). Audiences have their subjectivities in decoding and encoding because of different sociological factors, educational backgrounds and cultural backgrounds. “Social factors like one’s social status, gender, age and race can shape the textual reading the reader might make”. (Lisa Taylor & Andrew Willis, 2004, p.172) Actually speaking, there exists a distance between the reality portrayed on the screen and audiences themselves. Especially the whole society and culture are under changing. Distance or knowledge gap can’t be removed.
3.3 Factors of audience subjectivity in decoding and encoding media texts (TV)
When reading one same TV text, audiences bring in their own beliefs, attitudes and experiences, and then make different interpretations. For example, watching the NBA, teenagers consider it as entertainment. They pay much attention to their idols’ performance. To most housewives, they show little interest in it. For basketball athletes, they focus on details such as skills for passing ball or shooting baskets as well as cooperation in the competition. Three main aspects can contribute to the different interpretations of the message---social factors, educational backgrounds and cultural backgrounds. As a result of differences in interpretation, the same symbol can have different meanings for different cultural groups.
3.3.1 Different cultural backgrounds
Audiences of their own cultural background decode and encode the same TV text differently. Take the funeral ceremony for example, foreigners interpret Chinese funeral ceremony as ridiculousness. Why we show sadness by crying aloud and burning some things and then have the funeral banquet which seems happily. On the contrary, we consider that western funeral ceremony is simple and not sad. Some TV texts are acceptable in that culture group and denied by another culture group, such as gay’s marriage. In different cultural contexts, our different values and beliefs cause different interpretations.
3.2.2 Different social factors
Social factors include social status, gender, age and race ect. Female and male interpret the same TV text differently. Children and adults decode and encode the TV texts in different ways. Children may just watch for amusement. But adults watch for reasons and information. Children decode the media text (TV) on the cognitive and emotional levels. Simply speaking, they only know who is a good man and who is an evil person. Policemen are respectable. Thieves are contemptible. However, for adults, they encode the symbols of TV texts on rational and performing levels. They make judgments on the texts. Why does it happen?What the influence does it have? Should I follow the example or accept the idea?
3.3.3 Different educational backgrounds
A junior student and a professor decode and encode the Sichuan earthquake definitely different. What a person knows before influences the information process. Scholars will decode the earthquake academically by referring to the reasons, the effects, and the geographic factors. On the contrary, many ordinary people treat this disaster as a punishment given by god or natural phenomenon. If audience bears more background knowledge of a certain text, the interpretation may be in depth. Decoding and encoding are influenced by people’s different educational backgrounds.
3.4 Skills for correct decoding and encoding media text (TV)
3.4.1 Avoid stereotypes and prejudice in decoding and encoding
In decoding and encoding TV texts, the stereotypes in audiences’ minds will affect to make incorrect judgments. And the forming of stereotypes are cultivated by education, mass media, historical events ect. For example, some Chinese people bear the stereotypes of Japanese as evils. In addition, prejudice also has negative effect on decoding and encoding TV texts. People hold prejudice on certain issue more or less. This is unavoidable and natural. We are members of certain society. As a matter of fact, we always hold positive prejudice towards our own culture and hold negative prejudice towards others. Prejudice is the extreme form of stereotype. In the process of communicating with TV, stereotypes and prejudice will lead to incorrect decoding and sense-making. Therefore, in order to have correct decodings and encodings, audiences should reduce the incorrect stereotypes and prejudice. It is wise to understand and learn more about others’ culture and values.
3.4.2 Be active audiences
Mead believed that mind, self and society are internalized as complex sets of symbols. They serve as filtering mechanisms for our experience. (Mead, 1934) TV texts illustrate our experiences and society around us. Audience engages in information process in their minds. Some audiences are media-oriented. They accepted the information transmitted by the media passively. They are unable to make sense of specific forms of content. Their minds are controlled by media. Media do with audience as well as audience can do with the media. The media can portray positive stereotypes or negative stereotypes. And we are wise to be aware of the positive value of the media and interpret the TV texts critically. Media texts are not the only instrument of producing meaning and controlling information transmission. What’s more, the process of various meanings’ production, disappearance and collision and mixture is controlled by audiences themselves as well. Audience is able to interpret texts according to his or her interests and needs.
3.4.3 Use media as a tool for understanding one view of culture
Media and their audiences do not exist in a vacuum. They are part of the larger society. The mass media also indirectly or directly affect teaching and promotion of social models. We know the table manners of American by watching TV. The poverty and hunger of Africa people are often portrayed on the screen. However, not every African is poor and suffers from hunger. The scenes portrayed on the screen only illustrate one aspect of that culture. TV is just a tool for understanding some parts of that culture. Audiences bear the distance and knowledge gap when decoding and encoding the TV text. Especially, the concept of globe village penetrates into human minds. Multiple cultures mix together. Can the TV texts demonstrate mixed culture completely? Actually, the distance between the reality and TV texts actually can not be erased. What the audience can do is to learn more about culture and increase world knowledge as well as understand the cinematic codes and format structure of television to reduce the knowledge gap.
4.Conclusion
As the Wright and Harold Lasswell notes that media have four classic functions: surveillance of the environment, correlation of the parts of society in responding to the environment, transmission of the social heritage from one generation to the next, and entertainment or amuse. (Wright and Harold Lasswell, 1959) People read media texts frequently in their daily routine. Most people are familiar to read TV texts. Audiences decode and encode the images / semiotic symbols of TV texts according to their own needs and gratifications. Impacted by the social factors, different cultural background and different education background, audience makes different interpretations on one TV text. Audiences actively negotiate and read media output as a result of a whole range of social variables. Audience, as one member of one culture, can use media as a tool for understanding one view of the culture. Avoiding stereotypes and prejudice can aid audience to make correct interpretations. Audiences put specific need or set of needs gratified by communicating with the mass media.
If the triumph of electronic media is inevitable, why not get on with it? We are able to handle our minds and get ourselves performing rationally to adapt ourselves in the promising society with multiple cultures.
References:
[1]Chen,B.Z(2004).Talks on intercultural communication. China Mass Media University Press.
[2]Dou, W.L (2006). Intercultural business communication. Higher Education Publishing House. pp.2-23.
[3]Ding, H (1998). Study of information in intercultural communication [M] Wu Han, Hua Zhong Science and Technology University Press.
[4]Doddy, H.C. (2006). Dynamics of intercultural communication. Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. pp.236-247.
[5]Faules, D. F, and D.C. Alexander (1978).Communication and behavior: A symbolic interaction perspective. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
[6]Hall, Stuart (1980). Encoding/decoding in the television discourse. In Straut Hall et al. (Eds), Culture, Media, Language, London, Hutchinson.