Oh, *that* theory.

The questions I asked at the beginning of the week were:

-what falls under the realm of mass communications?
-how has mass communication theory affected me/ been present in the news/ in society (whether I realized it or not)
-how is theory applicable to media production?

As soon as I started reading the first chapter of Applied Mass Communication Theory, I realized how obvious the answers to my questions were. Of course mass communication has affected me, been present in the news and in society. The potential correlation between violence on tv and in video games has been a hot bed in the news ever since I can remember. I can specifically recall when WWF wrestling was hugely popular and mass marketed (action figures, video games, lunch boxes, tee-shirts, etc) and there were a few terrible incidents where a few children were accidentally killed while wrestling with a sibling or friend.

De-sensitization is a spin-off of the ‘violence in the media’ argument. Of course people do not like to think that they are affected so easily by the media (‘I’m an intelligent human being, I could clearly recognize if I changed because of something  I saw on TV’), but are we less shocked by horrific events that we see on the news because of the gruesome CSI-esque shows? Is warfare not as big a cost because we play ‘capture the flag’ in HALO three times a week?

Theory, especially in communication, changes constantly, and Rosenberry and Vicker make this clear.  In fact, two of the three types of communication theories that are listed (critical theory and normative theory) are not aimed at the status quo but rather are an active reform of the status quo (critical theory) and an attempt to describe how things should be according to an ideal standard of social values (normative theory).

Theory is extremely useful in media production (my third question) because knowing what research has been done will help to reach audiences better with the media one produces. Audiences are getting much smarter, and demand much more than they used to, and this is critical to understand for anyone who wants to produce media. While critical and normative theories might be more useful for politicians (*cough* Nancy Reagan and the ratings board) and social activists, they can also help in creating better media that has a positive influence on a society.

As we study the interactive realm of media, which is largely unknown and uncharted, theories and research will be pivotal in the understanding of how audiences have changed and what media needs to be produced because of that. Technology and relationships, as we discussed today, mobile media, and more are all things that we need to consider and theory will lead the way in understanding.

Tags: response