Critical approaches to media products-Task2 Roisin Crossan

Introduction/Overview I have been asked to discuss different audience responses to a music video of my choice. The music video I have a chosen is Green Day – Wake Me Up When September Ends released in 2005. The song was written about a couple that were torn apart by the Iraq war which symbolises the feeling of loss. The music video show a young man choice to join the army and leave his girlfriend behind. Throughout the video we see the events that take place during war and the young woman’s struggle with loss.

Fans interpretation of the video The fans suggest a more personal interpretation compared to the general public as they follow the band and would feel like they know them better than people that are not fans. The fans felt that the song and music video was a way of the bands lead singer Billie Jo Armstrong revealing his feeling about his fathers death in 1982. As the song and music video show the theme of loss this would be an obvious connection.

General Public The music video was huge when it released in 2005 and is still iconic today receiving 130,632,050 views on YouTube. The video 776k likes which I feel reflects on how well this heartfelt story was told within the video. It did receive 21k dislikes which could be down to scenes of violence and emotional scene that some viewers may have found upsetting or distressing.

Audience Interpretation- Violence/Upsetting Scenes Even though the scenes of violence in this video were upsetting they were required to show the harsh reality of war. This video hit home for a lot of people as some people had lost family members to war or maybe had loved ones still in the army. I think most of the public understood the video and its content.

Audience Theory There are three different types of audience theories that can be applied to products to help create a better relationship between text and audience. The effects model- This is the consumption of texts that have an influence on the audience. The audience can not prevent the influence and become powerless in the consumption. The uses and gratifications models- There is an unclear link to the consumption of violent media text. But it is clear that people view violence and do not show any violent behaviour. This is the opposite the the effects model.

Reception Theory The reception theory was developed by Stuart Hall asserted that the media’s content be encoded and decoded. The producers encode messages in their content and then is decoded by the audience. The theory can received in 3 ways- Dominant or Preferred , Negotiated, Oppositional Dominant or Preferred- When the text is received in the way the producer intended it to be and the audience agree with the messages in the text. This is very positive as it means the product has been successful. Negotiated- The audience accepts the messages in the text but also has their own views. They do not agree or disagree but can see a point being made in relation to the reading. Oppositional- The reading is rejected and the audience creates their own reading. This is a bad response to a product. The audiences reception to their content can depend on: Age Beliefs Culture Gender Life experience Mood at the time of viewing

The Hypodermic Needle This is a message which is specifically placed message injected into a product so when it is received by the audience it is understood in the way that the producer intended it to be. The theory is a linear model of communication. The message in this theory has been said to be like a ”magic bullet” that enters the minds of viewers an injects a particular message. In my opinion, even though the video received mixed reviews the story in the video was clearly understood by the public. This is relevant within in this music as it sends a message of loss, distress and trauma. This has been accepted by viewers through their different interoperations of the video.

Conclusion I think regardless of some mixed feelings this video was well received. I think the video was researched, written and directed very well. I could tell that a lot of work went into this video in order to tell the story and spread the message it was intended for. During my research I could see that everyone had their interruption of what the video was really about and I could see they related to it in some way or another. In reference to the theories they are all relevant in this text.