"Reception theory is a version of reader response literary theory that emphasizes each particular reader's reception or interpretation in making meaning from a literary text."
The study of how audiences interpret and make meaning from media messages.
Reader Response Theory: The idea that the meaning of a text is constructed by the reader through their own experiences and background.
Encoding/Decoding Theory: The idea that texts are encoded with meaning by the sender and decoded by the receiver, but that this decoding is not always the same as the intended encoding.
Cultural Theory: The idea that people's interpretations of texts are influenced by the cultural norms and values that they share with others in their society.
Semiotics: The study of signs and symbols, and how they are used to convey meaning in texts.
Structuralism: The idea that meaning is created through structures that exist within texts, rather than by individual words or phrases.
Post-Structuralism: A critical approach to structuralism that emphasizes the instability of meaning and the ways in which texts can be subverted or deconstructed.
Psychoanalytic Theory: The idea that our unconscious desires and fears shape our interpretations of texts.
Feminist Theory: The idea that gender and power relations shape our interpretations of texts, and that texts can be used to challenge or reinforce these relations.
Queer Theory: A critical approach to gender and sexuality that challenges binary understandings of these concepts and emphasizes the ways in which they are constructed socially.
Post-Colonial Theory: The study of the ways in which colonialism has shaped cultural production and how texts from former colonies can be read in light of these histories.
Reception History: The study of the ways in which texts have been received and interpreted by different audiences throughout history.
Media effects: The study of the ways in which media can influence the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of individuals and society as a whole.
Reader-Response theory: This theory believes that the reader or audience plays a vital role in interpreting a text, and the meaning of a text is created through their own personal experiences, biases and cultural background.
Uses and Gratifications theory: This theory focuses on how audiences actively choose media and use it for their own needs and desires, which are varied and complex.
Cultural Studies theory: This theory is grounded in the idea that media is produced and consumed within a specific cultural context, and seeks to analyze the ways that media both reflects and constructs cultural values.
Reception Aesthetics: This theory considers the subjective, emotional and aesthetic experience of the audience as they engage with media texts, and the ways that different audiences interpret and experience media in unique ways.
Semiotics: This theory believes that media texts are constructed using signs and symbols, and must be interpreted through an understanding of those cultural codes and conventions, which vary across different contexts.
Psychoanalytic theory: This theory suggests that the interpretation of media is driven by unconscious desires and fears, and often rooted in childhood experiences.
Social Learning theory: This theory proposes that the audience learns behaviors, attitudes and values from media exposure, and that this learning process can be both conscious and unconscious.
"Reception theory is generally referred to as audience reception in the analysis of communications models."
"The cultural theorist Stuart Hall was one of the main proponents of reception theory."
"His approach, called the encoding/decoding model of communication, is a form of textual analysis that focuses on the scope of 'negotiation' and 'opposition' by the audience."
"This means that a 'text'—be it a book, movie, or other creative work—is not simply passively accepted by the audience, but that the reader/viewer interprets the meanings of the text based on her or his individual cultural background and life experiences."
"Reception theory originated from the work of Hans-Robert Jauss in the late 1960s."
"The most influential work was produced during the 1970s and early 1980s in Germany and the US."
"Some notable work was done in other Western European countries."
"A form of reception theory has also been applied to the study of historiography."
"Susan Bennett is often credited with beginning this discourse."
"Hall's theory focuses on the communication processes at play in texts that are in televisual form."
"The meaning of a text is not inherent within the text itself, but is created within the relationship between the text and the reader."
"Reception theory has since been extended to the spectators of performative events, focusing predominantly on the theatre."
"Through the work of the landscape historian John Dixon Hunt, reception theory has also been applied to the history and analysis of landscapes."
"Hunt recognized that the survival of gardens and landscapes is largely related to their public reception."
"Reception theory is a version of reader response literary theory that emphasizes each particular reader's reception or interpretation in making meaning from a literary text."
"The reader/viewer interprets the meanings of the text based on her or his individual cultural background and life experiences."
"A 'text'...is not simply passively accepted by the audience, but...the reader/viewer interprets the meanings of the text."
"Reception theory is generally referred to as audience reception in the analysis of communications models."
"The survival of gardens and landscapes is largely related to their public reception."