The Audiences' Interpretation: Do audience members have the power to subvert messages brought to them by the mass media?

Just like any message a sender delivers to a receiver through a medium, mass media can be misinterpreted or distorted. When viewing, reading, or listening to a mass media message, every single audience member interprets the information differently. This confusion or difference of comprehension is also known as aberrant decoding, which means, "individuals generally do not code texts in the ways that those who create them want them decode, because people bring different educational levels, backgrounds, interests, and so on to each text" (Berger 106).

In other words, movies, music, and other forms of mass media all mean different things to different people. For example, the controversial film Natural Born Killers, was condemned by critics for being too violent and even accused of causing real copycat crimes. However, according to Internet Movie Database, director Oliver Stone, "always maintained that the film is a satire on how serial killers are adored by the media for their horrific actions, and that those who claim the violence in the movie itself is a cause of societal violence have missed the point of the movie entirely"(imdb.com). 

Since the majority of mass media is profit based, it attempts to reach and connect with their audience in a way that will be entertaining or informative in order to benefit financially. Therefore, mass media producers target specific audiences and tailor the message towards them to avoid a misunderstanding.This is why rating systems are helpful in determining if certain films or albums are appropriate for certain age groups.

Works Cited

Berger, Arthur Asa. Essentials of Mass Communication Theory. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications,    1995. Print.

"Natural Born Killers." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 30 Aug. 2012. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110632/>.