'Uses and Gratifications'

During several of our media studies lessons our class has been exploring the 'Uses and Gratifications' model when trying to understand media.  

The ‘Uses and Gratifications’ model was first introduced by Elihu Katz; he asserted that audiences use media texts for gratification. Katz contended that there are four types ‘Uses and Gratifications’ audiences get from media texts:   

   

• Personal identity: We can get a sense of ourselves and our peer group from media representations.  This is probably particularly important for adolescents.

• Information: The media are full of information which we are at liberty to use.

• Entertainment: We often consume media texts for entertainment.

• Social interaction: The news, films or last night’s television programmes are common topics of discussion; we use the media to feed this social interaction.  The media may also ‘keep us company’: radio, in particular addresses its audience on a personal basis.  We may feel we know characters in, say, soap operas, better than we do our own friends and thus engage in parasocial (interpersonal relationships in which one party knows a great deal about the other, but the other does not) interaction when ‘interacting’ with them.

Vox Pops:

My production team and I put together a focus group made up of people who conform to the decided target audience, in an attempt to obtain more qualitative research data and to explore how we can successfully make sure our production caters to our target audience. We asked them what they liked about watching romance films and here is what they said:

Ayesha: "I really enjoy romances that seem real and not as if it is all a fairy-tale. To think that the storyline is legit and could potentially be happening to someone is a lot more interesting than if the storyline was too farfetched or cringe."

Rebecca: "I like romances because it is something I want to experience in later life and so it is very interesting and exciting as I know I have it to look forward to."

Orlagh: "I like watching romances because it helps me escape from the stresses of school life and helps me wind down."

Annie: "I think it is really important that the main characters are relatable. Someone you empathise or agree with is always enjoyable to watch, like Sid from Skins. Characters that are perfect or too good to be true can often seem untrustworthy and it would be difficult to back them and enjoy the production."

Kate: "To glean inspiration for everyday life. I like that most romances are about two people who come together even with seemingly insurmountable odds against them, it gives me hope."

Significance:

• Enjoy and feel it is vital that you can identify with one of the main characters and that they can't be too perfect.
• Romances or any film genre should provide escapism.
• Romances should provide hope and inspiration for difficult situations people face.
• To have some sort of validity so that it does not seem like a fairy-tale and unimaginable in real life circumstances.
• To provide the audience with anticipation that this will some day happen to them.