Stuart Hall was a pioneer in media theory, founding the Birmingham School of Cultural Studies in 1964 and going on to publish many different theoretical works about the inner workings of media.
One of Hall’s theories was the reception theory, which examined how an audience perceives and interprets messages in media products, which he called the Encoding and Decoding model. Hall “criticizes traditional top-down models of the media system”(Johannes Angermuller, Maingueneau and Wodak, 2014), he defines that messages are encoded at each stage of the media production process rather than being from a singular source of media power, like a circuit. Furthermore, Hall defined 3 ways in which a media message can be decoded.
Dominant position is the intended interpretation of a media message that has been encoded, it means that the audience has accepted the message.
Negotiated position, where an audience understands the media message but does not agree with the entire message.
Oppositional position, where the audience understands the message but rejects the meaning of it entirely.
But how effective is this? The way that Stuart Hall describes his reception theory implies that there are only 3 ways to interpret messages, all of which assume that the reader is able to understand the message being received regardless of whether they agree or disagree. But what if people don’t understand the message? Let’s look at some examples to demonstrate this idea.
Above is a frame from the Netflix series Stranger Things. The show capitalised heavily on nostalgia for the 1980s which is reflected in the atmosphere with many intertextual references to 70s and early 80s pop culture such as Star Wars and ET. But in this frame there is a reference to a famous Steven Spielberg film in the frame above, do you recognise it?
If you thought that police truck looked familiar then that’s because it is, it’s a Chevrolet Blazer, the same model that appeared in the 1975 film Jaws which was owned by the character Chief Brody. But for most who didn’t know, their interpretation of the car would likely amount to just being a vehicle that fits into the period. This message has been deliberately encoded into the show for only a small part of their audience to interpret which is known as an “Easter Egg”.
Now let’s look at a famous example of a Vietnam P.O.W. Admiral Jeremiah Denton.
If you watch the video closely, you may notice a strange blinking pattern by that of Denton. Unbeknownst to his captors, he was spelling out the word “TORTURE” in Morse code. Initially, the message was interpreted by the US Naval Intelligence but not by his captors, making it clear to those in the US that American P.O.W.s were being tortured.
This shows a key limitation of Hall’s theory, the fact that messages can be encoded for only certain audiences, highlights that his theory should be expanded upon. This would account for the fact that audiences can still have an opinion on a message, even though they do not interpret it in the way that the producers intend them to. It would also factor in that audiences may not even understand or interpret a message at all, yet they still can take an opinion on the product.
References:
Johannes Angermuller, Maingueneau, D. and Wodak, R. (2014). The Discourse Studies Reader. John Benjamins. Available from https://doi.org/10.1075/z.184 [Accessed 16 May 2023].
The Duffer Brothers. (2016). Stranger Things. Netflix.com. Available from https://www.netflix.com/title/80057281.
YouTube Movies. (2012). Jaws. YouTube. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5KSCWDlyQw.
Photo by Suzy Hazelwood: https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-cassette-tape-in-close-up-photography-2718571/
I think it’s great that you’ve mentioned and given examples regarding the limitations of the ‘encoding & decoding’ theory. I agree with your argument in this case and this is because there have been times when I myself have consumed a media text, but not fully understood the message that was truly being interpreted. This can be concerning in some cases as the audience is not grasping the significant point or argument layered within the text, however I also think there is a slightly positive aspect to it and this is that everyone can have there own interpretation which allows for endless discussions and conversations.
Great post. Perfect explanation of the topic, and your examples are incredible. Further, your critique of Hall’s theory, backed up by the Morse code example, was simply genius. I agree, that Hall’s theory should definitely be expanded upon, as some of his ideas are a little limited. Honestly I think if you were to continue your study into his limitations, it would make a great read.
I really like the angle you’ve taken here with this blog. Instead of just agreeing with the parts of this theory that makes sense, you’ve picked apart the holes in Stuart Hall’s theory. I also like the examples you gave of scenarios where messages in media could be interpreted in more than the three ways that Stuart Hall proposed in his theory. Also great knowledge on 70s and 80s pop culture!