PR2: Audience Theory and Debates

Hypodermic needle model: The hypodermic needle model or theory maintains that the audience of any sign media text passively consume the message in the text and act upon them.

Fight Club:Fight club came out in 1999 it was directed by David Fincher, Fight Club was refused an 18 classification by the BBFC, The Fight Club case study by the BBFC they cut two scenes from 6 and 7 seconds because it felt it focused too much on the beating of faces such as they needed to reduce the heavy and explicit punches, the film had a lot of responses who reacted strongly on its level of violence in particular Alexander Walker critic of the London evening standard he says “a toxic experience an inadmissible assault on personal decency and on social itself” also “it resurrects the Fuhrer principle. It promotes pain and suffering as the virtues of the strongest. It tramples every democratic decency underfoot” this can relate to the hypodermic model because he said that its ‘toxic’.

They had to cut 2 scenes from 6 to 7 seconds because it felt it focused too much on the beating of faces such as they needed to reduce the heavy and explicit punches even though in the film you do see his fist make contact with a face several times the parts they cut out was that on screen for a longer time it says it was successful in removing the explicit violence. The acts of terrorism in the film with the use of soap bombs being made and being used in the film they get mentioned more than once which people would pick up on and notice more, it is as if it acts as a manual on how to use these and for you to make them for your own this could also be seen as being related to the 9/11, the end scene in the film is of several buildings being blown up and crashing to the ground this film being released in 1999 and the 9/11 attacks slowly followed, blame is easily put on this film as a possible influence. With the excessive violence it promotes anarchy and revolutionary thinking, people watching this who are easily influenced by things they see and watch could want to be like the

men in this film and look up to them. Critics could blame this film for future riots and protests because of the way they a rebelling from the law in a way because they want ‘change’.

Also they have a lot of bare knuckle fighting which is a huge contributor to the extreme violence the film revolves around the fighting scene, they make it seem like it’s a ‘release’ from a normal life because they mention in the film about them all being in normal paid jobs and that they come to ‘fight club’ as a change in their routine. A big part in the film is the suicide they romanticised it and used it in a way where the outcome of what she did was not realistic and made what she did look harmless. But “New BBFC guidelines established the principle that adults should be free to choose their own entertainment, within the law, and it was considered that there was nothing in fight club that was in breach of UK law, or felt to be harmful.” The sex scenes in this film are only limit there was one which could be counted one this was only a short scene which only involved two bodies which you couldn’t really make out much of what was happening it was more shown as a dream like scene it’s there wasn’t much to call an issue and the film isn’t focused on their relationship more focused on the narrator and ‘Tyler’.

The film gives the audience an escape from everyday problems because of the fact it makes you think and try and piece together pieces to try and work out the true story and also it kind of makes you think about things in your own life and have a different lifestyle, the audience could also see similarities with the characters seeing their problems and relating with them watching how they deal with them could have an effect on the person watching, The audience could also see the relationships in this film and want what they have even though its completely messed up the way the film shows the two characters they make it seem romantic and make them seem different and not like the usual relationships people might want to have this the one minute they a friends next they are arguing people might see the outcome at the end of the film where they end up holding hands and being together and think that’s what happens it’s easy to just get over everything that’s happened. The look on life in this film people could want and find this useful due to some of it being quiet believable.

Juno 2007 (dir. Jason Reitman)Juno is a film about a 16 year old girl who gets pregnant with her best friend she decides to go to an abortion clinic but last minute can’t go through with it, instead she decides to give the baby up for adoption she’s finds a couple in the newspaper and meets them and gets along very well with them, it then goes on to show how she copes when she goes to school and how she handles it herself with her friends and her parents. The hypodermic needle theory could be used with Juno because this film could be used as a big influence in teen pregnancy, the audience especially young girls could really like the character ‘Juno’ because she is funny and ‘different’ and want to have a story like hers, Juno gets pregnant with one of her best friends this could also be seen as ‘cute’ and people might want this to, Juno is played by the actress Ellen Page who makes Juno a funny ‘quirky’ unusual character and Her ex- boyfriend/best friend Paulie Bleeker who is the dad to the baby he’s also a funny character he plays the awkward best friend He’s played by the actor Michael Cera.Juno’s dad is played by actor J.K Simmons and her stepmother is played by actress Allison Janney who both have personalities similar to Juno funny unique humour, the adopted parents are played by actress Jennifer Garner as the adoptive mother Vanessa and the adopted father Jason Bateman who Juno gets along with very well as they both have a similar interest in music.

It was submitted to the BBFC with a PG request there was issues with this because of the use of strong language and moderate sex references and a short clip from a gory horror movie which was rated an 18, it was also discussed about the treatment of theme of teen pregnancy, also the strong language using the word (f**k) with it not being aggressive or directed at anyone “this is not permitted at PG” “the BBFC Guidelines do allow for infrequent uses of strong language at 12A. Two uses in a feature length work were considered ‘infrequent’. The sex references are frequent in the film they are moderate in tone and strength they say these by using them in a comedic way “Some take place in a sexual health clinic where Juno goes when she is considering a termination. Though not educational in a strict sense, the context – discussions between teenagers, including one who is pregnant as a result of unprotected sex – was felt to mitigate any offence.” They were also said to reflect what is likely to be familiar to most adolescents, the one scene in the movie only implies the act itself is when you see the pair of underwear drop to the floor this is allowed by BBFC guidelines at 12a which is what the film ended up with.

The BBFC also said that the film “might advertise teen pregnancy but the BBFC took the view that the film’s treatment of an important theme was ‘suitable for young teenagers’ as it presented Juno’s pregnancy and its effects on her relationships realistically, rather than through rose tinted glasses. It was BBFC overall description of the film. I think that they gave a oppositional reading because of how much needed to be changed and how they didn’t agree with it being a PG, I personally have said it is negotiated reading because I think that they show that Juno handles the situation very mature after the abortion idea she gets focused on getting the baby adopted but she wanted the best for the baby and looked through couples who wanted a baby she also mentions giving it to someone who would care for a child and has a stable upbringing also someone who wants a baby and have tried everything once she finds a couple she likes she doesn’t want any money for the child she doesn’t want to look like she wants to sell the baby she just wants it in a

good home, but then also I think the relationship between Juno and the adoptive father Mark, because the bond and have a lot in common ‘Mark’ mentions wanting to leave his wife and gets a little too close with Juno i found that a bit off putting because of the obvious age gap. People can have different reactions to the film because of age the older audience can relate to the struggle of an adult relationship and the struggles with being married and trying to agree on huge like changes like having a child, the younger audience can relate the Juno and her friends because of her being in school and having relationships and how we deal with school etc. Also teen pregnancy with Juno’s decisions knowing she is too young to handle to situation and also having to eventually deal with telling her parents and also having to deal with judgement of people in her school.

The gender of the audience they could both have very different opinions the males could see the side of being a father and the struggle of only being young and taking responsibility and handling it the right way, the female audience could have sympathy for Juno’s character and also Vanessa’s situation with her husband leaving her for wanting a child, Vanessa’s character seems to come across as caring and wanting everything to go right with the baby coming and the female audience could see this as a hard thing to go through wanting something which your partner seems to struggle with. Also Juno being only young and have to cope with the decision of still giving Vanessa the baby even though her husband Mark left her and Juno wanting it to go to a stable home you can see that by Juno still going ahead with the adoption seen that Vanessa was caring and capable of looking after the baby. Also the male audience could relate to the fact that their daughter is pregnant and they have to help her and support her with her decisions even though it might be hard to see their own child having the responsibility with looking after a baby when to the father their daughter is still so young herself. Social class audience the higher the class the different opinion they might give the higher class might have a oppositional view not agreeing with the plot or how the film ends but the lower class could see a more negotiated view on the film and agree with the plot and see the ‘making the best of a bad situation’. Even with the very serious situation ‘Juno’ is in and she has

to be mature and think of all the possible decisions and outcomes to them the character also as a very funny and jokey side which takes away the very serious and harsh judgements she’s getting. The ending is very typical for a teen movie where the two love interests end up together all happy but in a realistic situation where there’s a teen pregnancy they don’t normally stay together because of the pressure with them being so young and it being unexpected it’s more of a shock and the news of having a child when most teenagers haven’t figured out what they want to do with their life at 16 years old how would they get through giving away a child and it being more of a one sided decision making because Paulie doesn’t get much of a say he just gets told what’s happening you don’t really get to see his struggle so in real life it doesn’t really seem like that would be the case. With ethnicity people have different values and beliefs with these situation people have very strong views about how a teen pregnancy and them not being married and also being so young so people could have a very negative view thinking that its completely wrong and you should never get yourself in a situation like this.

This can offer a huge distraction from real life because people could be rooting for Paulie and want him and Juno to be together also wanting to baby to end up with Vanessa because the film portrays her as being very caring and shows how much she wants to be a mother, also people could want a relationship like Paulie and Juno because they are best friends who fall in love eventually and everyone wants a ‘love story’ like theirs maybe minus the pregnancy. Also people could get an effect on the way Juno handles situation as she’s very outgoing and sarcastic and has a ‘not bothered’ attitude people might want this for themselves if they struggle with confidence changing the way they act and their attitude could have a positive effect on them people could take this from Juno’s character. Also a lot of the quotes in the film are funny and people might use them for themselves. +