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1. PR2: Audience Theory&Debates
Fight Club 1999
In thisdarklycomicdrama, EdwardNortonstars as a depressedyoungmanwhohasbecome a small
cog in the worldof bigbusiness.He doesn'tlike hisworkandgetsnosense of rewardfromit,
attemptinginsteadtodrownhissorrowsbyputtingtogetherthe "perfect"apartment.He can't sleep
and feelsalienatedfromthe worldatlarge;he'sbecome sodesperate torelate toothersthat he's
takento visitingsupportgroupsforpatientswithterminal diseasessothathe'll have peopletotalk
to. One dayon a businessflight,he discoversTylerDurden(BradPitt),acharmingiconoclastwho
sellssoap.Tylerdoesn'tputmuchstock inthe materialisticworld,andhe believesthatone can learn
a great deal throughpain,misfortune,andchaos.Tylercheerfullychallengeshisnew friendtoa
fight.EdwardNorton’scharacterfindsthatbare-knuckle brawlingmakeshimfeel more alive thanhe
has inyears,and soonthe two become friendsandroommates,meetinginformallytofightonce a
week.Asmore menjoinin,the "fightclub"becomesanundergroundsensation,eventhoughit'sa
closelyguardedsecretamongthe participants.(Firstrule:Don'ttalkaboutfightclub.Secondrule:
Don't talkabout fightclub.) Butas our Narrator andTylerbondthrough violence,astrange situation
becomesmore complicatedwhenTylerbecomesinvolvedwithMarla(HelenaBonhamCarter),
whomour Narrator became infatuatedwithwhentheywere bothcrashingthe support-group
circuit.Basedon the novel byChuckPalahniuk,FightClubwasdirectedbyDavidFincher,who
previouslydirectedPittinthe thrillerSeven.
HypodermicNeedle Model
Thistheorysuggeststhatthe mass mediacouldinfluence averylarge groupof people directlyand
uniformlyby‘injecting’themwithappropriatemessagesdesignedtotriggeradesiredresponse.
People are seenaspassive andare seenashavinga lot of mediamaterial ‘shot’atthem.People end
up thinkingwhattheyare toldbecause there isnoothersource of information.The view thatis
expressedisthatthe mediais adangerousmeansof communicatinganideabecause the receiveror
audience ispowerlesstoresistthe impactof the message.
In 1999 a LondonfilmcriticnamedAlexanderWalkeratthe Venice InternationalFilmFestival
inveighedagainstthe filmas"atoxicexperience ...aninadmissible assaultonpersonal decency...
and on societyitself.Itresurrectsthe Führerprinciple.Itpromotespainandsufferingasthe virtues
of the strongest.Ittrampleseverydemocraticdecency underfoot."
The FührerPrinciple wasaverysimple concept. Rudolf Hess probablybestsummarisedthe Führer
Principle whenhe saidinapublicspeech: “HitlerisGermanyandGermanyisHitler.Whateverhe
doesisnecessary.Whateverhe doesissuccessful.Clearlythe Führerhasdivine blessing.” The Führer
Principle requiredeveryone inNazi Germanytoacceptthat Hitlerhadall the solutionstoGermany’s
problemsandthatwhateverhe saidhadto be right. The FührerPrinciple initsmostbasicformwas
that whatHitlersaidhad to be carriedout or if it wasnot the personwhochallengedit was
betrayingHitlerandtherefore Germany. WhenreadingAlexanderWalker’s criticreview itdoes
mentionalotaround the time of Hilterforexample mentionsthe deathcampsandalsothe Jews.

2. Gratifications
Fightclubhas a veryinterestingandconfusingdiversion;itmakesyouthinkoutside the box and
takesyouaway fromreal life situations.Asthe plotof the filmhasthe audience onedge andalways
thinkingwhatcouldhappennextitmakesthemlookattheirownlife style andsee how differentlyit
isto the film.Thisdiversionalsoallowsthe audience toescape fromtheireverydayrealityandlive in
the whole fightclubdimensionandforgetaboutthe real world.Whenitcomestopersonal identity
the audience canidentifywithcharactersaswell astheirproblems. Inthe filmthere are a lotof
physiological problemssuchasthe TylerDurdencharacter beingthe sub-conscious characterof the
narrators mind.The audience couldmake everydaylife waymucheasierbybasingFightClub
character TylerDurdenas a way to live,suchasbeingonthe move,movingaroundtodifferent
places,alwaysupto something,andalwaysdistractingtheirmindfromwhatrealityisreallylikefor
themselves,makingtheireverydaylife easiertolive in. Now movingontopersonal relationships,the
audience make use the relationshipsinthe filmtobe how theywantto be in real life.Theymay
idolise the ‘love-hate’relationshipbetweenthe narratorandMarla, at the endof the filmtheyend
up togetherwhichmeansif the audience thinkthatafterall the badinfluenceswe seewithinthe
filmif theyhave a love hate relationshiplike the narratorandMarla it mightleadthemstill being
together.

3. Juno 2007
Sixteenyear-oldJunoMacGuff isthe type of girl that beatsto herown drummer,anddoesn'treally
care whatothersmay thinkof her.She learnsthat she'spregnantfroma one-time sexual encounter
withherbestfriend,Paulie Bleeker.JunoandPaulie likeeach other,butdon'tconsiderthemselves
to be exclusive boyfriend/girlfriendletalone be readytobe a familycomplete withchild.Although
she wouldrathernot be pregnant,Junoisfairlypragmaticabouthersituation.Althoughthere,
Paulie reallyleaves all the decisionsaboutthe babytoJuno.Initiallyshe decidesthatshe will have an
abortion,butthat's somethingthatshe ultimatelycannotgothroughwith.Soshe decidestohave
the baby andgive it upfor adoption.Butfirstshe has to tell herfather,Mac, andstepmother,Bren,
that she ispregnant.Althoughtheywouldhave preferredif Junowasonhard drugsor expelledfrom
school,Mac andBren tooare pragmatic aboutJuno'ssituation.The nextstepistofindprospective
parentsforthe yetunbornchild.Inthe Pennysaveradsection,JunofindsMarkandVanessaLoring,
a yuppie couple livinginthe suburbs.Junolikesthe Lorings,andinsome respectshasfoundwho
looksto be a kindredspiritinMark,withwhomshe sharesa love of grunge musicandhorror films.
Vanessaisa little more uptightandisthe one inthe relationshipseeminglymosteagertohave a
baby.On herown choosing,Junoentersintoaclosedratherthanopenadoptioncontractwiththe
Lorings- meaningshe will have nocontact withthe babyaftershe givesitup. Duringthe secondand
thirdtrimestersof Juno'spregnancywhichshe treatswithcare but detachment,Juno'srelationships
withherfamily,withPaulie,andwiththe Loringsdevelop,the latterwhose onthe surface perfect
life maskssome hiddenproblems.
ReceptionTheory
Receptiontheoryprovidesameansof understandingmediatextsbyunderstandinghow these texts
are readby audiences.Theoristswhoanalysemediathroughreceptionstudiesare concernedwith
the experience of cinemaandtelevisionviewingforspectators,andhow meaningiscreatedthrough
that experience.Animportantconceptof receptiontheoryisthatthe mediatext—the individual
movie ortelevisionprogram—hasnoinherentmeaninginandof itself. Instead,meaningiscreated
inthe interactionbetweenspectatorandtext;inotherwords,meaningiscreatedasthe viewer
watchesandprocessesthe film.Receptiontheoryarguesthatcontextualfactors,more thantextual
ones,influence the waythe spectatorviewsthe filmortelevisionprogram.Contextual factors
include elementsof the viewer'sidentityaswell ascircumstancesof exhibition,the spectator's
preconceivednotionsconcerningthe filmortelevisionprogram'sgenre andproduction,andeven
broad social,historical,andpolitical issues.Inshort,receptiontheoryplacesthe viewerincontext,
takingintoaccount all of the variousfactorsthat mightinfluence how she orhe will readandcreate
meaningfromthe text.
The directorof the filmaskedthe BBFCfor a rating of PG, to whichthe BBFC denieddue tothe
stronguse of the work f*ck,to whichit wasnot directedatanyone inthe filmas itwas usedtoJuno
whenshe isinlabour,reactingto the pain.Alsoitcontaineda moderate sex reference suchaswhen
Juno’sknickersdroptothe floor,insinuatingthattheywere abouttohave sex,alsoa brief sightof a
gory scene froma horror movie titled,‘The Wizardof Gore’helpedagainstthe PGcertificate asthe

4. filmitself wasrated18. Aftersome cutswere made,the BBFCgave the filma12A rating.
PreferredReading iswhenaudiencesrespondtothe product the way mediaproducerswant/expect
themto, negotiatedReadingiswhenamemberof the audience partlyagreeswithpartof the
product.e.gFilm,documentary,TV programme andfinally oppositionalReading iswhenthe
audience are incomplete disagreementwiththe product’smessage orsetting. Now relatingthisto
the BBFC ratingJuno an 18 I thinktheysaw thisfilmfroman oppositional readingbecause they
didn’tagree withthe elementsandspeechusedwithinthe filmwhichiswhytheysuggestedascene
cut to make the filmmore of a negotiatedreadingwhichbasically the BBFCagree withsome
representationsbutnotall. My viewonthisfilmisnegotiatedwhichmeansthatIagree withsome
representationsof the filmbutnotall of them, forexample one Iagree withisJunoand the wayshe
handlesthe pregnancy.She doesn’tgoboastingaboutitto everyone inschool,she keepsitto
herself forawhile andthen tellsherbestfriendandthendecidestotell herfatherandstep-mother.
Aftera fewweeksof knowingshe ispregnantshe decidestogive the babyupforadoptionafterit’s
born,because she knowsshe isnotwell andmature enoughto lookafterthe baby.She thenstarts
lookingfora couple thatwouldadoptthe babyand findsMark and VanessaLoring,theyare a couple
that unfortunatelycan’tconceiveachildsoare lookingtoadoptone. Now movingontothe part I
disagree aboutthe filmwhichiswhyIsaidI had a negotiatedreading,itisthe relationshipbetween
Junoand Mark Loring. Theirrelationshipisdefinitelynotnormal, Mark is presumably in his mid-
to-late thirties, yet he’s still very much stuck in emotional adolescence. His wife Vanessa is
desperate to adopt, as the couple has been unable to conceive naturally. Mark is ambivalent
at best, as he still has rock-star dreams to pursue. During their first meeting, a gathering at
which legal papers are being drawn up to facilitate the Lorings’ adoption of Juno’s child, it
becomes clear that Mark has more in common with a teenage girl than with his
professional, aspiration-filled adult wife. While the attorney, Vanessa, and Juno’s father
discuss paperwork in the living room, Juno and Mark engage in an impromptu guitar jam
session in the latter’s “music space”. I just think this is very creepy and usual and as the
audience you notice that something is up, the fact that Mark followed her up there and
started talking about his passion is to me quite childish. He just left his wife who really
wants to adopt Juno’s baby in the middle of signing legal documents to follow Juno upstairs
and discuss music. This is why I think the film has a negotiated reading from my point of
view.

5. When it comes to the view on this filmfrom different age groups, gender, ethnicity and
social class I think they all have a different opinions on the matter. Starting with age, I think
the different opinions of the filmwould matter on the generation, for example if a 80 year
old women watched the filmand a 16 year old girl watched the film I think their review on
the film would be entirely different. The young girl would see the funny side of Juno and not
really judge her because of her pregnancy because she in the generation she lives in its
quite a common thing to happen. But for the old women it would be the opposite, back in
her day she would most likely be frowned upon and disowned for being pregnant at such a
young age and I think this is why age matters when reacting to a film. Now onto gender,
because Juno is about a teenage girl who gets pregnant and the story focuses on her I think
that clearly Girls/Women will relate to the film more than Boys/Men. Girls/Women more
because some women have gone through pregnancy and know what it likes and some girl
because they will be expecting to get pregnant in the future. Moving onto Ethnicity, for
example if the filmwas shown in Africa this is a country with lack of contraception is some
areas so becoming pregnant at 16 might not be such a big deal. As for other countries
around the world with basic contraception everywhere, this could come across as a big deal.