AUDIENCE ESSAY

Audience, in media, are essential as they are the consumer of the products that are advertised and sold to them. Horror is relevant to the effects of media on the audiences because of it's controversial content. It often features scenes of graphic torture, nudity and violence that are considered taboo and it can affect viewers psychologically by either causing them to imitate it or feel afraid when they watch it. Horror films are commonly popular with young audiences because they are more likely to want to be scared by the content however, society has a greater concern because young audiences are more impressionable and may become exposed to content that's not suitable for their age, in fear that they might copy it. It can be argued that age restriction on films has become more liberal because in 1968, when 'Night of The Living Dead' was released it was given an 18 rating in the UK however films such as the 2013 version of 'Evil Dead', also a zombie film, was given a 15 showing how the film rating system has become more lenient. 
Two audience theories I will be applying to my trailer The Last Ones Left are the Mass Audience Theory and the Active Audience Theory. The mass audience theory argues that the audience are passive and influential so they may imitate what they see. Active audience theory disagrees and argues that the media texts are polysemic and can be interpreted in distinctive ways to the viewer and examines their responses.

The Hypodermic Needle or Effects Model is a theory that supports the mass audience by saying the messages from texts are injected into the audience and they are passive to this and passively accept the message. In horror this is significant because horror films are generally tales of morality, which is usually shown through a subtext like teen punishment, and the audience accept that meaning. It's commonly teenage girls or young women that are victims of the violence as a punishment for being promiscuous and the antagonist is conventionally a male who kills them with a phallic object, such as a knife, to represent forced penetration thus conveying male hegemony. This theory can be applied to The Last Ones Left because the trailer itself is edited with a fast pace so there’s a lot going on that would draw in the audience nonetheless. In the trailer for 'Sorority Row' the audience is immediately shown scenes of teenagers at a party, having presumably premarital sex and drinking which they shouldn't be doing and then the audience see one of the characters getting killed for being associated for that behaviour thus making the audience see or understand that by committing 'sins' they will be punished in real life. 

The Uses & Gratification Theory suggests that the audience use media texts as a way to meet their cognitive, affective, personal, social and stress relief needs. This shows that this is applicable to the active audience because the audience is using the media rather than the other way round. The Last Ones Left allows the audience to purge their affective and tension free needs because firstly, in the equilibrium of the trailer we see the characters are in distress and the audience would sympathise with them and might be able to relate the feeling to themselves. Secondly, it allows the audience to release tension and escape from reality due to the intense sound effects of the sirens which draws them into the world of the film.

The copycat theory is the idea people will imitate what they see. For example, the murder of Jamie Bulger is seen as an imitation of Child’s Play 3. Similarly, to desensitisation, The Last Ones Left doesn’t exhibit enough graphic violence to be imitated. However, if there were clips of excessive use of blood or someone being stabbed this would be applicable.  

Desensitisation is theory that implies that viewers become less sensitive to graphic violence and imagery over time due to being overexposed to it. It agrees with the mass audience theory by assuming that they will accept the message. It links to the copycat theory because when viewers become desensitized it means the content has less emotional impact on them so if they do imitate what they see they’ll feel no remorse. This theory can’t be applied to the Last Ones Left because there isn’t a high level of violence that anyone would imitate. In films such as The Human Centipede (1 & 2) the film is based on similar real life events and the fact it was banned in fear of it being imitated and being to graphic for impressionable viewers.

Catharsis is a type of release that takes the audience experience to purge themselves of negative emotions. In most films such as Saw there is excessive scenes of graphic and violent torture shown and the audience takes pleasure in watching this act being carried out and cleanses their own emotions. The strengths of it, some would say, is that it prevents harmful acts being carried out in real life by getting rid of those negative emotions and thoughts. In the trailer of The Last Ones left there isn't much evidence that would give the audience cathartic release however I would say at the beginning when they're afraid and are confused it allows the audience to experience those emotions also.