A Comparative Analysis of the Direct Effects Model and Stuart Hall's

Encoding/Decoding Approach

The general relationship of media to their audiences has been a point of fascination for scholars and
theorists in the field of communication studies. A number of approaches have been forwarded to
explain how people come into contact with media texts; each of these varies in the dynamics which
make up the process of media consumption. Such a premise opens up two paradigms in explaining
the nature of media audiences that starkly contrast each other, namely the Direct Effects Model and
Stuart Hall's Encoding/Decoding Approach. This essay intends to look at these two models; it shall
contend that they reflect fundamentally different ways of conceiving of media audiences-as passive
recipients or active participants in meaning-and elaborate on these insights through discussing two
media texts: Forrest Gump and Breaking Bad. I will first analyse the openness/closedness of each
text and then highlight a likely dominant, negotiated, and oppositional reading.

This model, associated with the hypodermic needle theory of media influence, assumes that media
messages are directly injected into the audience's consciousness, producing uniform and immediate
effects. This model emerged in the early 20th century, particularly during the rise of mass media,
when scholars and policymakers were increasingly concerned about the potential influence of media
on public opinion and behaviour (Klapper, 1960). This model depends on the concept of the active
sender and the passive receiver, that the audience is there to absorb media messages without
thinking critically about it-as if the outcomes were predictable.

Perhaps the most famous example used to describe the Direct Effects Model is Orson Welles's 1938
radio broadcast of War of the Worlds. The broadcast, which presented a fictional news report about
an alien invasion, reportedly caused panic among listeners who believed the event was real (Cantril,
1940). This incident exemplifies the model's premise that media can manipulate audiences directly,
resulting in immediate and uniform reactions. The underlying assumption in this respect would,
then, appear to be that an audience, bereft of critical faculties, acts always as a vulnerable target to
messages emanating from the media.

Critics say this model hugely simplifies the problematic nature of media consumption. Moreover,
critics have insisted that audiences are never passive recipients of messages; rather, they actively
negotiate meaning and interpret in relation to their experiences and social contexts. In this respect,
McQuail (2010) points out that such critique opened the way to more complex theories, including
Stuart Hall's Encoding/Decoding Approach.

Stuart Hall's model, which was presented in his seminal essay "Encoding and Decoding in the
Television Discourse" (1973), focuses on the active role audiences engage in while they interpret
media messages. Hall asserts that the meaning in a media text is not fixed but created through a
process of encoding by producers and decoding by audiences. What this model does establish is that
media texts can be open or closed with regard to interpretation.
Encoding is a process through which producers constitute messages, inserting specific meanings and
ideologies into a text. For example, a film may encode a particular message about the American
Dream through its characters and plotlines (Hall, 1980). Decoding is the process through which
audiences constitute meanings from these messages. Audiences bring their experiences, beliefs, and
cultural backgrounds to bear on a decoding process that leads to a variety of interpretations.

Hall identifies three types of readings that might be engaged in by audiences in their consumption of
media texts. First, there is a Dominant Reading where the meaning preferred by the text is accepted
by the audience, and therefore aligns with the message of the producer. For example, while
watching a political advertisement, a viewer may fully endorse the portrayal of a candidate. The
second is Negotiated Reading, whereby the audience perceives the meaning; however, reworks it
into their own context. For instance, in a romantic movie based on love, a viewer may enjoy the
message conveyed but will reject how realistically a relationship was portrayed. The third one is
Oppositional Reading, where the audience out-and-out rejects the intended meaning and makes an
alternative interpretation. For example, a viewer might watch an ad that speaks of consumerism and
reacts by thinking of its deeper, hidden meaning, where it has overtones of materialism (Hall, 1980).

The contrasting nature of these two models raises a critical question: Are media audiences passive
or active? The Direct Effects Model suggests a passive audience, easily influenced by media
messages, while Hall’s Encoding/Decoding model argues for an active audience that engages with
media texts in complex ways. The implications of these theories extend beyond academic discourse;
they shape our understanding of media literacy, audience agency, and the potential for media to
effect social change (Livingstone, 2005).

The onus of passive and active audience necessitates a closer analysis of two media texts that are
Forrest Gump and Breaking Bad. Each text provides a different opportunity for a further
investigation of how various types of audiences could engage with the different types of media
messages and the readings that may emerge from such an engagement.

Forrest Gump, directed by Robert Zemeckis and released in 1994, is a film that follows a man of low
IQ who finds himself unwittingly involved in various significant historical events in the United States
during the 20th century. It is an example of an open text because the message-especially in terms of
its themes concerning love, fate, and the American experience-is many-tiered.

A possible dominant reading of Forrest Gump is that it's a heartwarming tale of love and friendship,
accepting its portrayal of Forrest as a symbol of innocence and good intentions. A possible
negotiated reading: that the film is a nostalgic portrayal of American history, whereby viewers
recognize it has a poor history of accuracy in depicting events and social dynamics of marginalized
communities (Manggalasari and Luthfiyati, 2018). Finally, an oppositional teading might reject the
messages of the film, finding it to be too one-dimensional and sappy in its handling of American
history with no respect for alternative viewpoints.
Breaking Bad is a series created by Vince Gilligan, released in 2008, which talks about a high school
chemistry teacher who, in time, became a methamphetamine manufacturer or, as referred to in the
show, a cook. It is an open text because interpretations in a series can easily be made concerning
themes involved, such as morality, family, and the American Dream.

One possible dominant reading of Breaking Bad is that it is a gripping drama about the consequences
of moral compromise, it would accept its presentation of Walter White as a multi-dimensional and
seriously flawed individual. Another possible negotiated reading is that it is an interesting
investigation of family relations and power corruption, whereby audiences recognize the issue of
how it portrays certain characters problematically (Mitell, 2015). Finally, an oppositional Reading
might reject the messages within the show, seeing it as a glorification of violence and drug use that
reinforces negative stereotypes.

This analysis furthers the importance of cultural and social contexts in which media texts are
consumed. Audiences bring their experiences, beliefs, and values that characterize them to the
process of decoding, hence coming up with diverse sets of meanings for media messages. This,
therefore, calls for the need for media producers to be sensitive to the potential implications of their
messages and strive for greater cultural sensitivity and awareness.

The evolution of digital media through the proliferation of social media platforms has further
complicated this complex dynamic of audience engagement. Today, an audience is no longer a
passive consumer but contributes to the creation and dissemination of information in their own
right. This reality functions quite in variance with the traditional assumptions found in the Direct
Effects Model of how people used to engage with media texts. For example, social media allow
people to engage in acts of commenting, sharing, and re-mixing of former content by being co-
creators of meaning rather than passive recipients. Participatory culture corresponds more to Hall's
approach of Encoding/Decoding because it underlines the agency of the audience members in active
negotiations over meaning according to their very unique views and situations in life. Besides, the
prospect of discussing and debating media texts in real time fosters an informed and critical
audience who can see and challenge the ideologies through media messages. For this reason, media
producers have to become increasingly sensitive to the range of meanings that may be generated
from their texts, which hence complicates the issue of audience agency in the digital era. This
evolution underlines not only the relevance of Hall's model within the current debates on media
influence but also the necessity of an ongoing dialogue about the responsibilities of creators and
consumers of media in shaping public discourse.

In other words, the Direct Effects Model and Stuart Hall's Encoding/Decoding Approach represent
two major different understandings of media audiences: while the former has viewed them as
passive recipients of media messages, the latter have emphasized an active role they play in
interpreting and negotiating meanings. We can develop a more subtle notion of media influence and
of its potential to shape our perceptions, attitudes, and behaviours only when recognizing the
complex diversity of media audiences.
 References

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the famous Orson Welles broadcast (Howard Koch’s freely adapted version of H.G.

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Herta Herzog. Princeton University Press.

Hall, S. (1980). Culture, Media Language. Taylor & Francis.

Hall, S. (1973). Encoding and decoding in the television discourse. Birmingham Univ. Of

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Klapper, J. T. (1969). The effects of mass communication. Free Pr.

Livingstone, S. M. (2005). Audiences and Publics: When Cultural Engagement Matters for

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Manggalasari, D. S., & Luthfiyati, D. (2018). AN ANALYSIS THE CHARACTER OF

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