I’m trying to study for my Communications course and I need some help to understand this question.

Class context: Stuart Hall famously argued that audiences take an active role in interpreting media content and create meanings based on their own social positions, ushering in the field of audience reception studies. Per Hall, all audiences participate in “decoding” media, and in this process of decoding reconstruct the meaning for themselves. Audiences can even decode from a negotiated position, in which the audience rejects some of the intended message, or an oppositional position, in which the audience rejects the entire message. bell hooks builds on the oppositional position, describing the “oppositional gaze” that black female spectators bring to mainstream media as a source of power and critique. The proliferation of fan-produced media and criticism since the 1970s has allowed for the circulation of oppositional readings of mainstream media amongst fan communities.

Paper Instructions: In this paper, you will use Hall’s encoding/decoding model to consider the ways in which media audiences intentionally subvert the intended meaning of a particular media text. You will select a single movie or television show and analyze it how oppositional readings have subverted intended meanings. Your paper should consist of the following sections:

Introduction ? Introduce your topic and argument

Encoding and Circulation ? Research the production of your selected media example. Note the production company, network or distribution platform, and any additional research about finance or marketing ? Research the creative direction. Who is the showrunner, director, writer, etc? ? Describe content in greater detail. What is the genre? Who are the main characters? What are the main plot points? Here, try to describe any intended messages about politics, gender roles, or identity. Do these messages support dominant ideology? ? How popular is this film/program? You can indicate this through metrics such as how much money it has grossed, any published viewership numbers, or reviews. ? Why might those involved in the production process be motivated to make work that represents or is in harmony with dominant ideology?

Decoding and Oppositional Readings ? Research the oppositional audience reception. How have viewers of this film or television show indicated their oppositional or negotiated readings through criticism, fan-fiction, memes, or other forms of their own media production? ? Describe specific examples. How do these circulate and who is their primary audience? ? Indicate what position their critque is taking–feminist? queer? anti-capitalist? anti-racist? Here, try to describe the specific messages of the oppositional readings and how they subvert specific messages of the original media text

Conclusion ? Re-state your argument and trace how your previous two sections built towards your argument ? Consider any questions that this research brings up and what this particular case adds to the discussion of fan studies, and to Stuart Hall’s original model.

Citation requirements: ? Include at least two scholarly texts (you can select from the list below, you can use readings from our course, or you can utilize your own research –see below for tips on searching for academic work in this area) ? Cite any facts presented throughout your paper using a consistent citation style. Many of your sources might come from internet research or from the popular press. Use a citation guide to make sure you cite these correctly.