By: Sam Lorenzo
During Media Theory II class, which I was required to take this past winter term, I was introduced to the work of cultural theorist Stuart Hall. In 1973, Hall introduced Reception Theory to explain how audiences interpret messages through media. He emphasizes that although films, television shows, books, and games may have little-to-no inherent meaning, those who experience it construct their own interpretations to better understand what is being portrayed.
In Encoding and Decoding in the Television Discourse, Hall provides a model to show how messages in media are created, shared, and interpreted. He states that the audience can decode messages from the media they consume by using a combination of their personal contexts and social observations. Through this, Hall declares that the process of encoding/decoding media messages, as well as the concept of representation, draws meaning from/are dispersed through a plethora of communication layers, thus, resulting in three transcribed codes: dominant, oppositional, and negotiated.
The interconnectedness of these levels of communication are fueled through presuppositions that contour views on reality. Hall explains that a single meaning cannot exist nor be determined because audience members ultimately choose to adopt a “preferred meaning” that best fits their own personal narrative. These meanings can vary from a “scale [that] runs from dominant to subordinate” based on an individual viewer’s interpretations. Today, I was reminded of the lessons from Stuart Hall – particularly when it comes to the dominant, oppositional, and negotiated positions of interpretation and how language and pronunciation can be influential.
As someone who was raised speaking English, it is normal for me to communicate effectively with other native English speakers. Growing up and going to school in the United States increased my chances of understanding and being understood when conversing with my peers.
Speaking English in this case would be the dominant position for interpretation. At my internship, I’ve started to become good friends with my office mate, Bernice. We are both around the same age and have similar interests and worldviews. This afternoon, we were exchanging stories and getting to know each other better, but the way in which I was speaking was not completely clear to her.
“Sorry, it’s the accent,” she would say after asking me to repeat myself. I assured her that it was alright and then I would try to explain my thoughts better and annunciate more clearly. Internally, however, my mind went, “What accent?” I then thought about how I’m the foreigner here in Ghana and that Ghanaian culture and language are the dominant structures for interpretation. I’m the one with the American accent and in order to be understood better, I should make some adjustments to how I code and share my thoughts.
This really put into perspective how oblivious we can be when we’re so used to living within our own established cultures. Being more mindful of this can help enhance our knowledge and understanding of the world around us and the people we encounter.