This is the page where I will compile various research and plans together for my future draft. I plan to expand my ideas on this page widely and neatly so I can come back to my planning page during the production of the magazine in a checklist kind of manner.
The Audience Theory
The audience theory is composed of two different theories that have been thought of by three significant people. These theories are able to explain how a magazine is able to make a person buy it. There is also a concept that links in to the theories which goes by the name representation. Representation works by using messages and stereotypes in the media to make the audience believe certain things about the ideas, people and places that are being represented to us. The other 2 theories are "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs" and "Uses of Gratifications" by Blumler and Katz.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
This theory suggests that each human being goes through 5 stages throughout their lives and at each stage, there are different motivations that drive us towards a certain thing.
These five stages go as follows:
Physiological - The physical requirements for human survival. People who are really into human survival would target media to do with human survival.
Safety - Personal security, financial security, health and well-being, safety net against accidents/illness and their impacts. People who are cautious about their health, financial security and personal security might target media that focus on that.
Belongingness/Love - Human beings need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance among their social groups. People who are in a romance or who want to feel like the belong somewhere, they'd be targeting media to do with belongingness and love.
Esteem - The human need for status recognition, fame, prestige and attention. People who need to raise their self esteem or would like to find out about celebrities would target media that contain references to status and fame. e.g, glamour magazines.
Self-actualisation - the need to be the best that one can be. People who would want to become the best they could be, would target media that would help them improve to be a better person.
Uses and gratifications by Blumler and Katz
Blumler and Katz's "Uses and Gratifications" theory, established in 1974, suggest that media users play an active role in choosing and using the media. The theorists say that a media user seeks out the media source that best suit their needs.
The so called "user" has four basic needs.
Diversion - the idea that we interact with media to distract ourselves from our responsibilities by through, sex appeal, relaxation, entertainment and emotional release that we are able to do due to media.
Personal Relationships - the idea that we interact with characters in media as if they were our close friends due to the fact that we know so much about them. Due to the fact that we interact with the characters so much, we are able to get close to our relatives who do the same.
Personal Identity - the idea that we have the need to find reinforcement for personal values, reinforcement of beliefs. Additionally, we have the need to identify with a valued other from the media and the need to gain insight into one's self.
Surveillance - the idea that we need to use the media in order to have a sense of awareness of what's going on around us in the world. E.g, watching the news.
The two theories are able to link in together as personal relationships link in with love and belonging. Personal identity is able to link in with esteem and surveillance links in well with self-actualization and safety.
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