Audience positioning

Definition

Audience positioning refers to the techniques used by media creators to establish a relationship between the content and its viewers, shaping how the audience perceives characters, themes, and narratives. This concept is crucial for understanding how different genres manipulate viewer expectations and engagement through tropes and storytelling conventions, effectively guiding the audience's emotional and intellectual responses.

5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test

1. Audience positioning helps creators manipulate viewer emotions by creating relatable or contrasting characters that align with specific genre expectations.
2. In contemporary TV, genre deconstruction often flips traditional audience positioning, subverting familiar tropes to surprise and engage viewers.
3. The way a show positions its audience can lead to different interpretations of character motivations and plot developments based on prior genre knowledge.
4. Effective audience positioning can enhance viewer investment, making them more likely to resonate with the characters' journeys and decisions.
5. Shows that challenge conventional audience positioning can lead to discussions about societal norms, cultural commentary, and audience self-reflection.

Review Questions

• How does audience positioning influence emotional engagement with characters in TV shows?
  • Audience positioning plays a key role in shaping how viewers connect emotionally with characters. By crafting relatable protagonists or complex antagonists, creators guide audiences toward specific feelings such as empathy or disdain. This manipulation of perception can elevate the stakes of the narrative, making viewers more invested in the characters' journeys as they reflect their own values or experiences.
• Analyze how contemporary TV shows deconstruct traditional genre tropes through audience positioning.
  • Contemporary TV shows often challenge traditional genre tropes by employing techniques that subvert audience expectations. By reimagining familiar character archetypes or plot devices, these shows reposition their audiences to question long-held assumptions about genres. This deconstruction not only provides fresh narratives but also prompts viewers to engage critically with the content, exploring deeper themes and societal commentary.
• Evaluate the impact of audience positioning on viewer interpretation of narrative structures in modern television.
  • Audience positioning significantly affects how viewers interpret narrative structures in modern television. When creators position their audience with an understanding of genre conventions, it can lead to predictable interpretations. However, when these conventions are subverted, viewers may find themselves reevaluating plot developments and character motivations. This evaluation fosters a dynamic viewing experience where interpretations can vary widely among audiences, reflecting personal perspectives and cultural contexts.

Related terms

Genre Tropes: Commonly recurring themes or motifs in a specific genre that help audiences quickly understand the type of story being presented.

Intertextuality: The relationship between texts, where one text references or echoes another, influencing how audiences interpret the meanings based on prior knowledge.

Narrative Structure: The framework that outlines the sequence of events in a story, influencing how audiences experience and engage with the narrative.