I remember many days sitting at the lunch room table with friends during lunch break discussing our favourite series Scandal. I will admit, I am not really a TV person but the excellent story, thrill and suspense kept me engrossed throughout the entire seven seasons. I eventually developed an interest for most of Shonda Rhimes’ series except How to get Away with Murder. My friends would recommend other TV shows for which I was very selective. Eventually, they knew what series I liked and they were certain that I would not have liked Game of Thrones. Funny enough, neither was I interested in listening to their discussions about it. It was only after being exposed to Users and Grats theory that I asked them why they loved Game of Thrones. They were excited to inform me, “because it is great, epic, mind blowing and it gave them goosebumps”. One of them compared it to How to get Away with Murder in that they are “freak out kinda good pics”.
Essentially, the above is a simple explanation of what Users and Grats theory entails. It forecasts what effects media have in relation to its existence, needs, persuasion, and usages among others of the audience. Unlike the Magic Bullet theory, which assumed that the audience was docile and they received the information the same way. User and grats theory postulates that the power lies with the audience. They choose the type of media and the type of material. The media effects debate can be traced back to 1940 where there was an assertion that media would become obsolete if it does not focus on persuasion. The uses and grats theory states that people use media to suit their needs, to fulfill gratification, compete for time, and hence media affects people differently.
Alan Rubin’s typology posits 8 reasons that motivate people to watch television: passing time, companionship, escape, enjoyment, social interaction, relaxation, information and excitement. Rubin also articulated that some viewers develop an emotional attachment to media personality in which he calls a “parasocial relationship”. For example, they see the character as a friend. This can go beyond friendship in that the person may identify with an image or style of personality. For example, the main character on Scandal Olivia Pope, her personality is synonymous to many women over the world. She is ambitious, courageous, has a classy sense of style and is good at her job.
With the diversity of media today, despite Rubin’s typology focuses of television, the same can hold true to all types of media. For instance, Voice of Barbados 92.2 F.M. has stations that cater to a wide demographic locally and regionally. It is a forum that busy persons, or blind persons can receive all of the reasons cited by Rubin.
There is some validity in the criticism as to whether this theory is humanistic or scientific. However, it seems to be a debate between the two disciplines. The media is not only reserved to the printed, radio or broadcast forum as these have embraced technology to be more socially accessible. Thereby they would have utilized the tenets of a scientific theory: predictability, testable, utility and quantitative. We all know that a large amount of research has to go into film production and so on. Therefore, writers and producers ought to know what are the needs and desires of the intended audiences. The advice in relation to testable predictions, however, is noted and accepted.
Khadijah Austin 