What I did on - 28/03/2012 an 29/03/2012

Yesterday i found out that the 1970s media theorists Blumler and Katz presented their model of audiences uses and gratifications, declaring that their are 5 main reasons why the audiences consume media text:

1. To be informed and to be educated.
2. In order to identify with character and situation.
3. To be entertained.
4. To enable themselves to socially interact with others ( by watching, listening or reading together or through discussion of what they'd seen, read or heard).
5. To escape from their daily troubles and woes.

For the 1st one I believe some people would want to watch shows that they could get knowledge from e.g 'Secret Diary of a call girl' which most people would watch to see how a 'call girls' life is and if she is living a normal life or struggling to hide her identity. So some people would want to know what the medias perception of a 'call girl' is. Most people watch documentaries for the same reason; to understand the truth behind history the present and the future and what why and how it happened or it will happened; its mainly all for self knowledge and instead of reading from a book people watch it for a better understanding, some people get engaged by images/pictures.

For the 2nd one I believe that people who are not as socially active or do not have a wide range of friends would decide to watch shows with a range of characters in e.g ' Friends' and build a relationship of understanding the characters although they would not actually have met the characters. They would  want to identify the situations and imagine themselves in it or be able to relate to it in one way or another. Some people want to see other peoples life's, they would be nosy people if they looked at their own next door neighbors life or their friends life however when its an act on T.V and you want to compare your life or see other peoples life then why not watch it? its on T.V.

The 3rd theory is 'to be entertained' most people who watch sitcoms would watch it because they would be able to make fun of the characters or have a laugh about the stereotypes of the characters or the race of the characters without being racist themselves. For example in 'The Big Bang Theory' Pennie is blonde so its stereotyped therefore the audience would feel the privilege  of being a much more dominant person compared to her. Penny's a waitress and a aspiring actress meaning she is 'working class' that would mean the audience would feel superior; they would be entertained by her words as she is seen as 'blonde' they would automatically find her stupid and everything she says would make them laugh - at her stupidity.

The third theory is very common; most people would watch shows to either have a really good lengthy conversation or be able to socially interact with their friends without awkwardness. They would like to have a similarity withe her/his friends; they would be become closer due to this. similarities bring people closer especially when you can relate to each other and share your opinions on the show/sitcom/movie with your friends

The last theory is that they watch it to relieve stress, i agree. i watch stand up comedies and sitcoms to get rid of the problems I face at school; if Im having an exam its my way of escaping.Many people who go to work, get bossed around by their boss, they are stressed out a lot and upset then they watch entertaining shows to make them laugh and make their life look easier compare to others. They would be able to feel less unhappy about their own situations.

SITCOM

A situation comedy- commonly referred as a 'sitcom' is a genre of comedy performance in which recurring characters take part in humorous story lines centered around the common environment of home(family) or workplaces. It is mainly a group of people who take part in it. People watch sitcom's to be able to get rid of their own problems and get away from work/income stress.

One of the sitcoms 'The Big Bang Theory' focuses on the relationship of some bachelors who are all over-intelligent and they live together in an apartment. They are stereotypical 'geeks/nerds' Lenard is socially active rather than the other boys. Raj is an Indian boy who finds it difficult to talk to women and is stereotyped as a typical Indian boy would be ; they mention how he is rich and relate his character to the 'Taj Mahal' although Raj has nothing to do with it. Howard on the other hand is completely the opposite he seems to be the one trying not to be categorized as a 'nerd'. Unlike Sheldon, Raj and Leonard; Howard does nit have a PhD .He wants to have a girlfriend that looks like Megan Fox and has looked for them. Howard is a typical boy, he is interested in lust. Sheldon is a difficult character; you would not necessarily see him smile (AT ALL) he is very sarcastic and intelligent. The odd one out between all of them is Penny; the 'dumb blonde' who lives at an apartment near them. Penny is a waitress and an aspiring actress.

People would watch this for their own entertainment ; to relieve themselves from work stress. The Big Bang Theory' is aired on Thursdays at 8:00pm which means its not a show that would be inappropriate for teenagers at the same time adults that come from work would get a chance to watch it ; its not on too late or too early.

The audience for sitcoms would most certainly watch it to be informed and educated which would lead to understanding the characters and relating their own situations to the actual actors and characters of the sitcom, once they are familiar with the characters and their behaviors they would most certainly be entertained and engaged . They would want to watch the show all the time without missing it. They would then inform their friends or talk about the show to their friends to inform them of how you feel with one of the characters behavior so they would socially interact with their friends using the sitcom as a similarity. Having a similarity with your friends e.g watching the same shows, playing the same games or reading something similar could help them relate to each other more and be able to form an understanding and have a laugh with one another.

Some people who go out to work and are having troubles in their life with either bills or struggling to get a promotion, being bossed around by their boss would watch a sitcom to give them a relief and show them that life is not that hard; they would either watch the actors get hurt and laugh to make their own situation look less worrying or they would laugh at the jokes because they feel relieved from all the stress.