Xun Zhu (Vertin)
Introduction
Welcome to Media Insights, I’m Vertin, and today we’re going to talk about a classic theory: Stuart Hall’s “code/decode” model. This theory offered a new perspective on cultural studies in the 1970s, but in today’s digital age of stuffed algorithmic recommendations and fake news, can it continue to apply? Or does it need an update? Today we’ll think together!
podcast outline
1.Theoretical interpretation and background
Introduction to Hall’s “Coding/Decoding” Theory
The process of encoding and decoding information: three ways of interpretation: dominance, negotiation, and confrontation.
The core contribution of the theory: acknowledging audience agency and power relations in information dissemination.
2.The significance of contemporary media
Continuation of audience motivation
Gillette advertising case study: How to form collective action through oppositional decoding.
3.Critical thinking and limitations
Algorithmic power implicitly reproduces Facebook’s echo chamber effect case.
Inequality in technological literacy and decoding ability. Case of COVID-19 vaccine information dissemination: How cultural and technological gaps exacerbate the information gap.
4.Summary and suggestions
Contemporary value of theory
Future Prospects and Recommendations
Further reading
These are the relevant events I mentioned in the podcast below, and you can read further about the events if you’re interested.
“The Best Men Can Be“
Gillette launched an ad in 2019 called “The Best Men Can Be,” which focused on rethinking toxic masculinity. The ad was clearly coded to promote healthy gender perceptions. However, a section of the audience saw it as a demeaning image of men through opposing interpretations, and started the Boycott Gillette movement on social media.
Facebook’s Filter Bubble
One article noted that Facebook’s business model profited from the proliferation of extremism, bullying, hate speech, misinformation, conspiracy theories and rhetorical violence by creating “filter bubbles” – social media algorithms designed to increase engagement that create echo chambers where the most inflammatory content gets the most visibility
Some rural areas in India refuse vaccination
In rural India, misinformation about vaccines during COVID-19 was widely circulated, with some villagers refusing vaccinations due to a lack of scientific knowledge and media interpretation of vaccines.
Reference list
- García Canclini, N.（2008）. Hybrid cultures. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press.
- Hall, S.（2006）.‘Encoding/Decoding’，in Durham, M.G. & D. Kellner (2006), Media and Cultural Studies: Key works, Malden, MA: Blackwell, pp.163-173.
- Hall, S.（1982）.‘The Rediscovery of `Ideology’: Return of the Repressed in Media Studies’ in M. Gurevitch, T. Bennett, J. Curran & J. Woollacott (eds.) Culture, Society and the Mass Media. London: Routledge, pp. 56-90.
- Kellner, D. (1995). ‘Cultural Studies,Multiculturalism and Media Culture’. In Dines, G. & Humez, J.M. (eds.), Gender, Race and Class in Media. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, pp. 5-17.
- McLuhan, M. (1994). Understanding media: The extensions of man. MIT press.
- Pariser, E. (2011). The filter bubble: What the Internet is hiding from you. penguin UK.
