Assassin's Creed and reception theory- 8

Assassin's Creed and reception theory


Stuart hall- reception theory (encoding/ decoding model)
  • producers use media language to encode meanings within media products, which audiences can then decode and negotiate in a variety of different ways.
  • Audiences may agree with the preferred reading of the product, in other words they will agree with the ideology of the producer. The audience also may disagree with the producer's ideology and form an oppositional reading of the product.
  • It is most likely, however, that the audience will negotiate the message of the producer, and will agree with certain ideological aspects while rejecting others. 
it suggests that audiences have agency and can make their own decisions based on their own life experiences. reception theory is an active audience theory.

preferred / dominant reading- the audience agrees with the dominant ideological perspective encoded by the producer

oppositional theory- the audience disagrees with the ideological perspective of the theory  

negotiated reading- the audience agrees with certain ideological aspects of the media product, while dismissing and disagreeing with others (the most common)


Negotiating the Assassin's Creed franchise


dominant ideological perspectives of the assassin's creed franchise:
  • violence can be justified if it is used to further a political or ideological cause
  • violence is an acceptable and enjoyable activity to simulate in a videogame 
opposition reading:
violence can ever be justified, violence is glorified and makes light of historical accuracy and issues

preferred reading
it is acceptable to be violent for ideological causes, this is not real life and is enjoyable 

negotiated
violence is acceptable in some situations but the depiction in the videogame is over the top and graphic

aberrant reading: an audience doesn't get the point and misinterpreted the game 
e.g. practice fighting skills to use in real life 

issues with reception theory
audiences don't care about dominant ideologies, we can play games however we want, ignoring how its supposed to be played or what its about.












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