Audience Theory Essay: The Rolling Stones - Waiting on a Friend

Audience Theory Essay

I’ve chosen to analyse the music video for ‘Waiting on a Friend’ by The Rolling Stones. The Rolling Stones are a British rock band that formed in 1962 and are still together today, despite their many changing line-ups.  The Rolling Stones currently consist of original members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and newest member Ronnie Wood, who has been working with the band since 1976. ‘Waiting on a Friend’ was originally recorded in the later years of 1972/early 1973, when Mick Taylor was still a member of the band. The single was re-worked in 1981, with additional lyrics that were considered for the possibility of a future music video, which made the video for ‘waiting on a friend’ the first promotional video by the Rolling Stones to appear on the emerging MTV channel, which was established in 1981. Michael Lindsay-Hogg  - who directed a number of videos for The Beatles and Wings - directed the video. He had worked with the Stones on previous projects and succeeded in creating a popular video for the MTV channel as ‘waiting on a friend’ was well received by the public.
Bulmer and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications theory is represented in the video. This is easy to assume as I am a member of the audience who would choose to consume the Rolling Stones. The uses and gratifications theory suggests that the audience have more control than what was once believed and that we are not manipulated by the media. The theory looks at the motives of those who consume the product and why they choose to consume it. The theory argues that the audience is active as they have a choice and are not forced into consumption. The audience have social and psychological needs which generate certain expectations about the media. The theory suggests that the audience has 4 needs, these are: Surveillance, Personal Identity, Personal Relationships and Diversion. People use surveillance to understand what is happening around them and to make themselves more aware. The audience could use this song for their surveillance need by understanding what that area of New York looks like and what the people living in that area appear like. They could also use it to be aware of how the world is changing by listening and interpreting the lyrics that Mick is singing. It may make them feel more secure about the feelings that they’re having or give them more of an understanding as to why change is happening in the world around them or why the Rolling Stones are behaving differently. An example of this would be how Mick sings about not needing alcohol and women, which he once sang about his love for. Personal identity is how the audience relates to certain situations. This is quite self-explanatory. Members of the audience could relate to what Mick is singing about or look up to him as a role model and copy his behaviour, which is how to identify themselves. People could also copy the style and behaviour of other members in the video, for example Keith’s scruffy clothing and smoking habit.  Personal relations is split into two categories; how we create personal relationships with the media and how we use the media to create relationships. The audience will fulfil this need by creating a personal relationship with the people in the video (for example they may agree with Mick’s point of view so much that they feel as though they know him and feel like they’re friends) or they may use to video as a platform to start a conversation with someone else. With the up rise in technology this is becoming increasingly easy as you can now comment and reply to comments on YouTube videos. The last need, Diversion, is used when the audience wants to divert their thoughts. As an audience member myself I understand that members of the audience often consume products to forget about their own troubles and distract themselves from a mundane task that may need to be completed. People will consume this video in order to be diverted from their everyday lives and forget about their troubles for a while.
Stuart Hall created the reception theory, which suggests that whoever produces the text encodes the product with values and messages (their ideology). Different spectators will decode the text in different ways, not always the way the producer intended. This is based on the audience’s own ideologies and life experiences. There are three types of readings: Dominant/Preferred, Negotiated and Oppositional. The dominant reading is what the producer intends the audience to read the product as. In the case of this video, the producer would intend for the audience to feel uplifted and appreciative of their friends as they will be there for you more than your vices. A negotiated reading is when the audience understands the message but think differently from the dominant reading. An example of this would be someone understanding what the producer is saying but disagreeing with the message by believing that maybe your friends will not always be there for you or maybe the representation of friends being there for you is unrealistic. An opposition reading is when the audience does not agree with the dominant reading at all. An example of this would be if an audience member was to watch the video and think it doesn’t make sense because none of the messages are meaningful, realistic or important and that they are just there to sell the product.
The hypodermic needle theory is the final audience theory. It implies that the media have a direct and powerful effect on audiences.  The mass media from the 20s to the 50s were perceived as a powerful influence on behaviour change. Several factors contributed to the strong effects on audiences created by the media these were: The rise of TV and Radio and the emergence of advertisements. The theory believes that mass media influence a large group of people by injecting them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response. An example of this would be the lyrics sung in the video. The cinematography makes the band appear powerful, desirable and believable. This makes their actions and beliefs (lyrics) more trustworthy to the audience, thus making them behave like the Rolling Stones. This theory is quite outdated, as we now understand that the audience is active and makes their own decision about the media they consume and can have different readings of a product.