Monday 2 October 2017

Reading Horror Movies

Polysemy - Media texts are open to multiple readings. Horror films are often deliberately ambiguous, (e.g. Babadook and The Shining)

The audience can also respond to texts in different ways outlined by the late, great Stuart Hall.

The producer encodes a meaning and the reader decodes the meaning.

Possible readings:
  • Preferred/Dominant
  • Oppositional
  • Negotiated
  • Aberrant