Some definitions...

Intertexuality: This is when one text refers to another. For example references to Alice in Wonderland are often made in other texts. In this video of footage from The Simpsons video game, Homer makes clear reference to Alice in Wonderland. 

Borrowed interest: This is when one text uses another to gain interest. Often used in advertising; a production company will approach a celebrity and ask them to feature in television adverts, billboards etc and endorse the product. People who like the featured celebrity will often go out and purchase the product, just because the celebrity endorsed it. E.g. the Gilette Razor Blade company using famous male sporting personalities. 




Audience theories: There are many theories about how an audience are effected by a media text; here are just a few.
- Hyperdermic syringe: Views audiences as passive receivers.
- Cultivation theory: Says that we form views about people from what we see in the media based on representations and stereotypes.
- Desensitisation: The more violence we see in media, the less we are effected by it.
- Copycat theory: Individuals copy the actions of those they see in the media.
- Uses and gratifications: What people do with the media to satisfy their social needs.
- Reception theory: How different individuals can take different meaning from a text.
- Ethnography: Looking at people's responses to a media from their point of view.
- Postmodernism: Analysing the boundaries between reality and media.

The two-step flow of communication: This idea was first introduced by Paul Lazarsfeld in 1944, then further developed by himself and Elihu Katz 11 years later. They said that "mass media is channeled to the 'masses' through opinion leadership. The people with the most access to media, and having a more literate understanding of media content, explain and diffuse the content to others".