Welcome back, for our task 3 of unit 1 of education Vlogs, todays Vlog is about the target audience The Avatar is aimed.
John Hartley (1987) and Ien Ang (1991) suggested that producers create invisible fictions or imaginary entries before creating a media product.
Age-
The age, the target demographic of this product is most likely aimed at is a younger audience between the ages of 12-18, however the age could vary as you could say I t goes as far as 30 as it is such a diverse film for example it would entertain the 12-18 year olds through the use of the explosions and pyrotechnics via the genre action and the older group of people aged 19-30 might be entertained through the use of Computer Generated images and special effects as they are sci-fi fans and this appeals to them or even if they have been a fan of the genre from a younger age and they like to keep up to date with the new techniques available to see how it has developed and for this reason
'The Avatar' is
amazing as it introduced several new way to go about using computer generated
images, special effects and sound effects. The reason I said that the film aims
at these ages are that the film is rated a 12 and is therefore deemed
unsuitable for anyone under this age as the film uses violence and aggression
throughout it to represent the narrative of mankind uses force to get what they
want.(Throughout out this section there will be an example on screen) as shown
on the BBFC website here http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/12a-and-12
Gender-
The gender for the product I am analysing is most likely dominantly male as this is the stereotype for the genre action/adventure and fantasy/Sci-fi however it would appeal to both genders depending on what genre they like/what their lifestyle is like, 'The Avatar' has hundreds of different way to entertain both genders whether it’s the action that entertains you or the bit of romance used between Jake Sully and Neytiri or even just the CGI (Computer Generated Images) and colourful images that kept you glued to the screen. For example the colour blue, which is a stereotypical representation of the genre sci-fi, is used throughout the film to promote the film as futuristic as well as all the explosions and pyrotechnics used all connote the genre action and sci-fi. However like I said before the films gender is most likely 65% male and 35% female.
First let’s start off with explaining what is meant by the term lifestyle (Shown on screen as well) Lifestyle is a way of categorising how a person lives i.e. a target audience that a product is aiming at for example the classification A is affluent achievers, B is thriving greys , C is settled suburban's, D is nest builders, E is urban ventures, F is country life, G is senior citizens, H is producers, I is hard-pressed families, J is have-nots and K is unclassifiable~(People that are not targeted i.e. the unemployed, all of this is shown on screen).The NRS-National readership survey is a independent organisation which holds all the statistics of audience i.e. the age, gender, spending power and lifestyle.
The lifestyles that are attracted by this film are varied as you could say the film 'The Avatar' can target all of the sections as it’s a family film and families can’t be categorised as they are in all sections. However the film would have still been aimed at specific categories such as the category A-affluent achievers as they can afford it, C- settled suburbans for the family and teenagers aged 12-18 as they could use this film as a sort of escape from reality which relates to McQuails theory from 1972, D- nest builders as they are most likely parents, E-urban ventures for the young people in the city, F-country life as they might use this film to escape from reality this is a term know as escapism. H-producers as they are artistic and might be intrigued the computer generated images and special effects and finally I- hard pressed families, I picked these as the categories that 'The Avatar would aim at because these section are the most likely to watch this film as they most likely have families within them and therefore children/teenagers that would want to watch this film and escape from reality (McQuail, 1972).
Spending power;
Now let’s move on to spending power, now if your confused at this point don't worry because on screen is the explanation.
Now that you know what spending power is we will move on to what section The Avatar is in, Yes sections there's sections now don't worry I felt the same, why complicate things but actually its quite simple all that it is section A, B, C1/2, D and E (Shown on screen what the different section mean) section A (Upper middle-class) is the group with the most spending power which therefore means they have well-paid jobs such as doctors and lawyers i.e. Higher managerial, administrative or professional careers. Section B is the Middle class section, which is the intermediate managerial, administrative or professional. C1 is lower middle class, which is supervisory or clerical, junior managerial, administrative or professional. C2 is skilled working class, which are skilled manual workers. D is working class, which is Semi and unskilled manual workers. And finally E, E is those of the lowest level of subsistence such as state pensioners or windows (no other earner). Casual/low grade workers. The Avatar falls into all these categories as it is aimed at children and teenagers between the ages of 9-18 and because of the young ages the film also aims at families and as families are in all sections of the spending power (A, B, C1/2, D and E), However James Cameron would have most likely aimed at the sections A, B and C as they have more spending power I.e. money to waist on watching the movie in the cinema and buying action figures (Merchandise) which means more money for him.
Users and gratifications
Dennis McQuails theory states that there are four reasons why people consume media, the first is for surveillance which is to find out information in this case 'The Avatar' uses this in a broader sense as you could interpreted the narrative of the avatar as showing surveillance in a broader sense for example when the humans on Pandora (Marines specifically) try to destroy wild life or anything that gets in their way to get what they want and that not everyone is accepted.
The second is escapism which is where you are trying to get away from the stresses of the real world so you watch a film to relax, 'The Avatar' uses this by giving the audience somewhere to escape to whether its just from the stresses of life or even by just providing a topic of conversation which links to the fourth reason for why people watch media products, for building personal relationship.
The third is for building personal identities which is where people use media personalities, the star persona the people in the media use to relate to their audience (Richard Dyers, 1975) as role models which brings us back to Carl Rodgers theory on ideal self and partner from 1980.They do this by creating their 'Star persona' through what the audiences likes i.e. they create the persona based around the audiences interests and hobbies. In 'The Avatar' the produces follow John Hartley (1987) and Ien Ang (1991) theory that produces use imaginary entities. They do using Jake Sully and Neytiri characters to create an ideal self and partner (Carl Rodgers, 1980).
