STUART HALL

Encoding/Decoding

Encoding/Decoding
The basic premise of Halls encoding/decoding model of communication is that the media apparatus has an interest in

production, circulation, distribution, consumption, and reproduction rather than conveying a message.

Hypothesis

In the encoding/decoding model of media dialogs developed by Stuart

Hall, the meaning of the text is located between its producer and the reader. The producer (encoder) framed (or encoded) meaning in a certain way, while the reader (decoder) decodes it differently according to his/her personal background. According to Hall, the meaning within a text is neither a fixed concept, nor a totally uncertain polysemy (diversity of meanings).

Reading Types
Dominant (or 'hegemonic/preferred) reading: the reader fully

shares the text's code and accepts and reproduces the preferred reading (a reading which may not have been the result of any conscious intention on the part of the author(s)) - in such a stance the code seems 'natural' and 'transparent';

Negotiated reading: the reader partly shares the text's code and

broadly accepts the preferred reading, but sometimes resists and modifies it in a way which reflects their own position, experiences and interests - this position involves contradictions;

Oppositional ('counter-hegemonic') reading: the reader, whose

social situation places them in a directly oppositional relation to the dominant code, understands the preferred reading but does not share the text's code and rejects this reading, bringing to bear an alternative frame of reference

Reading Types Explained

Firstly, when the decoders point is near to the encoders,

he / she will interpret within the frame of the dominant codethe preferred reading.

For example, iPod launched their first advertisement

promoting a new product in 2001. The dominant encoded meaning in this advertisement is perpetual dancing through break-dance and other techniques. Essentially, the dominant intent of this advertisement is excitement, joy, and how one may experience a mind-altering temporary pleasure from an iPod. Although this reaction to music is unrealistic, Apple has instilled this pleasurable, innate response from musical enjoyment.

 Secondly, when the decoders position is opposite to the encoders, the decoder will create his/her own version of the message with a totally different intention; the decoder may read subversively and against the dominant meanings from an oppositional point of view.

Thirdly, and in many cases, the decoder will adopt a negotiated position, which is to accept some aspects of the dominant meaning, but reject and alters others, to suit their understandings and goals.