The Resourceful Reader

Interpreting Television Characters and Narratives

Bibliographic Data

ID7499792
AuthorsSonia M Livingstone (London School of Economics and Political Science), Sonia Livingstone (0000-0002-3248-9862, corresponding author)
Year1992
Volume15
Issue1
Pages58-90
Publication date1992-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnnals of the International Communication Association (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2380-8977 • E-ISSN: 2380-8985
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/23808985.1992.11678835
OpenAlexW25423559
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited21

The television viewer is an active interpreter, not a passive recipient, of programs. Viewers’ interpretations of programs mediate television effects. The “active viewer” is accepted by both traditional and critical mass communication scholars, allowing for a possible convergence between these two schools through a more sophisticated theory of the relation between text and reader. Recent empirical research within the reader-reception theory tradition is discussed. An original research program is described in which the “role of the reader” is explored, using both quantitative and qualitative methods to show how viewers’ interpretations of programs depend on their sociocognitive resources (a summary of experiences and understandings of everyday life) as well as on program structure. Theoretical problems with reception research are considered, focusing on the differences between comprehension and interpretation and between consensus and divergence, and the nature of the preferred reading and the active viewer

Comprehension · Divergence (linguistics · Epistemology · Interpretation (philosophy · Interpreter · Linguistics · Media studies · Narrative · Reading (process · Reading comprehension · Reception theory · Sociology · Computer Science · Media Studies and Communication · Rhetoric and Communication Studies · Social Media and Politics

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