Intro
People interact with films in many different ways, some people view a film to kill time or just enjoy the movie were as others are more active in their viewing and like to interact and perhaps question the films reading. Some films are more ambiguous and leave the audience with an open ending giving them lots of work to do in figuring out what happened after the film. A passive audience member may dislike a film like this as they prefer to sit and absorb information instead of reading or questioning the true meaning behind the film. Some people go the extra mile to represent a film they like, they may have an emotional connection with the film and represent that via buying merchandise and/or cosplaying as their favourite film characters.
Passive & Active viewer-ship
People interact with films in many different ways, some people view a film to kill time or just enjoy the movie were as others are more active in their viewing and like to interact and perhaps question the films reading. Passive viewers are the first kind, they just sit down and enjoy a film without reading into its preferred meaning they watch films purely for entertainment. Some suggest that passive viewers are vulnerable to manipulation as they absorb all of the information a film throws at them without questioning it. A study from Frankfurt School in the 1930's calls Film the opium of the people, referring to it as a drug due to the fact that people may enticed by film into accepting incorrect values without being critical or questioning them. This is also the idea behind propaganda films which aim to influence the viewer and mould their political values to gain an advantage. The passive viewer may accept these values without questioning them. Active viewers may be more involved in the meaning of the film that they are watching. This suggests that all viewers are different and may perceive the text differently having different opinions on the meaning, this conflicts with passive viewers who are said to all share the same perspective on film. Active viewers don't just consume what they are told to watch via marketing but may go out of their way to find films they like. For example Active spectators of the horror genre may go out of their way to find different new or old horror films in order to sample everything that that genre has to offer, the active viewer knows that they like the tropes of a horror film so will seek them out when finding films to watch.
Preferred reading & Oppositional reading
Some films may have a hidden meaning that many audience members may not understand. A preferred reading is when the viewer takes up the films intended message and does not look any deeper than that, this is common of passive viewers as often oppositional readings are only found when the film is looked at and question by an active viewer from another perspective. Many films a have multiple meanings or opening endings leaving the audience to figure out the true meaning behind the film, as well as this some films may be non linear and difficult for some viewers to understand if they are not fully focused on trying to piece the story together. An oppositional reading is when the viewer rejects the films intended response and believes it means something, this may be to do with the films hidden message or how it represents a certain culture or political view.
An example of a popular film that people have preferred and oppositional readings for is Avatar. James Cameron said that the intention behind Avatar is that the Aliens are a primitive species who represent the native American people, they are noble and honourable but their land is destroyed by the invading humans who are said to represent white people when they settled in America. They came over and destroyed the land due to their greedy consuming way of using natural resources. This is the preferred meaning as it is the message that the director is trying to get across however some people have an oppositional reading to this film, that reading is that the Alien people represent the native Americans but are portrayed as savage and primitive and looked at as lesser than the Humans who represent the white people, this was down to the fact that the humans wanted to wipe out the aliens as they believed they were savage and did not want to coexist with them whilst they were using the aliens planet for its natural resources. People read the film this way and were offended as the majority of the cast used for the aliens were African American or of native American decent.
Fandom
Fandom is when a viewer or group of viewers go the extra mile to proclaim them self as a fan of a film. Audience's can be effected by film but also have the ability to effect films, and this applies in both ways to fandom. Fans are a set of people who really enjoy a certain film, series or character from the film. They often use this film or character to express themselves and can relate to them. They will often go the extra mile and make their favourite film their hobby to, they may do this by starting a blog, making videos on their favourite film, attending fan events and conventions, buying merchandise that relates to their favourite film and even dressing up and role playing as their favourite characters from the film. For them fandom is a way of life they love and respect their favourite film and may be considered obsessed with it, this obsession can effect the film itself as some fans turn director and create fan made homages to the film and/or even write their own fan fiction (short story's set in the films universe.) The most poignant example of a fandom is the Star Wars community. The fans of Star was helped turn the film into a cultural phenomenon by obsessing over it, they hold conventions to meet cast and crew whilst cosplaying (dressing up) as their favourite characters from the film. They may do this as they would rather live a life of fantasy than live their own life, it can be seen as a form of escape is from the mundaneness of everyday life. The introduction of social networking sites such as Facebook has given opportunity for many fan groups like this to be created as fans can communicate with other fans around the world online and even set up events.
Online Presence
Many films and film franchises have a strong online presence, this could be through the films website or various social media accounts such as facebook pages and twitter accounts. Films can do this to interact with their audience better helping them gain a better understanding of them which may help them create a better product in the future. Films may also use their online presence to stay relevant and in the public eye for longer gaining more attention. Movies tend have a heavy online presence when it comes to advertising, companys can advertise on websites that their target audience are likely to visit such as youtube and facebook overall having a good online presence may be effective in boosting your audience.
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