Social Action Theory

The social action theory, which was developed by Anderson and Meyer, suggests that movie’s and subsequently their ‘off-shoot’ products have hidden messages that influence their audience. Using this theory a producer can portray the artist in any way they wish, or portray other people/objects as anything they wish and interpret anything they want in any way to the viewer.

The theory suggests that the actor is seen as an autonomaus object by the viewer. The subject at hand is totally controlled by the actor, and their actions aren't controlled by any cultural or social structure. This theory is alot like the hypodermic needle effect, in the way it suggests actions are noted as acceptable by the passive audience. However, it sees it more from the viewpoint of the producer, who can manipulate the impression created by the passive viewer by using the actor to deliver this theory.

Rather than the objects and events surrounding the actor being the thing that interprets the meaning of the scene, it's the actor that gives meaning to the events and objects, taking things into any context the producer wishes to portray. Examples of this are the impact wrestling has on its audience. There's evidence showing a link between the aggresive behaviour of a child (a passive viewer) and the amount of time spent watching wrestling. The child doesn't take into account any moral, social or cultural structures (hypodermic needle effect), therefore anything the actor wants to interpret the objects and events as, the viewer makes note of the use of the enviroment, and not the moral, social and cultural structure of what the actors is doing (action theory). This is why an incident where somone uses an odd weapon, such as a chair (often used in wrestling), could be linked to them passively watching a chair being used as a weapon on television.

I could use this theory in my music video by deciding what I want to interpret the band and actors as being, and useing their actions to describe that. For instance I may choose a very dark setting. But the actors may be acting possitively towards it, and this may make the dark setting appear happy despite this dark setting. This will leave a good impression of the band and actors on the viewer, and this may make the viewer start to like the band, even if they're not that interested in their music. Now that i'm aware of this theory i'm going to be careful not to leave a negative impression of the band members. However, it may be beneficial to leave a negative impression of the actors, to emphasise the good impression being left by the actors.