Audience theories put the audience into two catogories; passive and active. Passive is the idea that the media injects ideas and views directly into the brain of the audience, which controls the way people think and behave. Active is when the audience have a role to play in understanding of the media text that they're viewing.
The representation of youth in the media can be applie to by the passive audience effects model. Those who lack experience of the events covered in the media, (e.g those who aren't interested or are not bothered) are more likely to accept what is seen on TV, without even realising. Examples of passive audience effect models are the Hypodermic syringe model, the cultural effects model and the cultivation theory.
Firstly, the hypodermic syringe model is the theory that injects ideas, attitudes and beliefs into an audience. Linking to the representation of youth in the media, it means that the audience could see youths misbehaving, and it can make them apply their opinion to all youths. For example, if somebody watches crimewatch and sees a stabbing that has occurred by a adolescent, it can inject the idea into them that all youths are out to be violent and hurt people. However, now, the audience is much more aware of the media and that ideas are 'injected' into them unconsciously.
Next, the cultural effects model also shows the audience as passive and encourages them to make and agree with social group stereotypes. It is less immediate than the hypodermic syringe model but gives out a 'drip drip' effect which makes the audience slowly come to accept the preferred reading interpretation of events that the media promotes. This model suggests that the media context contains strong ideological messages which reflect the value of those who control and produce the media, which makes it bias. The representation of Youth culture can link into this. For example if a member of the audience is watching a TV series over a period of time that includes youths, the audience may build up a stereotype of them over time after seeing them being represented in the media as either positive or negative. Because the media are promoting their own interpretations of events, the audience may slowly either agree or disagree with the representation.
Lastly the cultivation theory. This is quite similar to hypodermic syringe model because it has the idea of brainwashing the audience to make them believe that the reality outside your home is like what you see in the media. Linking to the representation of youth culture, it can brainwash those watching/listening and put ideas into their head. If they see drastic stories on the news (e.g the London riots) which youths were the main cause for, the audience will be brainwashed into thinking all youths are responsible and violent, when really they're not.
