In Environmental Studies, we often approach ideas, problems, and situation with the framework of Actor Network Theory (ANT). Apart from a useful way to visualize movement and effect within a given context, ANT schematizes a topic and provides a trackable way to analyze relationships. As I explored with Latour’s and Le Guin’s theories, relationships between readers, texts, authors, media, and “subjective illusions” such as fictional characters or scenarios are crucial to my project.
Thinking broadly about the actors involved in the process of reading and creating text, it is obvious to think of readers as the central action figure: they do the work of perceiving the text. They lend their nervous system to read, understand, and even feel the text. They create the text by making mental models of the narrative and connect the text to their own lives, memories, and worldviews. While readers are perhaps the most important actor in that the text is for them as audience and by them as perceiver, the other real human actor in this model is the writer or maker of the text. Through craft and artistry, the maker artistically renders a narrative, often with a moral. They create characters and movement through a “subjective illusion.” While they are the people actually doing the making, the publishers, institutions, press, or media company enable them to do so. These institutions distribute the text to readers and sanction the work.
Actor-Network Diagram of the Relationships between Texts, Recipients, and Creators
While the relationship between discourse, genre, and specific text may be an avenue that I pursue further, I want to focus on the upper right hand corner of my diagram. This is the “psychology” section, where the inner workings of the reader interact with the text. The reader has past experiences, personality traits, prior knowledge, and and identity in the world that all effect how they read the text and how they view the characters in the text.
In looking at how media effects behavior, it is important to examine the limited-effects theory. This theory claims that media (specifically mass media) has little impact on its audience and wider society. It arose after World War II in response to speculation about propaganda and its ability to control audiences and societies. Limited-effects theory claims that media often act as agents of reinforcement rather than impetus to change and that people are controlled (or make decisions based on) a slew of other more important factors of which media engagement is just one. Moreover, people are independent thinkers who are able to resist overt persuasive messages. While the limited-effects paradigm is slightly out of date, it leaves an important legacy in media studies, alerting scholars that media likely does not have all powerful effects on audiences.
In relation to my study, its important to realize that one book or story or short film will not alter an entire culture in broad strokes. The morals and messages these narratives instills in audiences will not be, across the board, the precise ones intended by their writers and creators. Audiences, because they are entrenched in other facets of life besides just one media narrative, will connect genre conventions, style, content, and characterization of one narrative to myriad other things they consume and know. These connections may act like an actor network, but there is not guarantee that it be will predictable or logical. The limited effects paradigm is useful in two ways:
- If a narrative has a specific audience in mind, perhaps the creators can do research on the prior knowledge and experience of that audience to better craft the story to connect to specific things in order to convey specific information through these connections. In other words, my study might seek to either maximize media effects by addressing specific pieces of the limited effects paradigm.
- Even if my study continues down a different path rather than engaging directly with the limited-effects paradigm, it is a crucial component to audience studies and will be an important caveat to keep in mind as a study narrative effects and affect.