Maya Encoding, Decoding

Encoding, Decoding by Stuart Hall

In this reading he is talking about how the way we understand communication theory has changed from a linear conception of sender, message, receiver to a process of production, circulation, distribution, consumption and reproduction. Each of these stages now act independently of one another and are able to exist and influence the encoding and decoding of the messages now giving messages a variety of meanings and interpretations.
In order to understand this Hall uses the example of television. The television represents a means of communication that has its own set of values associated with it. When looking at broadcastings like the news it goes through this 5 stage process. What is troubling is that the narration produced often shows one set of values. What happens if those values do not reflect the dominant main stream? I think because of the associations and intrinsic value or faith we place on our news broadcasts these messages become consumed by the public. If the public then goes and tells more people about the story then it gets re distributed.
“Before this message can have an effect,… it must be appropriated as meaningful and be meaningfully decoded. If the mode of communication is placed under an institutional control then do we really get to decide if this is meaningful? Or is the message predetermined to be meaningful simple by the way the message is produced and circulated? Hall also says that certain codes are so widely distributed that they appear to be natural, and therefore are representations of its universality. What exactly does he mean by this? Could it be that when we look at a picture of say an apple, we do not recognize it as a sign or symbol for apple, but actually think it is and apple? There are many examples in television or photography where we confuse a representation of an event with the event itself. If an image represents some qualities of the real thing, and it has been so deeply embedded in our culture that it becomes normalized then how do we begin to decode its meaning? What if the message does not have any meaning for us? If we are individuals in a Post Modern world then what happens if you do not follow the main stream? Messages under this new way of thinking involve a more active role of the individual decoding meaning. Hall states that there are three hypothetical positions from which decoding of television may be constructed. The first is clear communication where the viewer is fully operating under the dominant code and accepts it. The second more realistic is when the person acknowledges the message and is able to pull from other sources to confirm or not confirm the messages underlying ideologies, and the third is when the individual chooses to decode the message under oppositional codes.
This made me think about the television program 24 and an advertisement for one of the tv shows. Using the American statement, “the constitutional rights of all Americans.” They twisted this phrase and said, “we are fighting for the right to not be Iraq.” I operated under the negotiated code and was able to understand that this message may have first been produced by the government, broadcasted and consumed by the general public. In order for television shows to reference the underlying ideologies of the government it is now redistributing these messages with its T.V. program.
This is much more complicated way of looking at communication that the old sender message receiver formula. By allowing a more complex set of variables it exposes the way our media communication is structured. Who ultimately has the ability to control this form of communication? Does the individual consumer have power to decode these complex messages, or does the producer of these message have more control over each of the stages of communication?