Double exposure
have nothing to do with us’. See effects of the
mass media; ethnographic (approach to
audience measurement); polysemy. See also
topic guide under audiences: consumption
& reception of media.
Double exposure Two pictures superimposed
upon one another on the same piece of fi lm. Like
reverse motion, double exposure in fi lming began
as a simple visual curiosity before it became a
fully fl edged means of artistic expression. It was
fi rst used in still photography, where double or
multiple exposure images produced what was
described as ‘spirit photography’. Georges Méliès
(1861–1938) used double exposure in his fi lms
from 1908; the technique has been employed to
achieve many eff ects, chiefl y that of suggesting
the supernatural and of conveying the process of
thought and spirituality.
Doughnut principle See organization
cultures.
Downloading With digitization facilitating
the compression of electronic data, downloading
has been characterized by exponential growth.
As more and more people have invested in high-
speed broadband transmission, the downloading
of music, programmes from radio and TV and
full-length feature films has had a massive
impact on traditional modes of distribution.
Software enables users to download from
a range of sources simultaneously, while
compressing DVD data to a tenth of its original
size. Th e result is lost revenue on the part of
the producers, though significant profits for
those who can adapt to what has caused a major
shake-up in the communications industry.
Mobile devices such as digital music play-
ers are the must-have toys of the twenty-fi rst
century, but they are in competition for marketries of response in terms of the reading of media
messages on the part of audience are posed by
Frank Parkin in Class, Inequality and Political
Order (Paladin, 1972). Do we accept what we are
told, only half accept it, or substantially reject
it? Parkin argues that it is our place in the social
structure which conditions our response. Stuart
Hall in ‘Th e determination of news photographs’
in Stanley Cohen and Jock Young, eds, The
Manufacture of News (Constable, 1st edition,
1973) supports Parkin’s view, with the same
categories but diff erent terminology.
Th e dominant system of response (Hall calls
it a dominant code) signifi es that the dominant
values and existing society are wholly accepted
by the respondent; the subordinate response
(Hall’s negotiated code) indicates general accep-
tance of dominant values and existing social
structures, but the respondent is prepared to
argue that a particular group – blacks, unem-
ployed, women – within that structure may be
unfairly dealt with and that something should
be done about it. Th e radical response (Hall’s
oppositional code) rejects the preferred read-
ing of the dominant code and the social values
that produced it.
David Morley’s research into audience
response, published in Th e Nationwide Audience
(British Film Institute, 1980), gave substance to
Parkin and Hall’s division of response, but also
emphasized other response-conditioning factors
such as education, occupation, political affi lia-
tion, geographical region, religion and family.
More recent commentators have expanded
on the response codes mentioned here; for
example, a popular response may be character-
ized by inattention on the part of audience or
the rejection of media messages because ‘theyDominant discourse