David Morley
David Morley came up with the idea that the media is part of all different things that are going on within our homes. He calls this "politics of the living room" - that a television can become more than just a form of entertainment, but in a family situation it can cause arguments or a symbol of power.
Morley found that men prefer factual programmes like the new and sports, watching the programme extensively, while women preferred fiction programmes like soaps and drama series and watching them when do something else at the same time - multi-tasking. He also found that the man of the family has the most control over the television remote. This relates to the kind of lives men and women are often leading.
As men work mostly outside during the day, they use television to relax. However women traditionally work inside the house, so while the women is doing the work, they are watching television also.The traditional views of men and women are dying out, making Morley's theory's out-of-date.
My family
The idea that the man uses television to relax is definitely translated in my family as my dad works outside, in a tough job which isn't relaxing. The other idea that the woman of the family stays inside the home, doing the housework and watches television while doing this work, does relate to my own family. However these ideas are quite taboo in my family, and aren't set in stone. I do think Morley's ideas are out of date today eventhough my family sounds very traditional. Most people try not to be so traditional - having both male and female equal, both with jobs.
My mum does feel as if she has to do the housework, but the way she was brought up and as she doesn't have a job of her own, she naturally does the housework. However my dad does feel as if he has to go out to work so we can live. I think there is more pressure on him than there is my mum because without him working, we wouldn't have a home or be able to eat. Because he has pressure to work, i can understand why he would want to come home and sit in front of the television. But this sometimes doesn't happen because he has to sort out paper work for jobs he is doing (he is a self-employed builder), making him not relax at home.
When it comes to my younger 12-year-old sister, she gets home from school and turns the TV straight on. She might do her homework while watching television or do her school work after watching her programmes. I think this is because homework isn't as important or crucial to her compared to me. I do my homework straightaway when i get home from school, this is because of time management, and the amount i get it much more than my sister gets. It is routine for my sister to watch television straightaway, and it routine for me to do my school work when i get home.
I think it also depends on how relaxed the person is, what kind of work the man or woman does (is they have to take work home with them) and how much you enjoy watching television.
Linking this back to my OTS audience
I do have to take into consideration that David Morley's theory is mainly about television and not the cinema. If my OTS was going to played at home in somebody's living room, there would have been a short discussion about whether to watch it before hand. When we talk about 'politics of the living room', i think that when deciding whether or not to put the film on could cause arguments - depending on the technology a family has - how many televisions and DVD players they have in the house. As my audience is 16-25 year olds, mums and dads and children younger than 16 may not be interested in watching my OTS. It would definitely depend on how much power over the television remote a 16-25 year old has in each house.
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