ABSTRACT
Stuart Hall’s 1973 essay, ‘Encoding/Decoding’, was groundbreaking. Prior to Hall’s work, communications models defined the process of media consumption in a relatively straightforward manner, suggesting that the media constructed messages that audiences readily consumed without question. The media was thought to inject ideas into audiences, who offered, in return, little resistance to what they saw, read and heard. Hall suggested otherwise, asserting that media consumers were alert and critical readers, watchers and listeners.
