Reception Analysis

The meaning of reception analysis was a little confusing at first, so after watching the lecture, i did some searches on the definition and came to the conclusion that reception analysis (from the Encoding/Decoding Model of Communication approach) is the interpretation of the meaning based on one's background and experiences. Therefore, the meanings don't come from the text itself but from how one perceives it based on the relationship of the reader and the text.

To be honest, the first time i watched "No Woman, No Drive", a mockery video by Hisham Fageeh on the ban of woman driving in Saudi Arabia (which i had no knowledge of at first), i actually thought that the artist was enforcing the idea that woman should not drive because of lyrics such as "queens don’t drive, but you can cook me dinner that I will share with you" and “Your feet is your only carriage but only inside the house and when I say it I mean it”.

My experience of watching this video just confirms what the encoding/decoding model of communication approach. Due to the fact that i did not know about the ban on woman driving, i did not interpret this video as a parody or a mockery whereas to others that know about the ban clearly understands that this video is making fun of the ridiculous ban in Saudi Arabia. Therefore the meaning is not inherent in the video but rather the relationship of the viewer's experiences to the video.