Inoculation Theory - ‘Reservoir Dogs" Example

The Inoculations model is another passive audience theory, which suggests that audiences who are exposed to extreme media messages will become “immune” to them once viewed, and that long-term exposure can result in audience “desensitisation” to such imagery. It can be argued that as a result media messages are becoming more extreme, as seen in the following clip from ‘Reservoir Dogs’, directed by Quentin Tarantino. Despite there being no “copycat” crimes linked directly to this film, inoculation theory has been used in attempts to blame violent media for such alleged influences, and, like the Hypodermic Needle model, has more recently been criticised for its assumption that audiences are passive.