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Altman's Audience Pleasures In Media (LO3)

The genre offers audiences ‘a set of pleasures’, such as:


  • Emotional pleasures – does the text make the audience happy, sad, nostalgic, etc?
  • Visceral pleasures – ‘gut’ responses, such as excitement, fear, and laughter.
  • Intellectual puzzles – Does the text make the audience think?


If you think about a genre such as horror, this will offer audiences the visceral pleasure of both excitement and fear, whereas crime or thrillers may offer an intellectual puzzle.


   - Emotional

 - Visceral pleasures

- Intellectual puzzles




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