Uses and Gratifications, identity and fandom — AQA GCSE Media Studies 8572
AQA GCSE Media Studies · 8572
Uses and Gratifications, identity and fandom
Media audiences
What you need to know
Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory: audiences actively choose media to meet needs for information, personal identity, social interaction and integration, and entertainment or escape.
Applying the theory to the Close Study Products, such as why audiences follow Marcus Rashford or Kim Kardashian online, play video games or listen to Kiss.
Media practices and identity: belonging to an audience, fans and fandom, talking about the media, and people's sense of who they are and want to be.
The social, cultural and political significance of media products: the issues they address, the needs they meet and the functions they serve.
The Close Study Products for 2027 and 2028 exams are His Dark Materials ('The City of Magpies') and Doctor Who ('An Unearthly Child'); the Daily Mirror and The Times; Marcus Rashford's and Kim Kardashian's online presence; Lara Croft Go, with Blackpink The Game for 2027 exams and Lego Fortnite for 2028 exams; the Galaxy, Represent and OMO adverts; the Tatler and Heat covers; Black Widow and I, Daniel Blake; the Arctic Monkeys and Blackpink videos; and Radio 1's launch and Kiss Breakfast. Kim Kardashian: Hollywood was set only for 2025, so past questions on it are practice only.
