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Shaping approaches often present effects on society without considering that cultural products are consumed by thinking individuals. This way of thinking is called the “injection model” or the “hypodermic needle model” because it suggests that ideas from the arts are injected directly into people.⁷ It views the audience as passive and uncritical, as made up of cultural dopes. (Or, sometimes, the term is cultural dupe, suggesting that individuals are fooled by culture, rather than made stupid by it.)

In contrast to this is the idea of the “active audience” where adults who consume culture are seen as competent: able to make decisions for themselves, to distinguish truth from fiction, and to interpret cultural objects (see Chapter 9). Indeed, some authors suggest that children are also active, competent consumers of the popular arts (e.g. Hodge and Tripp, 1994). In addition, not only are audience members competent individuals, they are also embedded in social structure. Thus, their reactions to the popular arts are mediated by those around them. Children, for instance, may learn to fight out disagreements from television, but when they apply that lesson to life, by hitting a friend or sibling, their parents, teachers or others are likely to sort them out quickly.