Spiral Of Silence Theory

Founded by Elisabeth Noelle Neumann in 1947, the Spiral of Silence theory was formed when Elisabeth and her husband Erich were asked by the CDU to get the opinion of German citizens in a country where opinion had been violently silenced for years. The theory itself provides that peoples willingness to express their opinion is based on what they perceive the opinion of their environment to be.

The "Baby Godfather" meme is playing on the entire basis of the Spiral of Silence. Baby Godfather is seen telling us to keep our mouths shut if we do not agree with him, which is exactly what the Spiral of Silence theory predicts we will do if we do not perceive our opinion to be that of the majority.

Uses and Gratifications

Uses and Gratifications theory was one of the first theories to assume an active audience is consuming the media put before them. The theory's whole premise lies in the assumption that people know why they are consuming the media they choose. Our meme sheds light on how it is incorrect to generalize the reasons why people consume media, since each audience member makes a conscious decision about why they are consuming the media. This meme alludes to Facebook and other social networking sites, and how it is difficult to decipher the motives most people have in using these kinds of social media. According to the theory, each individual has a personal reason and makes the decision knowingly.

Cultivation Theory

Cultivation Theory was founded by George Gerbner and Larry Gross in the 1960s. Cultivation Theory focuses on the role that television plays in the formulation of beliefs about reality. Gerbner and Gross's article, "Living with Television: The Violence Profile" focuses on television as the ideal medium for cultivation by looking at prevalence, rate, and role, and the violence profile. Our meme pokes fun at the idea that television is becoming more and more violent in order to make people want to stay home and continuing to watch their shows. It is like a vicious cycle that will continue to go on throughout time.

Gatekeeping Theory

We generated this meme to demonstrate the comedic side of the gatekeeping theory. In this meme, we said that even though there is important world news happening, the news networks would rather use their top story air time for Justin Bieber’s arrest. Judging by the amount of buzz this arrest generated, the news networks realized this and assumed this is what the people wanted to see. Bieber’s arrest video was viewed over nine hundred and seventy one thousand times! This alone showed news networks that the arrest is what people wanted to see. Like the Columbia School, gatekeeping gives the audience what they want to see. This allows for the highest possible ratings for each station.