I’m not saying this is a normal thing, and don’t judge me for it ok? I watched Shrek last night, (Shut up ok) and whether you believe me or not, it actually contains a good example of the ‘old’ perspective of audiences. In the scene in which Lord Farquaad attempts to marry Princess Fiona, they are in a church, filled to the brim with loyal subjects to witness the union of the century, (ok beth tone it down it’s Shrek not game of thrones) anyway, the audience has reaction cards to prompt the appropriate response: “silence”, “applause”, “Awwwww”. This relates to the outdated idea that audiences are passive, simply sit and absorb and can essentially be told what to think or do as persuaded by the content. Or in this case, by Lord Farquaads cue cards. Nowadays audiences are opinionated, and encouraged to be so. How many times have you been prompted to “share you idea” or “vote for your favourite” online after watching a reality TV show? MKR for example features real time tweets from viewers on-screen during the program, and runs polls during the episode to involve and create another element of interactivity. Similarly, before the first ad break, Grant Denyer always asks you to “get the top answer to this next question….”, leaving the audience to feel they are actively participating in the functionality of the program. Audiences and the media they consume have both changed over time. Obviously. We do not need a prompt to react, it is more likely we need to be told when to not (and I don’t know about you but I don’t respond well to being told to keep my opinion of a film to myself so its best you bite your lip).