When starting to write a paper my first thought is about who my audience is; who I am writing for and who will be reading my paper. Then, depending on who my audience is helps my decision making when deciding what information to include and how to word my sentences. For example, in the first paper I was writing an essay about my personal values and experiences with regards to technology. As it was mainly classmates who were going to read it I could include a lot of information and facts about myself. If I was writing it for an outside audience, however, I probably would have included fewer personal examples and more factual evidence. It was also a pretty relaxed topic that allowed us to express our own opinions, which in turn, caused me to use a more casual tone of voice. My audience also depicts whether I should include an image or not. I agree with what Toby Fulwiler suggested in “Role of Audiences” that there is a lot of pressure when writing for a teacher which makes it a lot harder to do. I also agree that when writing for a peer it is easy to be conversational, although it can also lead to great feedback.
Advertisers constantly think about their audience when producing advertisements. Depending on what age group the product is made for determines a suitable advertisement for it as well as a suitable time to play it. The same goes for media. Films are rated according to their level of appropriateness for different age groups. While kids movies are rated “G” for general audiences, movies with strong language and sexual references are rated “MA” or even “R”. Advertising can not only be seen on television anymore but also in magazines and on the internet.
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I forgot about movie ratings and how movie goers select the amount of graphic material in the movies they choose to watch. Movie theaters are starting to now show commercials before the feature presentations. Video games are the same as movies. Some are rated E for everyone and it ranges all the way to MA mature audiences. Games such as MA can only be bought by gamers 18 and over. They follow the principle of an R rated movie basically. Movie and video game promoters look to appeal to their target audience by keeping the material in the film or game suitable.
You make a very good point about the movie rating system which I did not think of before. I also liked the example you gave about the six year old girl and the middle aged man for a contrast in audiences. What a difference! I also think about audience when I start a paper although I don't do it right away or very directly. I am always very personnal in my writing; this is mostly because the first and sometimes only audience I think of directly is myself. Its very easy for me to write to myself as if I was another person because I do it all the time. Mostly I talk to myself in my head which makes it very easy to learn alot about yourself and to brainstrom ideas. Because of this no matter what I do my papers always come out very conversational. Of couse this is usually not a problem because I do go back and revise it so that I am talking to the teacher or the outsider or whom ever it may be, however, that conversational tone is already there and is a big part of my writing.
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