Theory Work: Audience Theory- The Suture Theory

This theory suggests that the way that Hollywood films (in particular) are put together, in terms of narrative, editing, sound and mise en scene set the audience up to be 'satured', or positioned, making them see only one possible reading of the text. No matter how conscious the audience is of the position they are in, or what outcome is to follow in the film, they are still forced into this prefered or dominant reading. The audience is emotionally manpulated through various techniques to make them feel a particular way, unanimously. Regardless of a persons film knowledge or experiance, being 'stitched in' to this way of interpreting the text, or satured, is inescapable.
 An example of this can be seen in the film 'Crash', in which in one scene a man gives his daughter his invisible bullet proof cloak to protect her. From this point, the audience can predict that although it is made up to comfort the little girl, the father will at some point be shot, and possibly the daughter will witness it, or be involved. Although we are aware of this, when it happens, we are still horrified, shocked, and saddened.