According to Hall's representation theory, which statement reflects the intentional approach to meaning?

• A. The audience constructs meaning
• B. The producer's intended message is what the audience takes away
• C. The text mirrors reality exactly
• D. The text is neutral

Answer: (B)

In Hall's encoding/decoding model, meaning is produced when a producer encodes a message with a particular intended meaning and an audience decodes it with the possibility (but not the guarantee) of reading it in line with that intention. The statement that the producer's intended message is what the audience takes away reflects this intentional approach: it foregrounds the idea that creators aim to guide interpretation and shape how the message is received. Of course, Hall also shows that audiences can decode in dominant, negotiated, or oppositional ways, so reception isn’t guaranteed to match the intention. The other ideas—that meaning is entirely audience-constructed, that the text mirrors reality exactly, or that the text is neutral—don’t fit Hall’s view, which centers on encoded messages aiming for a specific interpretation rather than a neutral or purely audience-generated meaning.