Stuart Hall's Circuit Model Analysis

Standing for the national anthem is merely an obligation for some while others symbolize and associate it with the sacrifices of the lives lost men and women in service, have put in creating the country we live in. As for Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback of the 49ers, standing for the national anthem represents the idea that the individual takes pride in their country. And, so, Kaepernick chose to “take a stand by kneeling” (Witts) to express his beliefs, create awareness, and protest (Fig. 1). However, his message was misinterpreted by many viewers and took it as him disrespecting veterans and their service to this country. This misinterpretation can be explained by Stuart Hall’s circuit model, a cycle that starts with production and continues to circulation, consumption, and reproduction. Within this model, the encoding and decoding process are what generate misconceptions of the message from the producer …show more content…
In this case, the media text, image of Kaepernick kneeling, is encoded with the message of social injustice, but is misinterpreted when viewers consume and decode the image. Amongst these misinterpretations, viewers took on a popular negotiated position. Thus, illustrating the power the audience has, in contrast to the producer, in determining the text’s message.
The preferred meaning that Colin Kaepernick is delivering, in the picture of him kneeling during the national anthem, is encoded through various elements. Halls defines the message or “preferred meaning” as the desired interpretation by the producers (134). The preferred message, or what Kaepernick tried to convey to the public is that “he will use his platform to raise awareness… against police violence.” (Zirin) because "I (Colin Kaepernick) am not going to stand up and show pride for a country that oppresses black people and people of