This is a presentation of the text "Hermeneutics and horizons" by Tony Wilson. Unfortunately, the original lay-out is missing, as are the graphics, making this an informative-only presentation.

1. Hermeneutics and horizons
Tony Wilson
Presentation by
Thomas Ginn
Robbin Bakker
190 words
Viewer isn't passive, but active– Participates in the
text
Re-creation: reading always generates new meaning
from a text – Reading permits resistance – Never
just the 'effect' of the text – Example: intertextual
references
Understanding a text is a 'fusion of horizons'.
A viewer identifying with a character appropriates one
or more social roles depicted by that character. –
Difference in 'gazing' and 'glancing'
Hermeneutic theory: the viewer 'investigates' the
programme. – Pleasure of viewing is the detection of
meaning
“Watching television is a process in which the audience
engages in cognitive 'play' with the semiotic resources of

2. a programme.” (Wilson 1993, p. 52)
If the viewer gets involved in a text, he/she sinks into
that world – The television world gets incorporated
into the 'real' world
'Play' means switching between occupying the social
role of the character and realizing that you are the
viewer.
Identification is switching between– appropriating a
character's social role(s)– taking the position of the
viewer
The 'fusion of horizons' takes places during
identification – The viewer as well as the character
have a horizon ('perspective') – The 'play' is the
horizons moving in and out of each other – One
appropriates, the other gets appropriated
Subjects which may be occupied with ease generate
pleasure and intelligibility. – Example: serials
Differences between structuralism and later
mediatheory (post-structuralism)
Audience subjectivity is an effect of the text
Viewer is passive

3. Viewer makes their own meaning (active)
Identification can never be perfect
Conclusion
Hermeneutics is an important field in uncovering
ideological operations in a text, be it film, television or
any other type of text.