The Exaggeration Of Balian In The Film Kingdom Of Heaven

one which he “peddles” to the viewers (Anderson & Meyer, 1988). Character exaggeration is often utilized as a means of overstating the value of a given message. In the film Kingdom of Heaven (2005), for instance, the character of Balian is portrayed as a “perfect knight” and Guy, as the “perfect villain.” Historically speaking though, Balian was never a perfect knight, let alone a guy who was profoundly valiant, virtuous, and prudent. Note that this theory assumes that the viewer sees the actor as being independent from the subject/object he represents, and that the actions of the actor are autonomous in the sense that they are independent of the prevailing social or cultural order.
The primary viewpoint is the viewpoint of the director/producer,

who can willfully peddle his interpretation of events to his intended audience, without concealing its actual context (Anderson & Meyer, 1988). Unlike cultivation theory, however, social action theory sees viewers not as hapless and inert receivers of information, but as active communicators of meaning. Audiences engage actively in mediated communication, fully capable of interpreting the content and meaning of any given information they receive (Anderson & Meyer, 1988). This theory assumes that the interaction between the audience and the media in relation to meaning construction is not a one-way process; rather it is constructed within it. Thus, there are three (3) sources of meaning: the intention and/or interpretation of the producer (his version of reality), the conventions of the content (historicity or content validity), and the interpretation of the viewer (Anderson & Meyer, 1988). Consider this example. A large percentage of adults are regular viewers of wrestling matches on television. The producer/stage manager willfully directs “exaggerated” matches to please the audience. The more violent the show, the more appealing it is. There are no violent matches per se, in the truest sense of the word, because they are regularly rehearsed. Because viewers are aware of these conventions, they do not expect that someone will