The uses and gratifications theory leans more towards an active audience, but not fully. This theory focuses more on the audience and why they choose to watch what they watch. It also assumes that the audience does take an active role in interpreting the films.
The theory suggests a few different reasons for why someone may choose to watch a film:
- Self-identifying: being able to connect with the characters that have similar values to them.
- Education: wanting to gain more information, knowledge and understanding on a particular topic.
- Entertainment: just wanting to enjoy a piece of media for fun, or potentially as an escape from reality.
- Social interaction: the idea that media can be a starting off point for a conversation or a debate between people.
Daniel Webb's Film Studies Blog 