The circumstances in which you grow up in have a large effect on how you view the world and how you you interpret things. Your race, gender, class, sexual orientation, and politics, all determine what perspective you approach things with. Thus, although media products have a certain message they intend to get across it does not mean that the audience will get that particular message out of a media text. What someone might find funny someone else might find offensive. This is where the clash between structure and agency come in to play.
I recently read an article in The New Yorker by Nancy Franklin, about "Fox News Channel's latest blowhard," Glenn Beck. As is well know Beck is an extremely controversial character. It would seem that Beck's intention is to get people riled up and support his wild notions about politics, and in particular his hate of the Obama Administration. However, Glenn Beck and his segment on Fox News is and example of how audiences can interpret the media in different ways based on the social context and background they are coming from (polysemy). As Franklin writes, "Some see him as a joke, and some see him as a danger, and some {...} are grateful to him and his efforts to 'take back America." Those people who tend to be more right wing and conservative, and those same people who are against the health reform and the Obama administration in general, might find Beck to be a spokesperson for them. Others think that he might have enough influence over his supporters to be dangerous. They think of him as war-mongerer who is just trying to stir up trouble. Still others view him as an egotistical joke, who is just a lot of loud talk, and who could take him seriously anyways? The scary thing is some people to do get sucked into his banter, but at the same time he turns many people off. When he makes statements that Obama is a racist and, "This President, I think, has exposed himself as a guy, over and over and over again, who has deep-seated hatred for white people, or the white culture, I don't know what it is," he is alienating a lot of people, in particular probably the black/non-white population. On the other hand, for those people who agree with Beck, and are possibly racist themselves, it gives them even more reason to believe this is true.
I'm sure you've all heard some of the outrageous things Glenn Beck has said in the media, but here's a several clips to remind you:
I agree, this is an extreme and alienating example of polysemy. Those that agree with Beck and those who disagree with him likely have very different world views and opinions. This is not always the case with polysemy, though. As you said, the circumstances in which people grow up have a lot to do with their reactions and opinions, but even small scale differences between people can lead to them having different interpretations of a message. Personally, I like to think of polysemy as a power of the audience, a power to actively interpret media messages as opposed to constantly, passively accepting the intended message.
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