The Returned: Les Revenants - Genre

Les Revenants

• 26 November 2012 on Canal+

• United Kingdom 9 June 2013 on Channel 4

• 2 series, 8 episodes each

• Based on the French film 'They came back'

• (Les Revenants) (dir. Robin Campillo 2004)

• Created by Fabrice Gobert

We have many different story arcs, so it has a unique and unconventional narrative. This entire show is based on a range of hermeneutic codes of mystery.

Intertextuality between other media products, creepy children in Les Revenants gives intertextual reference to horror movies with creepy children for example Orphan

Experimental and follows a non-linear structure.

Cult TV

Intense and passionate fanbase, a cult tv show invites the fanbase to do things with it.

It creates a separate world and fans may want to escape into this world known as escapism.

Iconography - stuff that we see or hear that essentially informs us of the genre.

Regulation

Regulation

• Regulation
• Rules and Restrictions.

• Why?
• To make sure children don't see inappropriate shows as it may be traumatising.

• How is television regulated
• The watershed is a voluntary time that they agree to put some more inappropriate shows so they do not get complaints.

• The mass media
• considered that audiences are stupid and easily influenced and the mass media is used to explain this - cultivation theory - passive audience.

• Ofcom
• Regulation comes down to harm and offence of the under 18's.

• Harm and Offence
• 'Ofcom is required to assess the likelihood of material encouraging or inciting the commission of crime or of leading to disorder.'

• Regulation is ineffective - Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt
• Media in general is getting harder to regulate due to digital technologies, for example, if a child wants to watch something on Netflix they can watch whatever they like and it isn't regulated.

• Self Regulation
• Parents being able to put pins on certain shows so there child cannot watch it.

Imitable behaviour - bullying - rebellion against social norms - teenager using a gun - sadism - potentially racist from an allegorical perspective

Leo attacks Sadiq - Violent, intimidating scene - may be particularly offensive to those involved in violence - possible racial violent undertones.

Kidnapping - may trigger memories - depicts unconscious woman being dragged away - connotations of murder and sexual assault

• Niska in brothel
• Were supposed to feel sorry for Miska, so potentially this will traumatise the audience. 
• The scene is depicting prostitution
• Objectification of women
• Taboo theme: man having sex with a robot
• Depiction of sexual assault

• Fred in Picking Scene
• Fred has been branded connotations of slavery
• Also alludes to the holocaust
• Audience may have family members affected by these events

• Odi collapsed in supermarket
• Depiction of lifeless/dead Odi - may be potentially upsetting to parents. Odi is a son figure to George - emotionally distressing

Key Theory - Stuart Hall - Reception Theory

• How we receive a media products (3 ways)
• Dominant / Preferred
• Negotiated
• Oppositional

• All about the ideology of the producer
• We are too dependant on technology

Key Theory - Henry Jenkins - Fandom

• Textual Poaching

• Fandom refers to a particularly organised and motivated audience of a certain media producer franchise.

• Unlike the generic audience or the classic spectator, fans are active participants in the construction and circulation of textual meanings.

• Fans appropriate texts and read them in ways that are not fully intended by the media producers ('textual poaching'). Examples of this may manifest in conventions, fan fiction and so on.

• Rather than just okay a video game or watch a TV show, fans construct their social and cultural identifies through borrowing and utilising mass culture images, and may use this 'subcultural capital' to form social bonds. For example, through online forums like Reddit or 4chan.

• A fan is a more enthusiastic audience member

• Fansub
• Subtitle file made by a fan. 

Hyperreality

Hyperreality

• Beyond reality
• 'It is no longer a question of limitation, nor duplication, nor even parody. it is a question of substituting the signs of the real for the real' - Jean Baudrillard
• Nothing is really real
• There is no objective way to prove what is real
• We cannot make sense of reality

Television - Humans with question and key scene

Humans

Question - How (and why!) have stereotypes in this media product been used both positively and negatively?

Key scenes - Matty is a typical moody and unhappy teenager, when she sees her mum come home she doesn't show a happy expression she just looks moody.

• Humans is a typical sci-fi drama
• but the sci-fi genre has evolved as we haven't got aliens etc.

• Humans has intertextual references to Outnumbered, as a humorous family scene.

• Humans shows representation of slaves, robots etc
• When Joe goes to buy Anita it is similar to Joe going to buy any machine.

• Key genre conventions of Humans

• Synths , smooth, upright, static walking the producer uses these genre conventions to fulfil the audiences expectations.

• Steve Neale - Repetition and Difference - The audience want to see the same thing but different to make it more interesting, the way this is different is to make the audience think about the nature of our existence, and its breaking the rules to challenge which makes it a postmodernist text. They're showing this because it makes it more interesting.

• The persona synthetics website allow audience to explore narrative of the show beyond the show.

• Proairetic code - the fact that there is a return address shows that something is about to happen, and shows that the synths are faulty etc.

• Immersion - totally involved with something.

• By having a website it involves the technology aspect of synths to real life and shows the technological movement.

• Channel 4 (aMC)

• aMC made/funded The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, it was a cheap basic cable channel and advertising so they have to live up to restrictions, then they decided to start making their own shows.

• They came into the deal on 'Humans' after Microsoft closed deals with the Xbox.

Channel 4

• Ideology

• Channel 4 aim to reflect the contemporary world to British television audiences, and one of the most important ways they do this is through their substantial and multi-award winning documentary output. Commissioning more than 200 hours of documentaries every year.

• Experimental, stylised content.

• Funding

• Used to be from ITV, now they started doing their own on air advertising, programme sponsorship and the sale of any programme content.

• A little bit of a licensing fee but not as much as ITV.

• Associated Channels

• E4, MORE4, FILM4, ESEVEN, 4MUSIC, ALL4.

• Each channel targets a very specific niche audience.

• E.g E4 specifically targets a young, stundenty type of audience.

• Scheduling

• As a general rule, the more adult in nature the content is, the later it should be broadcast, with the 9pm watershed being the crucial point in time before which material unsuitable for children should not generally be broadcast. Leading up to and after the watershed, parents are expected to take increasing responsibility for their children's viewing.

• Notable Releases

• Hollyoaks, Big Brother, Brookside, Celebs Go Dating, Made in Chelsea, Friends, Big Bang Theory, Gogglebox, Skins, Misfits and Inbetweeners.

• Ownership
• Makes use of the watershed, placing shows later at night. Reputation for challenging and programming.

Targeting and Marketing Audience

The Target Audience for Humans

• Age
• 30

• Gender
• Female

• Nationality
• English

• Location
• Outskirts of London

• Sexuality
• Heterosexual

• Demographic
• 25 yr old, heterosexual female, english from cambridge

• Psychographic
• Bit boring, not got much to do in their life, no kids, lives with a boyfriend or on their own, has a dog or a cat

• Socio-economic class
• Lower middle class

• Occupation
• Teacher

• Hobbies
• Reading, binge watches tv.
• 

• Tv shows are not sold to advertisers, its actually the audience that is being sold to the audience.

• The process of television making is selling audiences.

• You are being sold to company's every day.

• Facebook - Keep track of what you do on Facebook and the adverts are specialised to what you're doing.

• 'In what ways does this scene target and maintain audiences'
• 'The breakfast scene'

• Mise-en-scene - Costume
• Middle class man, up early before work, sitting down with the family for breakfast.

• Dialogue
• Typical dad jokes

• Characters
• Moody teenager - identifiable character, male could probably relate.

• Shot Type
• Slow pan of the breakfast table showing an identifiable scene so the target audience are automatically comfortable and familiar with the setting.

• Establishing Shot of nuclear family
• Two parents, three kids normal family, this targets the target audience straight away. It also creates an aspirational audience for the 30 something middle class audience.

• Shot type
• Close up of Laura's face establishes her dislike for Anita. Relatable situation for the target audience who may debate on wether or not to get a maid/cleaner. 

• Dialogue
• 'This is what breakfast is supposed to be like' a lowkey dig at Laura, saying she's not as reliable as Anita as she is failing to provide and to play the role of mother.
• Provides a hyperreal fantasy aspiration for the middle class audience.

• Mise-en-scene - Costume
• All in dressing goals except from Anita which is conventional of the sitcom genre.
• Unconventional of the sci-fi genre which is a good thing as it keeps the show more interesting, 'repetition and difference' we want to see repetition but we want it to be different to make it more interesting but still easily identifiable.

• Debate
Creates debates to target the target audience this tunes people in again as you can see the tension in the family and you want to know what is going to happen with this tension and if it will be elaborated.

Mini Mini Mock on Humans - Binary Oppositions

Question:
According to Claude Levi Strauss, texts convey their meanings through a system of binary oppositions. Evaluate this structuralist theory. Refer to the set episodes of Humans and The Returned in your response.

Answer:
Binary Oppositions are evident in Episode 1 of Humans and help the audience understand the meanings of the text. One main binary opposition is Freud's theory of the Madonna and Whore complex. Where we can relate this to Anita and Niska. Anita being the madonna who is pure and a virgin so she is attractive and Niska being the whore who is not as attractive due to her easiness etc.
The way in which we can understand this ideology is that Niska is a sex worker in a brothel. We know this due to the setting she is in when Leo wants to see her he has to pay and has to choose her from the list of girls, also the mise-en-scene of Niska's costume shows that she is there to have sex with customers. Also the way that Niska is spoken to is aggressive and not passionate. For example, at the end of ep.1 when a man enters Niska's room she is told to pull her underwear down and she has to obey, showing her lifestyle and how she is dehumanised and objectified by this male and any other male that comes into the brothel. Whereas this is majorly different to Anita being the housewife the mise-en-scene of the colour of her face shows she is pure. The mise-en-scene of her costume is also very basic as she is still in the outfit from the factory so she is in no way sexualised yet she is attractive to males, we know this due to the non verbal communication of the son in the Hawkins family when he see's Anita he licks his lips showing her attractiveness. We can also see that Anita is desirable and wanted due to Leo's urge to find her, he is adement to find her and we know this through the scene of when Leo confronts Sadiq and shows him a photo of Anita he is forceful and confident in trying to find answers. The photo shown of Anita to Sadiq is also a binary opposition in favour to Anita as she is seen in nature so this emphasises her purity compared to the rundown area that Leo and Sadiq are in. By having this binary opposition in Humans we can see the difference in cyborgs and it shows how they do have feelings as they are both taking different paths and have their own character traits it also emphasises what other characters would think of the cyborgs and deepens our understanding of them and their personality traits, which is vital in the first episode so we are able to understand the characters from early on.

Another Binary Opposition shown in the first episode of Humans is the difference between young and old. Anita being young and Laura being old. Anita is a young cyborg and is attractive to the males in the Hawkins family, we know she is attractive as when she entered the room the son of the family licked his lips showing his interest. Also when Anita was bought Sophie wished she was pretty, evidently proving she is attractive. Whereas Laura is older and she is not seen in the same way Anita does we know this due to the mise-en-scene of Laura's costume she does not wear anything very flattering or anything that would make her be seen as attractive. As soon as Laura had walked through the door she noticed the shoes being moved and was not happy and later revealed that she was upset

Lisbet Van Zoonen on Humans (Leo Representation)

• Lisbet Van Zoonen - Male Gaze Theory (main theory)

• "There is a depressing stability in the articulation of women's politics and communication. The underlying frame of reference is that women belong to the family and domestic life and men to the social world of politics and work; that femininity is about care, nurturance and compassion, and that masculinity is about efficiency, rationality and individuality."

• Van Zoonen also argues that gender is constructed and that its meaning varies dependant on cultural and historical context.

• She suggests that masculinity as well as femininity is constructed - and that the codes used to construct men 'as a spectacle' are different.

• in medias res (in the middle of a story)

• John Berger (bonus theory)

• Men act, Women appear. 

• Within a narrative, males drive it forward, women are there to be looked at.

• Humans

• Ensemble cast - there are lots of characters.

• A lot of character arcs - 20 named characters in first episode of Humans.

• Story Arc's in Episode 1
• Hawkins Family
• Leo trying to find Anita
• Flashback - Leo and Anita
• Niska in the brothel
• Fred in the plantation
• Matilda's struggle with synths
• Synths in the warehouse being produced
• Detective to see wife with synth
• Anita kidnapping Sophie

• Humans linked to Van Zoonen - Leo's Confrontation

• Shot reverse shot - Shows how confident Leo is and how uncomfortable Sadiq is as he is not keeping eye contact.

• Close up - of two heads in same shot shows that they're discussing something. But Leo is threatening Sadiq. 

• Gestures are aggressive and purposeful as he's unshaven which demonstrates a stereotype that he doesn't care what he looks like.

• He is stern and blunt in his vocal delivery, its not as easy to understand what he is saying compared to other synths.

• He is using physical force

• He is approaching Sadiq when he is vulnerable showing Leo is tactical and smart. 

• He is showing that he really wants to see Anita so it is obvious that he really wants to find her and that is his motive to be so aggressive. 

• The photo of Anita is a binary opposition to where they are now as Anita is pure and in nature whereas Leo and Sadiq are in a rough and rundown backstreet. 

• Van Zoonen on Leo

• Males constructed through movement (active)
• Leo is the active protagonist

• Silence and impassivity
• Rarely smiles or shows emotion

• Strength, muscularity and aggression
• Often running, fighting etc.

The Television Industry

Week 47 - Component 2 - The Television Industry

• Anita & A Washing Machine.

• Anita is a washing machine, for example Laura refers to her as a freak and 'it' emphasising that Anita is a machine.

• Anita is subservient. 

• The show doesn't have a preferred reading and instead has a very fractured ideology (confusing).

• Cyborg - half robot/half human

• Cyborg - People wearing glasses are using technology to see this helps and gives them a better life, so by wearing glasses you're trying to make yourself better.

• Globalisation & Technology - Someone gets their clothes from H&M, it is brought in by a lorry, which is made from china, this is an example of technology.

• The girl wearing her outfit is posing taking a selfie and she will post this to define herself and make herself look good, technology allows us to define ourselves.

• What is humanity?

• We look for something that will fulfil our lives.

• We can talk and we have our sophisticated communication.

• We understand each other and we feel empathy.

• We want to understand different things and to be inquisitive.

• We have an idea of education and we want to learn to make ourselves better.

• We are ingenius we think of different ways to get around an issue.

• We feel love and it is important to humanity as we are constantly surrounded by the ideologies that it is important (music).

• Humans is about the representation of humanity.

• Binary Oppositions in 'Humans'

• Anita is a washing machine but she is also attractive, and the women in the house don't like her as they may see her as competition.

• Gender Performativity

• Judith Butler

• Identity is a performance, and it is constructed through a series of acts and 'expressions' that we perform everyday.

• While there are biological differences dictated by sex, our gender is defined through this series of acts. these may include the ways we walk, talk, dress, and so on.

• Therefore, there is no gender identity behind these expressions of gender.

• Gender performativity is not a singular act, but a reputation and a ritual. It is outlined and reinforced through dominant patriarchal ideologies.

• This theory can be considered controversial due to christians having the belief that God created two genders and this theory challenges that.

• bell hooks - feminist theory

• Women are stereotypically supposed to look after kids therefore if a man does it there is stigma around it.

• This theory isn't just about women its about men and black people etc.

• End patriarchal depression.

• Optimistic and positive

• Argues that feminism is a struggle to end patriarchal oppression and the ideology of domination, and that the position of the underrepresented is by class and race as well as gender.

• 'Women in lower class and poor groups, particularly those who are non-white, would not have defined woman's liberation as women gaining social equality with men since they are continually reminded in their everyday lives that all women do not share a common social status.'

• Patriarchal Oppression and the 'ideologies of domination' in Humans

• When the 4 Synths and the Human show the flashback to when they separated in the woods the male human is leading them and he is the main patriarchal role and emphasising his dominance.

• When Anita is sold, the father decides to buy the synth, he buys her to help him look after the kids and the housework which suggests that he is incapable and lazy and they need a woman to do the work.

• Laura says that she wants to take her back and Joe then puts his foot down and commands that they are not taking Anita back. Laura doesn't like her being there as she is helping with Sophie and is doing the housework. Laura knows that she has her set role and nobody else can do it as it is her role.

• When the man in the brothel rapes Niska it is an ideology of patriarchal domination there is no feelings involved, and we are told that she wants to feel pain as she doesn't want to enjoy this and she is making a choice.

• Joe is the primary user so he has more control and dominance over Anita than the other members of the family as they are secondary users.

• Creation of sentient synths by male David Elster - initially to replace his wife.

• Laura is 'replaced' by a synth (domestically, maternally and eventually sexually)

• The salesman is male - selling a woman - as are the corporate figures who dictate their use.

• The majority of the ethnic actors are synths ('servants') emphasising Stuart Hall's notion of the black 'slave' stereotype. This is particularly apparent when looking at Anita in the home and Fred in the fruit picking.

• The attitudes of the males, particularly towards Niska in the brothel - 'using' women who are clearly not equal.

• The physio synth Simon is a hyper-masculine (Zaitchik & Mosher) stereotype - and replaces Pete Drummond in Jill's affection

Representation of Women and Cyborgs

Representation of Women and Cyborgs

• Autonomy
• Having control over your own life.
• Automaton
• No control, a robot.

• Representation
• Re presentations of something to show it again, the producer does this to show their ideologies and values on certain groups.
• The producer is trying to manipulate the audience maybe to change the way they vote but usually is more subtle for example making the audience fall in love with the main character or making the audience feel scared.
• The target audience and the group being presented impact from the representations, this then cultivates in the mind and we consistently see it but it confirms our world view. 

• Roles women/synths play in Human:
• Mother
• Professional
• Caregiver
• Mother (Anita)
• Sex Worker
• Child
• Son
• Friend
• Maid
• Caregiver
• Butler
• Slave
• Rebel

Exam Question

According to Claude Levi-Strauss texts convey their meanings through a system of binary oppositions.

Evaluate this structuralist theory. Refer to the set episodes of Humans and The Returned in your response. (30)

Closing Montage - Representations of Gender

• Maternal - Mid shot of Anita standing over Sophie

• Child - Connotations of innocence, as she is getting kidnapped by Anita without knowing.

• Sex Worker/Slave - Slow zoom which turns into a close up of the synth shows feelings of uncomfortableness for the synth as the audience feels uncomfortable watching her it represents the feelings of the synth. The man is blunt aggressive and demanding and he has this specific look, they picked him due to him being stereotypically unattractive so he looks like he's a man who uses sex workers.

• Dad says 'not taking it back', not taking notice of his wife discomfort with the synth and showing his patriarchal role, this shows his dominance and his dominant role.

• Dad buys Anita so it makes him in charge of her and emphasising his dominance.

• In the brothel scene, Miska is getting raped because she shows no consent, but then again she is a robot so it is not possible to give consent as she has supposedly no feelings.

• Representation of women that they are meant to look pretty, as the little girl said that she wants a pretty synth. Like a doll, they want her to be like a pretty doll so they can look like her and they're aspirational.

Madonna/Whore Complex

• Sigmund Freud developed a theory to explain men's anxiety towards women's sexuality, suggesting that men define women into one of two categories;

• Madonna - Women he admires and respects
• Refers to the virgin mother (Mary)

• Whore - Women he is attracted to and therefore disrespects.
• Sleeps with a lot of people for fun, pleasure or money.

• The Madonna is typically virtuous, nurturing, saintly and sexually repressed.

• The Whore is sensual, sexualised and desirable without purity.

The Sci-Fi Genre and Sociohistorical Context

The Sci-Fi Genre and Sociohistorical Context

• Allegory
• A media product that has a hidden meaning
• E.g Animal Farm

• Zeitgeist
• The 'spirit of the time'
• E.g Fresh Prince of Bel Air for the 90's

• Humans Sci-Fi Conventions
• Blue eyes
• Not comedy
• Robots
• Theme tune has sympathises
• Not romantic
• Themes of artificial intelligence
• Robotic speech
• Clean, blue mise-en-scene
• Stiff movement
• Realistic real world elements

• Themes
• Sexualisation
• Sexual Exploitation
• Modern Slavery
• Capitalism and the nuclear family
• Prostitution and the rights of sex workers
• Racism

Allegorical Aspect

• Sex Robots
• A robot is a depiction of a human. Desensitise to boundaries of what is real and what is not you lose reach of real life.

• Pornography
• Cultivation theory as it is making it okay to do certain things to a woman as it is normalised so often.

• Modern Slavery
• They buy Anita from a shop. Slave market represented by the synth shop.

• Modern Slavery
• The synths are programmed to do all the housework and as they are robots they don't get paid for it. 

• Modern Slavery
• It is justified to do whatever they want to the robots as they're just a 'machine'.

Key Theory - Steve Neale - Theories Around Genre

• Why does genre exist?
• Who benefits from generic classification?
• What are some advantages of genre?
• What are some disadvantages of genre?

Differences in Anita and Laura

• Anita is physically younger compared to Laura
• Anita is eastern asian and Laura is white
• Anita is on a different side of the room compared to Laura
• Anita is wearing basic factory clothing compared to Laura who is wearing everyday clothes