Revision - Component2a - Television

Question

"All genres exist and function through a process of repetition and difference" - Use Steve Neale's genre theory to explore this notion in Humans and Les Revenants [30]

Underline

"All genres exist and function through a process of repetition and difference" - Use Steve Neale's genre theory to explore this notion in Humans and Les Revenants [30]

Knee Jerk

DAC

Defintion
Argument
Context

Neale argues that genre works through presenting a series of easily identifiable generic paradigms in order to ensure an audience. However, in order to maintain audiences over time, there is also a requirement for the producer to vary genre conventions. Thus all media products exist as a combination of the repetition and difference of genre conventions. I shall argue that both of the TV shows I have studied are simultaneously typical and yet atypical in the ways they present as genre. This is primarily to appeal to both a core and a niche audience. In order to explore this, I shall be using the examples of Humans, a 2015 Channel 4 sci-fi UKTV series, based off the Swedish sci-fi show Real Humans, and Les Revenants, a French supernatural drama/zombie show, first broadcast in 2012 on Canal Plus, and based on 2004 film of the same name. Both shows have been distributed to a number of audiences in other countries.

Plan

• Genre Hybridity

• When he is walking down the hallway there is a proairetic code connoting something is going to happen and it is typical of horror movies, however what we actually see if a typically attractive, middle aged woman sat in his kitchen eating pasta out of a pan as she is hungry.

• This entire show is massively anti-climatic, when we watch horror films we expect to see people dying, however in this episode we see more people coming back to life than dying.

• Les Revenants is designed for a niche and cult audience as it stereotypically atypical. This is why Les Revenants is subverting these conventions in order to appeal to the audience. Normal mainstream audiences will be disappointed and bored through this, however to the cult audience they will enjoy the show due to it being exciting from not seeing the 'norm' of a horror movie.

• By Les Revenants swapping between 3 different scenes (Busstop, Pub and House, and Camilles bedroom) it is appealing to a wider range of audiences, it is appealing to teens aswell as adults and appealing to the working class aswell as the middle class.

• Les Revenants has a vast ensemble cast, to appeal to different ages/classes.

• The mise-en-scene of the settings enforces the idea of the working class suburbs being dull and boring. To ensure the feeling of being un safe for Julie.

• The sound is low tempo and sparse, which is non diegetic sound. We also hear ambient sounds such as roaring of the buses, to make it seem more real and relatable to the audience.

• Claude Levi-Strauss - Binary Oppositions, there is a major binary opposition between the dark and scary town with an innocent little boy which enforces the idea that Viktor is creepy and shouldn't be there.

• Henry Jenkins - Fandom. We see many examples of Les Revenants giving their audience the opportunity to draw up their own conclusions, which will allow the audience to speak between themselves to take the story beyond the show.

• Each episode focuses on a different character as the show goes on. Camille is the focus in episode 1. Except from episode 8 which is called 'La Horde' which creates a character arc.

• The show is French and funded by companies such as EU, and French Alp etc.

• There is many French aspects of Les Revenants, there is a stereotypically loving atmosphere and close-knit families which adds to these stereotypes. Another reason to make it French and differ from a British show is the setting, for a french audience it will give the pleasure of a stereotypically french atmosphere which could be nostalgic or a sense of escapism.

• Les Revenants is atypical through the use of their setting, we are seeing sights of France that are not stereotypical, if a English or American producer are wanting to set it in France they will more than likely chose Paris. A big reason as to why Les Revenants is probably set in The Alps is because of the funding so it is also as if it is an advert aswell as a TV show.

• Humans is about technological singularity and means humans and robots will become equal. This is actually happening, people are losing their jobs to robots. This is an allegory.

• Anita plays a role of a mum to Sophie, Anita plays a role of a doll, Anita is also a sexually attractive woman who is competition towards Laura. Anita plays a role of a toy. Anita serves many different purposes.

• "This is how breakfast is supposed to be" an example of hyperreality, Anita is perfect because she is not real and she is a Madonna and she is a Whore. We suggest that she doesn't have control and she doesn't have consent.

• In the scene of Odi messing up we are positioned in a british shopping centre such as a Morrisons or Tesco, which is an easily identifiable scene for the british audience which is appealing.

• We are positioned with George so when he gets told to scrap Odi. We sympathise with George and we understand that nobody wants to scrap him as he is lovely and that George loves him.

• Humans deals with a range of hard to explain and deal with subjects, such as rape, we see Miska being raped at the end of the episode, but technically she is not raped as she is a robot, which can bring in so many moral issues. We are eye to eye with Niska, the expression she pulls is that she is completely emotionless, dehumanising her even further. We are supposed to feel upset and sorry for Niska.

• Humans repeat these ideas and encode sci-fi elements, the bright green synth eyes are a convention of sci-fi its not a full on convention it is subtle. The entire show is just showing that all synths are objectified. Every synth goes through a process multiple times of being objectified.

• Different people can have different readings of the same thing, this is what Humans allows the audience to do, people chose their preferred reading. It could be about how women are treated in our society whereas it could also be to other people about a show with robots with no deeper meanings. There is no correct meaning which is what polysemy is all about.

Revision - Component1a - Music Videos

Question

How do the representations in these music videos show the values, attitudes and beliefs of the producer?
Formation - Beyonce
Blackpink - ddu-du-ddu-du

Underline

How do the representations in these music videos show the values, attitudes and beliefs of the producer?

Knee Jerk

Representation - a re-presentation, where a group, issue or event is 'shown again' by the producer. By using media language to represent certain groups, the producer can both reinforce and challenge hegemonic norms. I shall argue that the video to Formation by Beyonce and the video to ddu-du-ddu-du by Blackpink both reinforce and challenge stereotypes of women.

Plan

• Semiotics - Roland Barthes

• Structuralism - Claude Levi Strauss

• Representation - Stuart Hall

• Pick'n'Mix - David Gauntlet

• Feminist Theory - Lisbet Van Zoonen/bell hooks

• Post colonialism  - Paul Gilroy - hierarchies of power still exist today!

• L/A shots

• Americanisation/Westernisation

• Shot in California

• Fast paced editing in BP, slow in formation

• MES of police and authority

• Rebelion

• CU shots - celebrity

• Gun fetishism - post malone?

• Gang signs! cute! binary opposition!

• Warlike!

• Video VHS effect - symbolic intertextual reference to police brutality captioned on dash-cams

• BP - men in balaclavas, men less important!

• Intertextual reference - BP girl swinging from chandelier: Miley Cyrus wrecking ball!!

• Celebrity iconography

• Shots of Hurricane Katrina, representation of racial conflict

• bell hooks - feminism is for everyone

• Intimidating mode of address

Paragraphs

PEA

One way in which the ideology of the producer of ddu-du-ddu-du is shown to be subversive through the use of glamorisation within masculine objects. For example, we see a pink diamante tank with one of the lead singers positioned on top eating popcorn,

One way in which the ideology of the producer of ddu-du-ddu-du is shown to be conventional is through the reinforcement of female stereotypes. This is primarily achieved through the consistently stereotypically feminine MES such as shopping bags, presents, jewels, gems and summer dresses. This is further reinforced through the feminine objects being situated in stereotypically masculine and aggressive settings, creating a binary opposition, and emphasising how unnatural this is...

Costumes in both videos are generally heavily sexualised, with the purpose of emphasising the bodies of the young, female performers. An excellent example of Van-Zoonen's observation women's bodies are used to fulfil the gaze of the male target audience, and to become an aspirational figure for the female target audience. This reinforces that the hegemonically accepted goal of all women in society is to be looked at by heterosexual men.

In Formation, the producer primarily represents black women as being of a lesser hierarchal status than white people. Long shot of Beyonce stranded on top of a police car demonstrates both her powerlessness and her vulnerability in the face of authority. Her 'formation; of women dancing in a deserted car park, demonstrating a lack of financial capital ..... The positioning of men around her, taking on the role of bodyguards is symbolic of danger

The symbolism of the Antebellum era costume demonstrates Beyonce's manipulation and ownership of the black slavery narrative. By being positioned as a slaver Beyonce is arguably placed into a position of power, however the polysemic image is potentially controversial for her audience. 

Revision - Component1b - Newspapers

Question

How do The Times and The Daily Mirror attract and maintain their audiences both locally and globally?

Underline

How do The Times and The Daily Mirror attract and maintain their audiences both locally and globally?

Knee-Jerk

Attraction is to bring in audiences
Maintaining audiences is essential for the newspaper industry, as it ensures financial success by promoting brand loyalty. British newspapers naturally primarily target a British, local audience, with an international audience mainly as an afterthought.

Content

• The Times

• Subscription - Audiences are encouraged to subscribe to the Times, allowing them to pay £1/day as opposed to £1.80, a significant saving, although it requires setting up a direct debit.

• Consistent presentation of dominant ideology. Broadly pro Brexit, and supportive of May's government.

• The Times will shift their ideology in order to suit their audience. An industry dominated by profit and power.

• "The isis bride" (former?) British Citizen, a particularly emotive issue for British audiences, that encourages debate and discussion, encouraging audiences to buy every week.

• "Boy 7 electrocuted after climbing over pub wall"

• The Mirror

• "How to make the most of your GP appointment" - practical yet ridiculously common sense life advice, providing the audience with the gratification of information.

• Puzzle Solutions - the solution for the puzzle is published the next day: codebreaker puzzle = £75.

• "Good food daily recipe to collect" encourages brand loyalty.

• Online comments on The Mirror online allows audiences to share their own views and opinions which may be radically offensive: an excellent example of Shirky's theory.

• The Mirror cultivates a left wing ideology, constructing a left wing audience who show brand loyalty to the product.

• Jordan Pickford - English goalkeeper involved in a street brawl. "if it bleeds, it leads" Especially important to working class audience fascinated by alcohol, football and fighting, cultivating the ideology of the target audience.

Revision - Component1b - Newspapers

Question

How do specific processes of production, distribution and circulation shape The Times and The Mirror?

Facts

• The Times

• Owned by News UK, a subsidiary of News International, an enormous media conglomerate.

• Long established, a British institution est. 1785

• Sister Paper: The Sunday Times

• Circulation 2019: 417,298 a day

• Compact format, easier to read

• Vertically integrated industry

• Currently £1.80

• Daily newspaper

• Right wing

• Middle class, older audience

• The Daily Mirror

• Tabloid Newspaper/Redtop

• Working class audience

• Owned by Reach PLC (Previously Trinity Mirror)

• Founded in 1903

• Circulation 587,803 a day (2017)

• Sister Paper: Sunday Mirror

• Reach also publishes a range of local newspapers - diversification

• "The intelligent tabloid. "hashtagmadeuthink"

• Cover price 80p

• Both newspapers

• Produced daily

• Extremely short production cycle, meaning more emphasis on quantity rather than quality.

• Examples of a highly specialised industry

• Hierarchal structure with editors, journalists, designers and printers

• Tend to be owned by massive multinational corporations, with an interest in profit and power

Underline

How do specific processes of production, distribution and circulation shape The Times and The Mirror?

Knee-Jerk

Both newspapers target a mass audience and want a mass circulation.

Plan

• The Times

• Advert for "first class train journey London to Budapest" £3k holiday: newspapers make money through advertising revenue. Reach of advertising is vast!

• Article: opinion editorial on Gin and Tonic "speaking to: Unto power of a nice G&T"

• Page three: soft news: cricket: middle class sport

• Kidney Beans vs Lentils: very soft story! Demonstrates a middle class mass audience.

• Big focus on Brexit and british politics, demonstrating its newsworthiness to the mass target audience. An industry driven by power, profit and money.

• Average level of reading comprehension for the Times is 15 years old. Slightly above national average demonstrating a middle class audience.

• The Daily Mirror

• Mcdonalds advert on the front page, promotion of gambling.

• Double Page image splash of a model of Theresa May skewering someone with her nose demonstrates an anti-right wing ideology.

• Jordan Pickford story is bigger and more easy to read on the front page than it is on The Times looking like it is more appealing to working class that someone got in a bar fight compared to in The Times.

• "Tips for a good night's sleep": soft news, and appealing to a mass audience. Cyclical, reoccurring news story.

• Front page skyline on Mick Jagger suggest a need to cater for a mass audience.

• 80% of sports coverage devoted to football. Football is hegemonic-ally established as Britain's national sport. A need to appeal to a mass audience.

• Use of slang and informal lexis.

• Level of reading comprehension: approximately 9 years old, the average reading age for the UK!

Revision - Component1a - Newspapers

Question

How do these products make use of intertextuality and genre conventions in order to reflect the ideology of the producer?

Underline

How do these products make use of intertextuality and genre conventions in order to reflect the ideology of the producer?

Knee Jerk

Daily Mail - Conservative (right)
Daily Mirror - Labour (left)

Both newspaper are heavily influenced by the favoured political party, which is shown through the use of intertextuality and genre conventions. The Daily Mirror favours the left wing labour party while The Daily Mail is particularly right wing newspaper.

Intertextuality refers to where a media product refers to another media product in order to engage the audience.

Genre Conventions are the typical aspects the genre of the media product, and are vital to the producer to allow them to target a specific audience.

Ideology refers to the ideas and beliefs of the producer, and is used primarily to allow the audience to relate to the media product.

Plan

• 'If it bleeds it leads'

• Bias

• Semiotics - Roland Barthes

• Structuralism - Claude Levi Strauss

• Representation - Stuart Hall

• Cultivation Theory - George Gerbner

• Reception - Stuart Hall

• Pick'n'mix - David Gauntlet

• Anchorage

• Tabloids

• Repetition and Difference - Steve Neale Genre Theory

• Informal mode of address

• Working Class audience

• Binary Oppositions - Claude Levi Strauss

• Language/Lexis

• Reach PLC

• Serif/Sans Serif

• Paradigmatic Features

Content

• Daily Mail

• Through the mise-en-scene of the serif font used it is portraying a more formal mode of address. This fits Daily Mail's intended target audience as the right wing party is predominantly favoured by middle class people, by the use of the serif font it makes the newspaper more favoured to them therefore identifying with their audience.

• The use of the lexis 'hooded' reinforces the already known ideology that people with their hood up are bad and are dangerous. Through the use of this headline it makes the intertextual reference to a thriller film, so the audience then overcome a fear and paranoia due to the intertextual references from the headline.

• Dehumanisation of criminals: referred to as a disease, as something that needs to be wiped out.

• "hooded thug" highly emotive and hyperbolic lexis that anchors the audience to believe that young people who wear hoods are intrinsically murderers. Highly conventional of tabloid newspapers, creating a moral panic, targeting the mail's conservative audience who likely agree with tough measures for crime.

• Conflict between hard and soft news, allowing Mail to provide a conservative audience with a range of pleasure.

• Headline is a clear intertextual reference which takes advantage of the audience's love of crime dramas. A construction of an exciting and dangerous world. Deliberately targeting a mass, mainstream audience through manipulation.

• Daily Mirror

• One way in which the ideology of the Daily Mirror is reflected is through the use of intertextuality. For example the main image features a mid shot of a group of stereotypical assembled American Trump supporters. Their status as American is reinforced through the MES of their costume, the symbolic code presented by the red, white and blue. This clear intertextual reference to an American comedy is again reinforced through the genre convention of the exaggerated laughter, and the MES of the American flag suit is clearly ridiculous and borders on parody. A - the extreme patriotism is here presented as satire to a British audience, encouraging the British audience to take comfort in the fact that something similar is not happening here. It additionally anchors the meaning that American people are stereotypically stupid, funny and ridiculous.

• Trump is presented as the antagonist, and as a binary opposition to Hilary Clinton, even positioned on opposites sides of the page. An intertextual reference to popular action films, such as Dr No.

• Bias through selection: Mirror selects an image of Trump where he appears to have a severe learning difficulty. Preferred reading is to laugh at him, demonstrating the ideology of the Daily Mirror.

• Colour of the text is symbolic of American patriotism.

• Binary opposition created: fear over loss of jobs and immigrants, a juxtaposition between the representation of the hispanic woman holding a 'hispanics for trump' placard. Demonstrates to the audience the extreme uncertainty and confusion in America. Heavy use of irony, and the presentation of a confusing, ridiculous narrative.

• Cultivation of a left wing, anti-trump ideology to anchor the audience in to believing Trump is a force for bad, and ultimately to sell more newspapers. This is an example of Narrativisation.

• Comparison between two newspapers

• Both take a different mode of address. Daily Mail much more formal, while the Mirror adopts a more informal mode of address.