Humans - Audience Exam Question

Question

Is it essential for a TV programme to simultaneously target both mass and specialised audiences. Explore this statement with reference to Humans

Answer

It isn't essential for a TV programme to simultaneously target both mass and specialised audiences an example of a show which doesn't is Humans, a sci fi tv series which targets a mass audience throughout various readings, using Stuart Halls Reception theory I will explain how the pilot episode is targeted to a mass audience rather than a specialised audience.

From looking at Humans pilot episode, it is clear for the producer to target a mass audience. Although Humans is a sci-fi tv series, the sci-fi elements are subtle, such as it not being a full on robot show, we have human characters and the robots themselves are disguised as humans. This is just one small example of how Humans is targeted to a mass audience rather than a specialised audience without using Stuart Hall's Reception Theory.

Stuart Halls Reception theory explores the different ways in which a media product can have several readings. There are 3 readings in this theory they are, Dominant reading which is where the audience agrees with the dominant ideologies in the text. Oppositional reading where the audience completely disagrees with what they see and negotiated reading where the audience generally agrees with what they see however they may disagree with certain aspects.

Taking Stuart Halls theory and looking at the scene of Odie collapsing in the supermarket with George the audiences dominant reading is to feel sorry for Odie as we see his lifeless body laying with nothing able to be done to fix him as he is an out of date machine this scene is also made to make us feel bad for George so we carry this emotion with us for George throughout the episode, this isn't a confusing reading to take it is the first reading and the dominant it is also an identifiable situation as it can be linked to a close friends/ family members death as we know the relationship between George and Odie is a strong bond. So when George is then told to get rid of Odie and gets given a new cyborg he is hurt and we as the audience automatically do not agree with the new synth and carry the emotion of her being a nuisance throughout the episode as this is the dominant reading. This reading isn't hard to come by meaning a mass audience will be able to follow this without having to be a specialised audience to the tv series and sci-fi fans. This scene has elements which are in the majority of genre's in a romantic film there is usually some death that is meaningful and in action genres there are deaths some are more heartfelt than others.

Another scene in Humans is the scene when Laura meets Anita for the first time, it is clear to see from the first moment that Laura doesn't like Anita so straight away the mass audience is identifiable within this situation. The mise-en-scene of Anita's makeup showing she is naturally beautiful we also know she is deemed as attractive due to the mid shot of Laura's son Toby licking his lips the first time Toby saw her being a symbolic code that she is attractive to males of the household. Also through the mise-en-scene of Laura's non verbal communication through facial expressions clearly shows that she is not happy with this situation so straight away us as an audience understand there is competition and jealousy with Anita and Laura there is no use of a hermeneutic code as we know and do not need to be a specialised audience to get our head around the ideologies behind this scene.

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. 

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

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