Nature documentaries present their broad audiences with a range of thrilling narratives and fascinating settings, in much the same way as True Detective, Made in Chelsea, or indeed any other media text.
With nature documentaries there is an expectation from the audience that what they are viewing is fact. With the majority of nature documentaries featuring exclusively footage of real animals in their natural habitat, this all but confirms this expectation of the audience, that a documentary is a documentation of reality.
Nature documentaries are intensely time consuming and expensive to produce. The result of the location filming, often fraught with technical and safety issues, is hundreds, if not thousands of hours of footage in some situations. In others, there may be very little footage, if any at all. In both situations, the footage must be edited to form a compelling narrative for the target audience. A soundtrack, which can be dramatic, comedic or heart-wrenching is added. A voice over, emphasising the drama of the situation, as well as choice facts, is recorded.
In short, there are many ways in which narrative and content is fabricated by the producers. However, do the audience really feel they are watching unedited, unembellished footage?
The following articles will be an excellent starting point to your wider reading on the nature documentary and its controversies.
When it was discovered that small portions of the documentary Blue Planet was filmed in an aquarium in Wales, the BBC found themselves having to defend what is a very widespread technique in nature documentaries.
Todd VanDerWerff discusses the pointlessness of nature documentaries having narratives in the first place, and suggests an over reliance on narrative has effectively destroyed the genre
This blog details some of the problematic ways that nature documentaries have been filmed
This Guardian article further details 'dishonest' filmmaking practices used in the construction of nature documentaries
This fascinating academic article by Jane Adcroft argues that the use of anthropomorphisation in nature documentaries is not only a valid narrative technique, but also has the benefits of promoting awareness of conservation. There are some excellent examples of how audiences are manipulated by the 'staging' of certain scenes also.
Friday, 24 March 2017
AS Media Studies - past paper questions
When you come back after the Easter holiday, you will have just over four weeks until the exam. To put it bluntly, you need to revise over the Easter holiday.
A-levels are unlike GCSEs in the sense that you cannot 'blag' them. You will be expected to refer to three different examples in both the representation and audience questions. These examples must be detailed and relevant. You must also have a definite point of view.
Revision should be as varied as possible to keep things interesting. There are other posts on revision on this blog, so we won't go into details here, but an excellent way of revising is to take a past paper question, make a detailed plan, and then complete a timed response. You can email your answer to your teacher for feedback.
Some of these questions are more straightforward than others. For the representation questions, you may find that we haven't covered this aspect of representation yet. After Easter, we'll be finishing off with ethnicity, issues and events, so you might want to leave these one's until later!
A-levels are unlike GCSEs in the sense that you cannot 'blag' them. You will be expected to refer to three different examples in both the representation and audience questions. These examples must be detailed and relevant. You must also have a definite point of view.
Revision should be as varied as possible to keep things interesting. There are other posts on revision on this blog, so we won't go into details here, but an excellent way of revising is to take a past paper question, make a detailed plan, and then complete a timed response. You can email your answer to your teacher for feedback.
Some of these questions are more straightforward than others. For the representation questions, you may find that we haven't covered this aspect of representation yet. After Easter, we'll be finishing off with ethnicity, issues and events, so you might want to leave these one's until later!
Audience questions
- With reference to your own detailed examples, explore what influences how audiences or users respond to media texts.
- With reference to your own detailed examples, explore how audiences are categorised by the producers of media texts.
- With reference to your own detailed examples, explore the ways in which media texts are constructed to target audiences.
- Discuss how media texts attract different audiences. Refer to your own detailed examples
- With reference to your own detailed examples, explore the ways in which producers position their audiences.
Representation questions
- Using your own detailed examples, explore representations of ethnicity in the media today.
- Using your own detailed examples, explore the representation of gender in the media today.
- Using your own detailed examples, explore the representation of two issues in the media today.
- With reference to your own detailed examples, explore the different representations of young people in the media today.
- With reference to your own detailed examples, explore the different representations of men in the media today.
The representation of masculinity in Peep Show
1 - Find and write definitions for the following terms
- Hypermasculinity
- Homoereoticism
- The new man
- Metrosexual
2 - Textual analysis of Peep Show
Divide these roles between your three group members:
- Representation of Mark
- Representation of Jeremy
- Representation of other men
- Representation of women
Make specific notes of how these characters are constructed through visual codes and technical codes. Peep Show is very dialogue heavy, so it will be useful to write down quotes as you watch.
3 - How is the representation of masculinity constructed in Peep Show? What impact does this have on the target audience?
In your groups, draft a spider diagram with the following 'legs':
- Mark
- Jeremy
- Dobby
- Male characters
- Cinematography
- Mise-en-scene
- Target audience and audience appeal
There's lots more you can talk about, but make sure you discuss the impact on the target audience!
4 - Extension
What films feature a similar representation of men to Peep Show? What texts feature a very different representation of men? In the exam, every text you look at has to be from a different industry to the last, so if you use Peep Show for the representation of gender or the representation of Britishness, you'll have to look at a film, music video, event, issue, newspaper etc for your other detailed example!
5 - Sample paragraph
While many representations of masculinity focus on metrosexual men obsessed with their hair or hypermasculine men obsessed with their bodies, Peep Show presents a very different representation of men in the media today. An excellent example is the character Jeremy. In the episode Jeremy Therapised, Jeremy is represented as immature, dishonest and a flawed male. Forced to attend therapy, Jeremy enters the therapist's office in his trademark army camouflage jacket and scruffy jeans. These aspects of mise-en-scene connote someone much younger, perhaps a teenager or a university student who has an issue with authority. This is reflected through Jeremy's reaction to his therapist. Jeremy launches in to a full scale attack, threatening to defecate in his flower pot and using obscene hand gestures before almost breaking down in tears. In short, Jeremy is a classic comedy archetype, the stupid best friend who provides the audience with the gratification of entertainment and escapism. However, Channel 4 have also constructed Jeremy as a stereotypical representation of a failure of masculinity. Jeremy is represented as being both pathetic and also funny through the fact he fails to live up to a stereotypically successful man. He is single, immature, unemployed and both balding and in his late 30's. Since the target audience for Peep Show is male, middle class students aged 20 - 35 who identify with the characters, Peep Show reinforces the stereotype that men should fulfil certain gender expectations, or risk becoming excluded from society.
Thursday, 23 March 2017
AS Media project - the representation of age
When discussing representation, we use exactly the same structure regardless of if we are talking about men, women, gender, ethnicity, national identity or social issue. The structure is as follows:
Be careful: some of these films are pretty challenging in their content. An easy opt out, though just as useful, is to switch on the TV and to look for a youth oriented show and watch it, even if you have never heard of it!
Your task is to analyse how the representation of youth is constructed in this text, and what message is constructed about the group in question. Finally, as ever, discuss the impact on the target audience of the text!
For this final task, all you need to do is watch television for an entire evening. At the very least, you need to watch three shows back to back.
You are going to be looking at representations of age, but also representations of men, and representations of women. How are these groups represented? Make notes as you watch the shows. You may like to use this grid to help you structure your response.
1. The group, place or issue on which a media text is focusing.
2. The technical devices/codes the media text uses in order to present these groups or issues.
3. The message about the group or issue being created within the text.
4. The impact of this message on the target audience.
You are going to be using exactly the same structure when analysing the representation of young people.
Your research and notes for this project will be submitted on your first lesson back after the Easter holiday. There is no word limit, upper or lower, for this project. However, it is expected that you will complete 4 1/2 hours of work on this project.
The work shall primarily be assessed through verbal presentation, either one-to-one with your teacher, or in small groups. However, the more notes you write, the more accomplished your case studies will be.
One week project - the representation of age
Research
1 - Run a Google image search for 'British youth' or similar
- What results come up?
- What stereotypes exist of young people in the United Kingdom?
- What media texts (for example TV shows, music videos, films etc) have you seen characters like this in?
2 - Buy, or find a national tabloid newspaper (eg The Mirror, The Sun, The Express, The Star...)
- What stories are related to young people?
- Exactly how many stories are related to young people? (go through the entire newspaper and count!)
- How are young people represented? Are the representations positive or negative?
- What language is used to refer to young people?
Theory
Read through the following theories, making notes for both in your book.
Extension - use online resources to research Dick Hebdige and his writing on youth subculture
Hebdige (1979) - Young people are either 'fun' or 'trouble'
- Dick Hebdige has written extensively on youth subcultures, and how young people challenge hegemony through expression. This has led to many youth subcultures, from punks, goths, emos, teddy boys, mods, rockers... This idea that young people are fundamentally 'different' from adults has led to significant use of stereotypes by producers
- When young people are featured in media texts, they are limited to either 'trouble' or 'fun', with no in-between.
- Representation is clearly not reality. Every representation is constructed to reflect the ideologies of the producer.
- Producers believe it would be boring to show young people working hard, taking on adult responsibilities or other roles.
- While this might not directly influence into believing that these are the only two representations, it does lead to an under-representation/misrepresentation of young people in media texts.
Gerbner - Cultivation theory
- You'll be familiar with cultivation theory from our study of audience. However, we can also use this idea to question how and why representations are formed
- One suggestion would be that young people in media texts are often associated with crime, with the young characters whether being involved in committing crime, or being the victim of crime.
- Consistent negative representation indoctrinates the public to place blame on teens.
- Television ‘sows the seeds’ of negative representation… and after a while, audiences begin to accept this as fact.
- Like all passive audience theories, we need to treat this one with caution.
Case study
 |
| Waterloo Road ran for over 200 episodes, and featured a wide range of representations of young people. |
Select a film or single episode of a TV series that features young people in a significant role. For the purpose of this exercise, 'young' means 19 or younger.
You can select anything you like, as long as it meets these requirements. If you're stuck for inspiration, check out this list.
- Kidulthood (2006) (18)
- Frozen (2013)
- Harry Brown (2009)
- Skins (TV) (18)
- Eden Lake (2008) (18)
- NEDS (2010) (18)
- American Pie (1999)
- The Inbetweeners (2008) (18)
- Dennis The Menace and Gnasher (TV)
- Stranger Things (TV)
Be careful: some of these films are pretty challenging in their content. An easy opt out, though just as useful, is to switch on the TV and to look for a youth oriented show and watch it, even if you have never heard of it!
Your task is to analyse how the representation of youth is constructed in this text, and what message is constructed about the group in question. Finally, as ever, discuss the impact on the target audience of the text!
Watching TV
For this final task, all you need to do is watch television for an entire evening. At the very least, you need to watch three shows back to back.
You are going to be looking at representations of age, but also representations of men, and representations of women. How are these groups represented? Make notes as you watch the shows. You may like to use this grid to help you structure your response.
A2 Media project - audience responses
Throughout your upcoming Media Studies exam, you will be expected to discuss not only how producers target and manipulate their audiences, but also how audiences respond to and use media texts.
Media Studies can often be seen as a tug of war between the producer and the audience.
On the one hand, the producer will use every technique in the book to anchor the target audience in to a specific set of readings. This can be accomplished through cinematography, editing, soundtrack... in fact any element listed on the textual analysis toolkit.
However, we know that audiences are sophisticated, and will engage with media texts in a variety of different ways. Audiences can negotiate and reject the dominant reading of the text, using it instead for social interaction, something to make fun of, or even a cautionary tale about society. In short, as Gauntlet attests, audiences can pick and mix the parts of a text they are more interested in and ignore or despise the rest.
For this week long task, you will be looking at the different ways audiences use, take pleasure from or interpret media texts. You will also be looking at how producers target and/or position their intended audiences.
Your research and notes for this project will be submitted on your first lesson back after the Easter holiday. There is no word limit, upper or lower for this project. However, it is expected that you will complete 4 1/2 hours of work on this project.
The work shall primarily be assessed through verbal presentation, either one-to-one with your teacher, or in small groups. However, the more notes you write, the more accomplished your case studies will be.
Select one of the TV shows we have studied in class.
Who is the target audience for this text?
Create a pen portrait of the target audience for this text. This needs to be very specific.
Remember, every text has a specific target audience, even if there are multiple intended secondary audiences.
Being as specific as possible, make a list of everything that could possibly appeal to any potential audience of the three tv programmes. Don't just stick with the obvious choices like personal identification and sexual gratification, but also consider the use of technology, the negative emotions elicited and the use of positioning.
1 - Think back to the target audience you have identified for each text. Now outline the dominant ideology. What exactly is the producer attempting to communicate to the audience? What is the message of the show?
2 - For both of the texts, describe the preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings. Use examples to back this up.
Use Google to read up on and answer the following questions. Hopefully, you will find yourself looking at a range of articles. Don't feel you have to stick with these questions. A wide range of contextual knowledge is absolutely essential for the MS4 exam, and we strongly recommend you complete several hours of wider reading each week.
How are nature documentaries made?
What are ten things that are wrong with the effects model?
Why is everyone in Made in Chelsea white?
How can we categorise audiences?
How can gay audiences respond to True Detective?
You have an audience mock coming up the first week back after the Easter holiday.
Select one of the following questions by spinning your cursor around and seeing where it lands. Now, you have to have a go at planning this question!
Underline the key terms, and plan out a detailed answer using either the three TV shows you have studied, or the three films (just a quick point here: you can't 'mix & match' films, TV shows and musical artists in one question. Each question has to be about one specific industry!)
Media Studies can often be seen as a tug of war between the producer and the audience.
On the one hand, the producer will use every technique in the book to anchor the target audience in to a specific set of readings. This can be accomplished through cinematography, editing, soundtrack... in fact any element listed on the textual analysis toolkit.
However, we know that audiences are sophisticated, and will engage with media texts in a variety of different ways. Audiences can negotiate and reject the dominant reading of the text, using it instead for social interaction, something to make fun of, or even a cautionary tale about society. In short, as Gauntlet attests, audiences can pick and mix the parts of a text they are more interested in and ignore or despise the rest.
For this week long task, you will be looking at the different ways audiences use, take pleasure from or interpret media texts. You will also be looking at how producers target and/or position their intended audiences.
Your research and notes for this project will be submitted on your first lesson back after the Easter holiday. There is no word limit, upper or lower for this project. However, it is expected that you will complete 4 1/2 hours of work on this project.
The work shall primarily be assessed through verbal presentation, either one-to-one with your teacher, or in small groups. However, the more notes you write, the more accomplished your case studies will be.
One week project: exploring audience
Target audiences
Select one of the TV shows we have studied in class.
Who is the target audience for this text?
Create a pen portrait of the target audience for this text. This needs to be very specific.
Remember, every text has a specific target audience, even if there are multiple intended secondary audiences.
age
gender
lifestyle
favourite book/film/game
something they like to do at the weekend
where they go on holiday/who with
three things in their pocket or bag
worries
job
best friend
favourite item of clothing
most loved/hated thing
spending power
Appeal
Being as specific as possible, make a list of everything that could possibly appeal to any potential audience of the three tv programmes. Don't just stick with the obvious choices like personal identification and sexual gratification, but also consider the use of technology, the negative emotions elicited and the use of positioning.
Negotiation
1 - Think back to the target audience you have identified for each text. Now outline the dominant ideology. What exactly is the producer attempting to communicate to the audience? What is the message of the show?
2 - For both of the texts, describe the preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings. Use examples to back this up.
Wider reading
Use Google to read up on and answer the following questions. Hopefully, you will find yourself looking at a range of articles. Don't feel you have to stick with these questions. A wide range of contextual knowledge is absolutely essential for the MS4 exam, and we strongly recommend you complete several hours of wider reading each week.
How are nature documentaries made?
What are ten things that are wrong with the effects model?
Why is everyone in Made in Chelsea white?
How can we categorise audiences?
How can gay audiences respond to True Detective?
Preparing for the mock
You have an audience mock coming up the first week back after the Easter holiday.Select one of the following questions by spinning your cursor around and seeing where it lands. Now, you have to have a go at planning this question!
Underline the key terms, and plan out a detailed answer using either the three TV shows you have studied, or the three films (just a quick point here: you can't 'mix & match' films, TV shows and musical artists in one question. Each question has to be about one specific industry!)
- How important is the industry to your selected industry? Refer to your chosen texts in your answer.
- How effectively is your selected industry regulated? Refer to your chosen texts in your answer.
- How successful have your chosen texts been for their industry?
- ‘Most media texts target a range of different audiences.’ How true is this for your chosen texts?
- How have your chosen texts been constructed to appeal to their audiences?
- To what extent have your chosen texts been affected by regulation issues?
- With reference to your selected industry, explore the ways in which your chosen texts are marketed and/or promoted.
- What different pleasures do your chosen texts offer audiences?
- Explore the different ways in which audiences and/or users respond to your chosen texts.
- To what extent is the success of your chosen texts dependent on stars and/or celebrities?
- With reference to your selected industry, explore how far your chosen texts are global.
- Explore how your chosen texts use digital technology in their marketing.
- Assess the main advantages of the internet for your three main texts.
- With reference to your three main texts, discuss the key features of their distribution.
- Explore the different ways your three main texts attract their audiences.
- How global is the appeal of your three main texts?
- Discuss the audience appeal of your three main texts.
- Explore the impact of regulation on your three main texts.
- How effectively were your three main texts marketed?
- ‘The main function of a media text is to entertain its audience.’ How true is this for your three main texts?
- To what extent are stars and/or celebrities important to the promotion of your three main texts?
- Explore the different ways your three main texts target their audiences.
- Explore the different ways audiences interact with your three main texts.
- ‘Distribution is the key to success.’ How far do you agree? Refer to your three main texts in your answer.
- What do texts offer audiences? Refer to your three main texts in your answer.
- How do your three main texts use digital technology?
- How do your three main texts position audiences?
- To what extent are your three main texts global?
- Explore the use of digital technologies in your selected industry. Refer to your three main texts.
- How is your chosen industry regulated? Refer to your three main texts.
- To what extent do your three main texts appeal to different audiences?
- ‘A global audience is important to media industries.’ Discuss this statement with reference to your three main texts.
- Discuss the marketing strategies used by your selected industry. Refer to your three main texts.
- How important are high production values to your three main texts?
- Explore the different ways audiences respond to your three main texts.
- To what extent do your three main texts target a mainstream audience?
- Explore the different audience appeal of your three main texts.
- Discuss the importance of social media in the marketing and promotion of your three main texts.
- To what extent do your three main texts target a global audience?
- How important are digital technologies to the success of your three main texts?
Tuesday, 21 March 2017
Representation of gender - key terms and concepts
Being able to appropriately use and define the following terms when analysing your key texts in the final exam will allow you to provide a sophisticated response to the representation of gender.
Key terms
Sexualisation
Objectification
Voyeurism
Scopophilia
Feminism
Sexism
Hegemony
Patriarchal hegemony
The gaze
Fetishisation
Remember, for every response to a representation question, use the following structure to make sure you address every important aspect
1. The group, place or issue on which a media text is focusing.
2. The technical devices/codes the media text uses in order to present these groups or issues.
3. The message about the group or issue being created within the text.
4. The impact of this message on the target audience.
Wednesday, 15 March 2017
Stranger Things and audience appeal
One of the keys to the continued popularity of Stranger Things continuing popularity is its ability to simultaneously address a range of audiences. This makes it an excellent example of a text to make reference to in the MS1 exam. Here are a few examples of how to apply audience theory to a key scene.
This scene starts with a montage of establishing shots, positioning the audience in a typical US high school in the mid-1980's. This opening montage makes heavy use of referential codes, playing off the knowledge that the audience has of 80's teen movies. The use of natural, warm lighting may provide gratifications of escapism for UK viewers, a country not known for its good weather.
Stranger Things is not all about nostalgia, and many of the themes of the show focus on the issues affecting young people. The young, teenage protagonists meet a group of older children who begin to bully them. The use of high angle shots here emphasise how vulnerable the protagonists are. The bully's use offensive and racist language, which anchors the audience, helping to realise that they are the villains of the episode.
Though it may seem odd, this scene can also provide escapism for the younger target audience. The protagonists stay together while being bullied, and see the encounter as more of an annoyance than a real threat. In this way, the scene provides a utopian solution for the very real issue of discrimination, as it allows the audience to escape in to a narrative where this issue has been downplayed.
Later on in the narrative, the protagonists have their revenge on the bullies in a scene that is likely to provide many uses and gratifications for the younger target audience!
After the younger characters escape their situation, the scene cuts to another establishing montage. This time the location is another iconic teen movie setting, the lockers in the corridor. Nancy and Barb discuss Nancy's new boyfriend. The situation is instantly recognisable to older teenage audiences, as they are able to identify and relate to the idea of two girls gossiping about boys. Nancy and Barb present the audience with a binary opposition. Nancy is smaller, more stereotypically attractive, while Barb is larger and less stereotypically attractive. This reinforces the different roles of the characters (Nancy the protagonist, Barb the helper or sidekick) and allows the audience to learn something of the two character's personalities, once again providing gratification through information.
Nancy proceeds to the toilets with her boyfriend Steve. This heated kissing provides sexual gratification for the target audience, through the pleasure of seeing two young characters in love (or lust). The dominant reading of this scene is that the audience find Nancy and/or Steve attractive. However, audiences may negotiate this scene in several ways. Audiences may believe that Nancy is too good for Steve, not good enough, or even take an oppositional reading and simply find the whole scene gross and off-putting.
It's important to note that Stranger Things simultaneously targets multiple audiences, using casting, shot types, music and costume to anchor the audience into certain expectations. However, it is more that possible for the audience to pick and mix the pleasures and uses that they want to get out the text. For example, younger teenagers may be far more invested in the exploits of Mike and Eleven, and may find the romantic story arc completely not interesting. Likewise, the older male target audience may appreciate the nostalgia encoded within the detailed costume and mise-en-scene, identifying with the younger characters, but also investing in the character arcs of the adult characters. One of the biggest debates in Media Studies is around how active audiences really are. Stranger Things is an excellent example of how a variety of different audiences can negotiate media texts in a variety of different ways.
Key scene - going to school
This scene starts with a montage of establishing shots, positioning the audience in a typical US high school in the mid-1980's. This opening montage makes heavy use of referential codes, playing off the knowledge that the audience has of 80's teen movies. The use of natural, warm lighting may provide gratifications of escapism for UK viewers, a country not known for its good weather.
After an initial tracking shot, the camera settles on the iconographic BMX bikes of the younger teenage protagonists. The low angle shot positions us as somebody much smaller and younger, and provides the escapism of nostalgia for the older target audience.
Stranger Things is not all about nostalgia, and many of the themes of the show focus on the issues affecting young people. The young, teenage protagonists meet a group of older children who begin to bully them. The use of high angle shots here emphasise how vulnerable the protagonists are. The bully's use offensive and racist language, which anchors the audience, helping to realise that they are the villains of the episode.
Though it may seem odd, this scene can also provide escapism for the younger target audience. The protagonists stay together while being bullied, and see the encounter as more of an annoyance than a real threat. In this way, the scene provides a utopian solution for the very real issue of discrimination, as it allows the audience to escape in to a narrative where this issue has been downplayed.
Later on in the narrative, the protagonists have their revenge on the bullies in a scene that is likely to provide many uses and gratifications for the younger target audience!
After the younger characters escape their situation, the scene cuts to another establishing montage. This time the location is another iconic teen movie setting, the lockers in the corridor. Nancy and Barb discuss Nancy's new boyfriend. The situation is instantly recognisable to older teenage audiences, as they are able to identify and relate to the idea of two girls gossiping about boys. Nancy and Barb present the audience with a binary opposition. Nancy is smaller, more stereotypically attractive, while Barb is larger and less stereotypically attractive. This reinforces the different roles of the characters (Nancy the protagonist, Barb the helper or sidekick) and allows the audience to learn something of the two character's personalities, once again providing gratification through information.
Nancy proceeds to the toilets with her boyfriend Steve. This heated kissing provides sexual gratification for the target audience, through the pleasure of seeing two young characters in love (or lust). The dominant reading of this scene is that the audience find Nancy and/or Steve attractive. However, audiences may negotiate this scene in several ways. Audiences may believe that Nancy is too good for Steve, not good enough, or even take an oppositional reading and simply find the whole scene gross and off-putting.
It's important to note that Stranger Things simultaneously targets multiple audiences, using casting, shot types, music and costume to anchor the audience into certain expectations. However, it is more that possible for the audience to pick and mix the pleasures and uses that they want to get out the text. For example, younger teenagers may be far more invested in the exploits of Mike and Eleven, and may find the romantic story arc completely not interesting. Likewise, the older male target audience may appreciate the nostalgia encoded within the detailed costume and mise-en-scene, identifying with the younger characters, but also investing in the character arcs of the adult characters. One of the biggest debates in Media Studies is around how active audiences really are. Stranger Things is an excellent example of how a variety of different audiences can negotiate media texts in a variety of different ways.
Thursday, 9 March 2017
True Detective and representation
When considering True Detective from either a text, audience or industry perspective, it is impossible to get away from issues of representation. Representation, as stated by Dyer, is a way of ordering things, of making sense of the world for the producer and for the audience. Taking this idea further, the ways in which people and places, events and issues are RE-presented can tell us much about the following aspects:
Read the following articles, one at a time:
True Detective Does Have a Woman Problem. That’s Partly Why People Love It
Female Bodies and the Philbrosophy (sic) of "True Detective"
- The target audience
- The ideology of the producer
- The dominant ideology of the society where the text is from
- How the text has been marketed
- How the text could affect its target audience
- The impact on the group, issue, place or the perception of the event that is being represented in the text
Representation of gender in True Detective
Read the following articles, one at a time:
True Detective Does Have a Woman Problem. That’s Partly Why People Love It
Female Bodies and the Philbrosophy (sic) of "True Detective"
Questions for debate
- What do you think about the representation of gender in True Detective?
- Is it necessary for a show that focusses on issues of masculinity to represent women either sexual conquests or simple plot devices?
- Is True Detective misogynistic or simply myopic with representations of women?
- What impact does the representation of women in True Detective have on women in society?
- Sam Adams in The Slate elaborates on the appeal to True Detective's target audience: "Sure, there are the windy monologues delivered by Matthew McConaughey’s Rust Cohle about fourth-dimensional perspectives and the recurring nature of evil, but don’t worry: It’s also got tits".What is the function of female nudity in True Detective for the target audience? How does it advance the narrative, and for whom?
- What are the issues with simultaneously representing women as sexual rewards and naked, deceased victims?
- What assumptions are made about men in True Detective? What ideals should men live up to? What is the dominant ideology of masculinity? How could this effect the male target audience?
- A previous exam question is "[d]iscuss the audience appeal of your three main texts". How is the female body represented as being appealing to the target audience? What is the dominant ideology regarding the role of women in the society where this show takes place?
Wednesday, 8 March 2017
True Detective - key scene analysis
1) How is your chosen industry regulated? Refer to your three main texts.
2) To what extent do your three main texts appeal to different audiences?
1) Read through the above questions. Underline the key terms. What is the question actually asking you for?
2) Find the 'dinner table' scene from True Detective episode one. In it, Rust attempts to act sober in front of Marty's wife Maggie. You're going to use this scene to address question 2. Making explicit reference to the toolkit, what exactly about this scene can appeal to the show's target audience? Additionally, are there any other audiences that this scene may appeal to? Write your response as a series of bullet points in your book. Make sure to write down that this is a case study.
3) Research the opening credits sequence to True Detective series one. Who directed it? What techniques did they use? What meaning and symbolism was intended?
4) Analyse the opening credits sequence to True Detective. What explicit examples can help you to answer both question 1 and 2? What controversial themes and images are used? Would these be allowed on American network television? Are they essential to True Detective?
Tuesday, 7 March 2017
Audience study - analysing newspaper websites
When analysing newspaper websites, we need to take a slightly different approach to when we analyse print newspapers. However, much to the language remains the same.
1) Analyse the homepage to the website of one of the following newspapers:
The Mirror
The Guardian
The Daily Telegraph
The Sun
2) Write the following question in your book:
Make reference to explicit examples of the following
Broadsheet or tabloid?
Left or right wing ideology?
Layout and design
Lexis/language
Mode of address
Target audience
Selection of articles
Reception theory
Cultivation theory
Remember: you are forming a case study, so including as many details as possible will help out massively later on!
1) Analyse the homepage to the website of one of the following newspapers:
The Mirror
The Guardian
The Daily Telegraph
The Sun
2) Write the following question in your book:
With reference to your own detailed examples, explore how media texts target different audiences
Make reference to explicit examples of the following
Broadsheet or tabloid?
Left or right wing ideology?
Layout and design
Lexis/language
Mode of address
Target audience
Selection of articles
Reception theory
Cultivation theory
Remember: you are forming a case study, so including as many details as possible will help out massively later on!
Wednesday, 1 March 2017
True Detective and the southern gothic
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| Kim Cattrall in a 2013 performance of Tennessee Williams's Sweet Bird Of Youth, a play characterised by its violence, melodrama, sex and American deep south setting. |
Arguably the genre that True Detective most resembles is the southern gothic. This very specific genre is similar to social realism in the sense it is associated with a specific geographical location, in this case the American deep south. The southern gothic comes from the European gothic horror tradition, but is very much its own beast. Examples of texts that have been described as southern gothic include the melodramatic plays of Tennessee Williams, the claustrophobic anxiety of No Country for Old Men (2007), the grotesque Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and Harper Lee's 1960 novel To Kill A Mockingbird. These texts are rather different from one another, but there are a number of themes and paradigms that make up the southern gothic. Here are a few.
Alienation
Crime
Violence
Flawed central characters
Disturbing events
Discussions of the cultural character of the American South
Strange and/or sinister rural communities
Villains who disguise themselves as innocents
Perversion
Grotesque actions and characters
A dry, desolate, hot and oppressive landscape
Moral ambiguity and moral vacuums
Obsession
Pessimism
Corruption
To what extent is True Detective a true southern gothic text? What specific examples can you discover from the first episode alone? And why has such a specific and frankly depressing genre still popular to this day?
Thanks to Tanya for the southern gothic genre paradigms!
True Detective - HBO reseach
Please research HBO, the television network that produced and published True Detective, making use of the following headings. These questions/headings will require research! Please make notes in your book. Feel free to pick and choose which headings to focus on.
Ideology and identity of the channel
History
Notable shows, including genre, viewing figures and number of series
How does HBO differ from American network television? How is HBO regulated?
Which channel was True Detective shown on in the UK?
How does HBO distribute its TV output?
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