Explore how ownership shapes media products. Make reference to The Returned to support your response

Example introduction

Shaping refers to how a media product is formed by the contexts in which it was created. In this essay, I shall argue that Les Revenants was shaped to a significant degree through its ownership. In fact, Les Revenants is a show which could only be made by Canal +. Canal + is an established premium subscription channel that appeals to a predominantly middle-class audience.

What kind of TV programme is Les Revenants?

• Zombie
• Supernatural
• Mysterious
• Weird
• Exciting?
• Boring
• Confusing
• Unconventional 
• Spooky
• Unexplainable 
• Atypical
• Emotional
• Violent
• Dramatic 
• Depressing 
• Sexually explicit 
• Triggering
• Big issues
• Uncommercial 
• Slow paced 

Research

• What other shows does Canal + put out?
• Budget
• Funding
• International distribution
• Production: how was it made? Who made it? Etc
• Revenue: earnings!
• Advertising: both nationally and internationally

Findings

• 1.91 million views for the first episode, which is fairly significant for a show like this
• 2 seasons of 8 episodes demonstrates high production costs 
• Funded through grants from Creative Europe and The French Alps Tourist Board . A diverse range of funding, typical of an independent productions
• Shot in Haute-Savoie, in the French Alps
• US distributor: Sundance TV, a premium US subscription channel
• Grant of 450000euros for 1st season and 1000000euros for the second, which indicates a return on the investment
• Aired at 2050 on Canal+. Prime time!

Paragraph starters

• One way in which Les Revenants was clearly shaped by the context of it’s ownership is through the highly non commercial and highly atypical nature of this show
• Another way in which Les Revenants was shaped through its ownership is through the surprisingly high budget and production values
• Yet another way in which Les Revenants was clearly shaped through ownership is it’s unique funding model
• A final way in which Les Revenants was shaped through the context of it’s ownership is through the shows graphic themes of sex and violence, which can only be achieved through an independent and commercially adventurous producer

The television industry is a specialised industry. Explore how The Returned is a product of a specialised industry

Example introduction

When an industry is specialised, this means that it does one thing extremely well. In this essay, I shall argue that Les Revenants is the product of a specialised industry, and could only be made by a producer that specialises in TV production. Les Revenants is a French language, highly atypical horror TV show that first broadcast in 2012.

What kind of TV show is Les Revenants?

• Niche audience 
• Flexi-narrative multi strand narrative, typical of TV show
• Complex
• Stereotypically French 
• Slow paced
• Weird 
• Atypical
• High Budget
• Polysemic
• Dark
• Depressing
• Washed out colour palette
• Mysterious
• Hermeneutic
• Unsettling
• Confusing
• Complex

Questions

• What is Canal +?
• What other shows does Canal + put out?
• Budget
• Funding
• International distribution
• Production: how was it made? Who made it? Etc
• Revenue: earnings!
• Advertising: both nationally and internationally

Findings - what kind of organisation is Canal +?

• Canal + is a multinational conglomerate. It owns a number of different channels, including Canal +, Cine Grande, Canal + Series, Canal + Foot, Canal + Kids, which indicates that it is horizontally integrated. However it also produces films, and has its own international digital streaming services, which means that it is also vertically integrated. In short, it is absolutely massive. A show like Les Revs is only possible to be produced by an enormous company like Canal +
• International distribution: in order to minimise risk and to maximise profit, Canal + chose to distribute and licence this show internationally. It was first broadcast in the UK on Channel 4, a channel with a reputation for edgy and experimental television. Channel 4 is funded through a mixture of traditional advertising and the UK TV licence. It was distributed in America on the Sundance channel, an independent, small US channel that specialises in international films and TV shows. By distributing this show internationally in a variety of different contexts, it allows the producer to minimise risk and to maximise profit, something that is only possible for the TV industry. 
• The first series of Les Revenants cost $11million, which categorises this show as a surprisingly high budget. It was funded through a variety of sources, including a funding grant from Creative Europe, which amounted to 45000 euro for the first series, and a million for the second. This varied form of funding is typical for less commercially successful TV shows. In doing so, this promotes French national culture, and presents France in a positive light. This can ultimately increase foreign tourist investment. The show features many montages of attractive scenes of the beautiful French countryside 

Paragraph starters

1. Les Revenants is a niche show that targets a niche audience, and this is reflected in the funding of the show, which is highly typical of the television industry…
2. Les Revenants is produced by Canal +, French based, internationally minded conglomerate that charges a monthly subscription fee for its premium service. This means that Les Revenants reflects the high production values of it’s producer…
3. While the primary audience for Les Revenants is a domestic, French audience, the show also targets an international audience. This is typical of a specialised, multinational media conglomerate…

L'Age d'Or and the construction of dream logic

L'Age d'Or and the construction of dream logic: How does the use of micro elements in L'Age d'Or construct dream logic?

Starter - what questions do you have after watching this film?

• Why does the film start with a documentary about scorpions?
• What is actually going on?
• Why was she sucking a statue's toe?
• Why was their a cow in the bed?
• Why did he throw a giraffe out the window?
• Why did he kick the dog?
• Why did they ignore the horse carriage? 
• Why does the man attack the woman? 
• Why does the man kill the boy?
• Why does nobody care about anything?
• Why does the woman run off with the conductor?

Da Funk - Daft Punk (Jonze, 1996)

What surrealist elements are included in this video? The central premise, the central joke, is that the man is a dog. And yet no character acknowledges this. This follows the logic of dreams, and certainly not a conscious logic!

CENTRAL THEMES

• Comedy and silliness
• Barriers to love 
• The church and issues with sin
• Bureaucracy (excessively complicated rules)
• Nature and animals 
• Criticisms of the bourgeoisie 
• Sexual morality
• Wish fulfilment and fulfilling unconscious desires
• Transgression

Challenging the status of the privileged spectator

“L’Age d’Or is a different film for every spectator. It’s emphasis on individual interpretation over a privileged preferred reading absolutely destroys conventional approaches to film”

What are some possible interpretations of this scene?

The Imperial Rome montage

• The montage explores sexual desire through symbolic references. An advert dissolves in to a female hand moving briskly, symbolic of female masturbation. While some audiences may simply not understand the sexual reference, and audiences may have been horrified by the explicit reference to female sexuality 
• Freud referred to the Madonna/whore complex, where men have unreasonable expectations of women and female sexuality. There is a societal expectation that women should not only be chaste and virginal, but also sexually available. Does this scene explore this contradiction?
• The man is overwhelmed with sexual desire when confronted with the MES of sexualised images of women in adverts. This reinforces the hypocrisy of mainstream advertising, which presents highly sexualised images of women in order to sell products
• The tracking shot of the man kicking the violin down the road could be a symbolic code for the hatred of art, beauty, music, and culture, which may be an attack on the bourgeoise audience. The idea that one form of culture is more privileged than another is highly discriminatory, and there is pleasure in actively destroying things. After the intertitle 'sometime on a Sunday', a montage of buildings collapsing is presented, which constructs a confusing, upsetting and problematic binary opposition
• The connotation of 'Sunday' is clearly religious. The fact that the holy city of Imperial Rome is being demolished could be seen as an attack on organised religion
• Bunuel had a fetish for black tights, and the scene could be him exploring his sexual fetish... 

Audience responses to Les Revenants

Cultivation theory - the idea that being repeatedly exposed to an ideological perspective or representation will cultivate or grow an ideological perspective in the audience.

What stereotypical representations does Les Revs perpetuate?

• Stereotypical representations of French women. For example, the representation of Adelle being hegemonically attractive and stylish from  a French perspective.
• Stereotypical representations of teenagers. Obsessed with sex, socialising, and rebelliously defying their parents
• Stereotypical representations of children. Victor is represented as confused, but ultimately creepy, which is a representation of children that is cultivated time and time again in the horror genre. It is uncanny to see a small person doing things that they should not do, for example standing in the garden in the middle of the night, or taking the bus by himself 

Conclusion: the representations in Les Revenants are highly stereotypical to present a simple and straightforward ideology to the target audience. While the narrative may be complicated and confusing, at it's heart, the ideological messages of this shows are very simple indeed!

Stuart Hall - Reception theory - how the audience receive ideology encoded in the media product by the producer

The ideology of the producer isn’t completely clear, and the result is that Les Revs presents a complicated, confusing, yet potentially rewarding set of messages which will polarise audiences.

Preferred - audience agrees with the ideology - the audience would understand that Les Revs is an atypical horror show, and would take pleasure from the horror conventions, and the way the show subverts them. The audience will take pleasure with how confusing the show is, and the use of hermeneutic codes. The show is emotionally involved, and says something about our own lives. The characters are highly relatable and appeal to many target audiences. Audiences will take pleasure in the intellectual combination of sex and death. They will also take pleasure in the symbolic encoding of adolescent problems. The unconventional characters may delight audiences. The show also presents a complex representation of teenagers, who are usually not represented at all in TV shows. the audience agrees with the ideology of the producer. The show has a highly confusing atmosphere, and some audiences may find this compelling. The show is completely constructed from hermeneutic codes, which can be compelling. Additionally the audience should feel highly unnerved by what they are seeing. In order to find this show creepy, the audience must accept the narrative, and must accept the reactions of the characters that something impossible has happened. However, the show focuses on the characters and their personal lives, which infers we are supposed to find the characters relatable. Audiences might also relate to the narrative, and may be able to empathise with certain events, for example, sneaking off to the pub, or the death of a loved one.

Oppositional - the audience disagrees with the ideology - the show is boring, it makes no sense, it is frustrating to watch, and it is smug and pretentious. It’s too slow, and not exciting enough. The characters lack any emotion that makes them relatable. Audiences may find the combination of sex and death disgusting, confusing, and just plain offensive. the audience disagrees with the ideology of the producer. The audience may find the show confusing in an unsatisfactory and distracting way, which means they miss out on the show’s creepy atmosphere. Audiences may not relate to any of the characters in this show. This is especially true of children, and working class audience. Audiences may not find the show unnerving because is subverts genre expectations, which the audience may not understand. Audiences might also be put off by the melodramatic performances, which take them out of the narrative

Negotiated: a combination of agreeing and disagreeing with the producer:

• Intrigued by the mystery but hate all the characters
• Really like the characters but hate the supernatural elements 
• May feel conflicted about certain characters, eg Mr Costa
• May enjoy horror conventions, but absolutely are not scared by the show…

Issues with representation

Argument: Les Revenants is highly progressive in many ways, especially in its representation of age and gender. However, it is also extremely lacking in other regards.

• There is an almost total lack of representation of people of colour. France is an ethnically diverse country. Some parts of France are more diverse than others, however, it is unlikely to find an area which is exclusively white. This is almost certainly an attempt to appeal exclusively to a perceived white and middle class audience. We could argue that this approach is highly short sighted, and means Les Revenants is not only missing an opportunity to present atypical representations of POC, but also to appeal to wider audiences. Almost every character in the show is white, which presents a narrow and straightforward representation of ethnicity. This is an example of something that George Gerbner refers to as ‘symbolic annihilation’ 
• It could also be an attempt to represent an area that is predominantly white. 
• Additionally, the producer was clearly making a horror TV show, and has chosen to deliberately not tackle racial issues
• For every positive representation of women, there is also a highly stereotypical one. Two women are murdered in this first episode, in both cases by men. In the scene with the bartender who is murdered in the underpass, the use of low key lighting constructs a stereotypical and threatening mode of address, that reinforces the ideology that women should not walk home alone at night. The POV shot of the murderer stalking the bartender down the ally is an explicit reference to the slasher genre, and once more reinforces and ideological perspective where women are vulnerable. The hooded jacket of the killer symbolically encodes a world in which powerful men attack women. This reinforces stereotypical and patriarchal hierarchies of power. Finally the setting of the abandoned underpass constructs a stereotypical representation of poor and working class areas. The sexualisation of teenage girls. Lena is hegemonically sexually attractive, and by being represented as overtly sexually available, she reinforces a patriarchal hegemonic stereotype, and appeal to a heterosexual male fantasy.
• The show is targeting and almost universally represents a middle class audience. The show asks the audience to not only identify with the middle class characters, but also assumes a certain level of intelligence and education. It assumes a certain knowledge of French culture, French geography, horror film conventions, and the conventions of art films.
• There are a number of stereotypical representations of gender. For example, Claire is a stereotypical gendered representation of a caring mother. Additionally, two women die in this first episode, in both cases at the hands of a male character!

Les Revenants: industry questions

Which question scares you the most out of these four?

Why?

What can you do about it?

• Media products are shaped by regulation. To what extent do you agree with this statement? Make explicit reference to The Returned to support your answer
• Explore how economic factors influenced the production and distribution of The Returned
• The television industry is a specialised industry. Explore how The Returned is a product of a specialised industry
• Explore how ownership shapes media products. Make reference to The Returned to support your response

Considering the marketing campaign for Humans within an economic context

Marketing and advertising 

The following task looks at a pivotal element of Human's advertising campaign, and uses it to answer two different exam questions: one on audience, and one on media industries 

Persona Synthetics commercial: industry and audience approach

How significant are economic factors in the TV industry? Refer to Humans to support your answer.

Knee jerk reaction: Economic factors are essential to the TV industry

Plan

MES

Target audience

Representation

Camera angles

Preferred reading

Narrative

Polysemic

Metanarrative 

Allegory 

Multi-strand narrative

Archetypes

Construction

Intertextual readings 

Editing

Fast paced editing

Montage

Semiotics (roland, codes)

Binary Oppostions 

Gender performativity

Postmodernism 

DAC

Definition, argument, context

• Economic factors refer to the financial implications of making and distribution a TV show. In this essay, I shall argue economic factors are essential to the production and distribution of TV shows, as the purpose of every TV show is to minimise risk and to maximise profit for it's producer. In order to explore this point, I shall refer to Humans, a sci-fi series first broadcast 2015 on Channel 4 in the UK, and AMC in America. This US/UK co-production conveys a variety of different meanings to different audiences, and was a remake of a Swedish TV show. 
• The marketing campaign for Humans was highly atypical and even controversial, breaking many of the so-called rules of advertising. An excellent example of this is the Persona Synthetics TV spot advert, which takes a highly unusual mode of address. 
• In a highly atypical move, the Persona Synthetics trailer choses to advertise the cyborg (or synth) from the TV show, as opposed to the TV show itself. None of the main characters appear at any stage, and there is even no reference to the title of the TV show itself. The advert accomplishes a fascinating feat: it is literally placing the audience in to the world of the Humans narrative, and demonstrating an advert that the Hawkins family is likely to have seen. This advert is an excellent example of the company apparently self-sabotaging. The advert completely lacks any information, such as the name of the TV show, any of the names of the characters, and even what time the show will be broadcast. However, this highly atypical mode of address will actively encourage audiences to engage with this advert, for example looking up the website, searching for the included hashtag. This will ultimately encourage audiences to engage with the product both online and in person, and is an excellent example of viral media. 
• It's mysterious nature functions as a hermeneutic code, creating a powerful sense of mystery for the target audience
• The advert constructs a highly shocking and manipulative mode of address, heavily inferring to the mass audience that synthetic lifeforms actually do exist. It is an example of augmented reality, and actively positions audiences within the world of the narrative. It uses many conventions of the advert, including the casting of a stereotypical family, the use of a stereotypical futuristic household , and the use of an upbeat song in a major key, as well as the link to a website and the on screen graphic 'Regent Street Store Open Soon'. All of these elements combine to construct and augmented reality where robots exist.
• While this trailer does not include footage or characters from the show, it does expertly introduce a range of important themes:
• Artificial intelligence "closer to humans than ever before"
• The obsolescence of humans - synths are represented as being more capable, more safe, more reliable 
• Foreshadowing many controversial and unpleasant themes of the TV show: the montage of the kid coming downstairs/reaction of mother /synth walking kid upstairs is absolutely wonderful 
• Sale of merchandise, for example DVDs etc...
• Middle class science fiction fans are a desirable target audience, and advertisers will potential pay a premium for this
• MES of the nuclear family is anchored through the depiction of a mother, a father, and two children. They are white, and extremely middle class, a fact which which is anchored through the highly middle class setting
• The MES of the clean and extremely modern family household constructs a clear ideology of a middle class family. However, the household does not resemble a 'real' house, but instead functions as a hyperreal simulation. It resembles a house that we may see in an advert or in a high end showroom. This advert is clearly trying to resemble an advert. 
• The Persona Synthetics commercial is an advert for a synth, a synthetic human, or cyborg. However, they clearly do not exist. This is a highly convincing advert for a fictitious product. Other elements which make this a highly conventional product advert include the generically appropriate soundtrack, which features a positive, major key piano motif.  It's convincing nature is further anchored through montage of the synth carrying out a range of stereotypically 'feminine' tasks, such as cooking, cleaning, and childcare. It's conventions are similar to that of a kitchen appliance advert, functioning as a highly complex system of intertextual relay, creating a satisfying mode of address for the target, niche sci fi audience
• This highly convincing advert actually convinced a small minority of audience members that cyborgs do in fact exist. This is partly due to it's highly convincing genre conventions. The trailer ends with a title card/on screen graphic with the Persona Synthetics logo. This diegetically situated element of mise en scene essentially communicates to the target audience that Persona Synthetics is a real corporation, and wonderfully positions the audience not as a potential audience for the TV show Humans, but actually in the world of the narrative. 
• AR - augmented reality. Through it's highly convincing set of generic conventions, the trailer forces the target audience to answer the question: is this real? This proairetically brings up one of the main themes of humans, 'what is reality? What is humanity? And other extremely complicated, and highly postmodern. The advert is deliberately creating a sense of anxiety, confusion, and a nightmarish atmosphere. This is a highly atypical way of selling a new TV show! This indicates that Humans is clearly targeting a niche audience.
• The use of the hashtag hashtag humans functions as an example digitally convergent media, encouraging the niche target audience to engage with the show online before ever actually having seen it
• However, the advert also incorporates a highly problematic proairetic code, foreshadowing the themes of the collapse of the nuclear family.
• While the trailer for Humans radically does not include any traditional trailer conventions, it does include it's own self contained an highly effective narrative. The final montage of shots constructs a highly effective deconstruction of the nuclear family. A low angle mid-shot sees a young boy walking down dark stairs in a position of distress. He directly addresses his parents, However, the mother's expression is one of annoyance. This highly effective montage explores the deconstruction and the problems facing the nuclear in the early 21st century. This raises a range of problematic and highly polysemic issues for the niche target audience, and reinforces the complexity of the show before audiences are even aware that it exists

Life imitating art: delivery robots

 

• The dull, drab mise-en-scene of the above image demonstrates that when actual, radical technological change is implemented, it will not be exciting, but will happen through the medium of bureaucratic announcements and legal red tape
• Robots in real life is an exciting idea!
• Technological advancements can help the world become a better place!
• Much technological advancement is not actually based on progress, but instead on emulating science fiction
• Robots are potentially a cost efficient way of cutting down wages. They can potentially replace 
• The design of these robots must be non-threatening, which suggests a public fear of robots, technology, and change in general
• But how much of our fear of robots is actually derived from exploitative science fiction dramas? Are we guilty of stereotyping robots?

The difference between tabloid and broadsheet newspapers

Exploring the surrealist aesthetic: a textual analysis of Un Chien Andalou

 IN WHAT WAYS DOES THIS ICONIC SHOT CONSTRUCT MEANING THROUGH CINEMATOGRAPHY AND MISE-EN-SCENE?

• A genuinely transgressive image, that positions the spectator in a highly disturbing mode of address
• The bleak, blank expression of the woman forms a binary opposition between her apparent calm and the highly upsetting destruction of the body, creating a highly confusing and upsetting mode of address for the target audience 
• Framing: the woman is framed directly in the centre of the shot, and her face is also framed by the MES of the man’s hands holding her in place. We as a spectator are forced to watch, and forced to empathise with her extreme torture
• Extreme high contrast black and white cinematography symbolises the nasty, gritty, exploitative nature of the scene. The film grain is clearly visible, and gives the shot a messy, ugly look
• The eye is symbolic of the moon through montage. There is a match on action between an ELS of the moon and the ECU of the eye. The film forces the spectator to construct a symbolic link between the eye and the moon
• A highly misogynistic montage where the destruction of a beautiful woman is presented as entertainment for the audience. Reinforces the male gaze theory, and even predicts the popularity of slasher films!

HOW DO THE COMBINATORY ELEMENTS OF MONTAGE, CINEMATOGRAPHY AND MISE EN SCENE CONSTRUCT MEANING IN THE ‘DONKEY SCENE’ OF UN CHIEN ANDALOU?

• Criticism of organised religion
• The MES of the priests being dragged roughly across the floor is literally ‘dragging religion through the dirt’, and would be a particularly offensive scene in 1929
• The montage happens immediately after ‘the groping scene’, which is symbolic of the man’s sexual desire
• In our subconscious, we may carry out actions that are not morally appropriate, but are somehow allowed in dreams 
• The MES of the priests are symbolic of organised religion morally stopping us from exploring our desires 
• The man looks like a possessed devil as he tries to attack the woman.. His mouth is pouring with saliva, and his hand gestures are exaggerated, which demonstrates a profound comment on sex and sexuality 
• The MES and the donkeys are a stylistic and symbolic representation of religious symbolism. 
• The MES of blood pouring out of the eyes of donkeys could be a metaphor for the fragility of religion
• However, these elements are completely unrelated from one another, and form a confusing and potentially funny binary opposition. It is at once deeply offensive, but also silly, innocent and childish

Planning the perfect response using resources from the blog

Before you do anything

This task, that involves researching the industry context surrounding Les Revenants remains the most important thing that you need to complete! You've got to know this stuff, and it's all pretty easy to find!

Constructing a perfect answer

For this task, you will construct a plan to construct a 'perfect answer' to a past paper question or one that you have constructed yourself. This will be a perfect answer, because you will complete this plan completely open book. You don't even need to write this response, but it would be excellent revision!

This is also a great opportunity to learn what resources are hosted right here on the blog!

Step one - find a question or make your own

Click resources at the top of the page, then past papers to access the past papers. You may need to change the wording of some questions to make them relevant to Les Revenants, which is what you will be writing about today.

If you want to make a new question, find the revision checklist under resources. In fact, you should check this resource out anyway, because it has EVERY POSSIBLE QUESTION YOU COULD GET!!!!

Step two - underline key words and think about what the question is actually asking

If you would like some help on how to structure an exam response, you can find a YouTube video on exam structure linked from the index here

Step three - find the best possible examples to answer this question

You can find lots of resources for this in the following places:

• Your own notes remain the most important source of information!
• Under industries and TV you'll find an index of the work we have completed
  
  

These three posts from last week are PARTICULARLY useful:

• The representation of teenage girls in Les Revenants
• Representations of age and gender: Lena and Simon walk home
• Subverting representations of women - Julie

• Finally there are a few YouTube videos on key scene analysis that you can find linked from the main Media Focus page here

Step four - plan an excellent response

Use the scenes you have picked to plan an excellent response to the question you have selected. Remember, every paragraph should have a point, evidence, and then link back to the argument or point of view you made in the introduction. You're just writing a bullet point plan for this one, but after you've finished, it would be great to actually have a crack at answering the question under timed conditions!

Representations of age and gender: Lena and Simon walk home

Representation is where the producer presents someone or something again, to show their ideas, beliefs and ideology. 

Van Zoonen - feminist theory - women are sexualised through representation for the pleasure of a heterosexual male audience. The male gaze theory 

Hall - representation theory  - representations are constructed through media language, and make heavy use of stereotypes. Representations construct reality. The way in which we see the world effectively comes from media 

Butler - gender performativity - the ways in which we perform our gender has an effect on the world around us

Lena - young woman 

Simon - young man

 

Key scene one - the Lake Pub

• The low key lighting of the bar creates a friendly and welcoming mode of address for the teenage secondary audience
• The low key lighting is red, which has connotations of love and passion, which is further anchored through Lena’s flirtatious performance 
• Lena bargains with Simon: “I’ll only tell you if you buy me a drink”. Her performance is very forward and highly assertive. This is further anchored through Lena keeping constant eye contact with Simon, and she is happily drunk and smiling 
• Lena is clearly trying to seduce Simon
• This representation is in many ways highly atypical. Lena is actively flirting with Simon, which subverts stereotypical expectations of gender performance
• A subversion of the stereotype that that men are interested in sex and women are not is presented 
• A binary opposition
• Lena is young and stereotypically hegemonically attractive woman. She’s wearing a dress, which is symbolically connotative of femininity. However, this forms a binary opposition with her scruffy denim jacket, which has connotations of masculinity. This binary opposition constructs a complicated representation of gender
• Lena is clearly sexually active, yet she is not presented in a negative way, which may be atypical
• The representation of Lena constructs a range of polysemic interpretations. Audiences may appreciate and identify with her demonstration of sexual freedom, yet others may be critical of her over drinking and her reckless behaviour
• Immediately before this scene, we see a shot of Julie on an empty bus, which constructs a vulnerable and bleak atmosphere. The scene immediately after is set in the Seurat family house, which presents an aspirational mode of address to the middle class French audience. French media, for example films and TV shows are far more likely to feature wealthy characters and aspirational upper middle class settings. These two scenes also forma a diegetic binary opposition to Simon and Lena’s night.
• The Lake Pub is lively, exciting, and inviting, and positions the target audience in an exciting mode of address. This mode of address is constructed. The MES of pool tables function as a proairetic code for social interaction and fun. The low key orange lighting presents a warm and inviting colour palette, that suggests the potential of a welcoming atmosphere. The MES of bottles of alcohol form a proairetic code, for drinking, fun and excitement. Finally, the clientele of the pub are young and hegemonically attractive people, which constructs a symbolic atmosphere of sexual potential. 
• Lena makes constant eye contact with Simon, which connotes her desire to seduce him. Her body language indicates her interest in him, by moving in close towards him. She asks Simón to “buy me a drink”, which indicates her interest in him. 
• Lena’s assertion is potentially stereotypically masculine. By actively picking up a man at a pub, and demonstrating her sexual interest, the producer of Les Revenants is actively contradicting Liesbet’s Van Zoonen’s feminist theory, and is potentially presenting an atypical, and even feminist ideology. By reinforcing the atypical representation of women being sexually active, Les Revenants challenges hegemonic norms and values that exist around women 
• Simon acts in a grumpy, impatient and even desperate manner. He clearly has no sexual interest in Lena, which is encoded through his complete lack of dialogue, and the short terse delivery of his questions. Simon almost seems surprised and even uncomfortable with Lena’s assertiveness. Simon’s uninterested approach here presents an extremely atypical representation of men, and challenges the stereotypical expectation that men are motivated by sex. In short, this scene constructs a highly complex representation of gender norms for a niche audience
• David Guantlett- pick and mix - audiences can pick and mix different elements of a TV show to construct their own identity

Key scene two - Lena and Simon walk home 

• While Simon is in many ways stereotypically masculine, including through his terse and grumpy performance, he also subverts these gender expectations by not running off to sleep with the hegemonically attractive and sexually available Lena 
• Simon walks much faster than Lena, and completely ignores her, which visibly upsets her. His terse and blunt manner is simultaneously highly typical and atypical
• Lena is convinced that her hegemonically attractive looks and assertive manner can ‘turn’ Simon. However, he is clearly not interested in her, which subverts not only gender stereotypes. Simon is completely uninterested in her gender performance, which subverts the idea of gender performativity, or rather reinforces a complex representation of gender
• Lena shouts ‘de rien connard’, which is vulgar and angry, and presents a subversive and non-stereotypical representation of women

Subverting representations of women - Julie

Les Revenants = 'the returned'

In the exam, Les Revenants will be referred to as The Returned. But we refer to it as Les Revenants.

Why?

• It’s more authentic and more academic
• It sounds more sophisticated 
• The Returned is a wildly unpopular American remake of Les Revenants. The less we talk about this, the better

Recap

Last time we explored the representation of teenage girls. The French for ‘orgasm’ is ‘le petit mort’, which is a reference to the fact that every time we make love, we are one step closer to death . Life and death is the ultimate binary opposition, and is a fascinating and philosophical contradiction. This difficult and problematic binary opposition presents teenage girls as rebellious, irrational. To be a teenager is exciting, scary, and terrifying. 

What other groups are represented in Les Revs?

• Mothers (Claire)
• Middle aged women (Claire)
• Middle aged men (Camille’s dad)
• Teenage boys (hat guy)
• Young children - Victor
• Parents - The Suerats 
• Elderly people - Mr Costa 
• Women - Julie

What Makes Le Revs 'French'

This is a bit weird to try and say, but Les Revs is really really French. It presents a stereotypical French mode of address for a French audience. This is highly similar to how Humans uses stereotypically British characters, dialogue and settings to appeal to a British audience, and how Real Humans uses Swedish stereotypes to engage a Swedish audience. But what makes Les Revs 'French'?

• French Setting 
• Set in the French Alps, a setting that would only be relevant to French audiences 
• In French
• Dark, dismal moody setting 
• Themes: death, depression, philosophy 
• Stereotypically French actors 
• Architecture: the Seurat family’s house has an Alpine feel

Explore how the TV shows you have studied construct representations of gender. Make reference to Humans and Les Revenants in your response

Gender performativity - Judith Butler - gender is a social construct, and the way in which we perform gender constructs the world around us

Stuart Hall - theories of representation: stereotypes and their function

Liesbet van Zoonen  - representation of women - women in media products have a completely different function to men, often for pure sex appeal

Introducing Julie - how is Julie’s representation constructed through media language?

• Establishing shot of Julies flat shows that she lives in social housing, and is therefore working class
• The setting of Julie’s flat is run down and empty. 
• The use of low key lighting constructs ideologies of loneliness and isolation
• This is further anchored through the cluttered, messy mise en scene of her apartment, which is typified by stacks pf books, magazines, and other objects
• The cluttered nature of the apartment represents Julie as disorganised and untidy, which is a highly unconventional representation of women
• The MES of books also functions as a symbolic code for Julie being an intellectual character
• Julie’s costume is baggy, casual and understated. Dressed in dark colours she is rather atypical in her representation.
• Julie, through her hair and costume and lack of makeup, is not coded as being  hegemonically attractive
• Julie is watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, an intertextual reference to a notoriously violent slasher film. This constructs Julie as being edgy, fearless, and different from stereotypical women 
• Julie is a highly complicated representation of women! While her representation is highly relatable and even ‘realistic’, it is not a commonly seen representation in commercial TV
• External establishing long shot of a gritty, concrete apartment block. This has a symbolic connotation, connotations of crime, danger, violence. Julie clearly is a rough and dangerous 
• Julie is stereotypically working class. She lives in a social housing block, which forms a stark binary opposition to the Seurat family 
• The Mise en scene of the set design of Julie’s apartment is lit through low key lighting , and her apartment is littered with stacks of books . This symbolically encodes that julie is educated, and messy
• Julie’s costume comprises of a baggy jumper and baggy jeans, and has connotations of comfiness and relaxation. 
• Despite her costume being highly realtle to the target audience, it is in fact a subversive representation of women . It completely contrasts with Liesbet Van Zoonen’s theory that women in media products are presented purely for the purpose of sexualisation
• Julie is watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a violent slasher horror film that features the torture and torment of many female characters. Julie’s bored reaction to this extremely violent film constructs a highly atypical representation. Not only does Julie not subscribe to gender norms and genre norms are also broken

Julie and Victor come home 

• The non diegetic soundtrack is creepy, eerie, and highly typical of horror films
• This entire montage is highly conventional of the slasher genre
• Slow, POV MS of her face as she gets off the bus positions the audience with julie , and allows the audience to  to see things from Julie’s perspective
• MES of extreme low key lighting throughout these scene connotes mystery and loneliness 
• The light is yellow, dull, menacing and artificial, which has symbolic connotations of fear and misery
• This is further anchored through the completely empty, run down suburban setting, concrete blocks of flats and overgrown weeds is symbolic of crime and danger. This highly stereotypical mode of address will resonate with audiences 
• Julie’s performance is highly atypical. Rather than being scared of her isolation, she appears to be bored. Additionally, by not being attacked, julie breaks this stereotype of women being vulnerable 
• The character Julie presents a highly complex representation of women that demonstrates the ideological perspective of the producer. She is represented most effectively in the montage of scenes that introducts
• Victor is establishes through a series of highly isolating shots. A high angled extreme long shot of victor is presented from Julie’s perspective, which positions the audience with Julie. This action reinforces Julie’s caring persona, and the idea that she is secretly protective of those around her
• The low key used throughout this montage is highly stereotypical of the horror genre, which positions Julie is a dangerous and threatening situation. 
• The lighting is low key, and comes from a lonely bus the light from the bus shelter. This artificial light take s on a sickly yellow quality, which gives the light a cheap, nasty, and threatening quality. This reinforces the stereotypical danger than Julie faces
• Julie’s actions reinforce however that she is clearly unafraid of this situation. This constructs a highly atypical representation of women for the target audience. This confusing and atypical subversion of genre expectations may make the target audience feel uncomfortable and even creeped out. Why is isn’t Julie more scared, and why isn't she behaving like women stereotypically would in this situation???
• However, the soundtrack, which combines a thrumming bass noise with eerie sound effects, which is highly typical of the horror genre. Additionally, the iconography of a creepy child all by himself 

Regulating newspapers: researching case studies

Today's task involves clicking on lots of links and researching. Please make sure that you make notes: you don't need to write a million words, but this information will be essential for a question on regulation of newspapers, which is frankly very likely to come up in your upcoming KA2 mock!

Introduction - starting with the conclusion

Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt argue that by and large, the regulation of all UK media is largely ineffective for a variety of reasons:

• Powerful media industries are motivated by maximising profit and securing power (Curran & Seaton), and are able to use their power and influence to bypass regulations
• Digitally convergent media technologies, for example streaming, internet piracy and difficult to regulate social media sites mean that traditional regulation is now essentially impossible
• The regulatory bodies that have been set up to regulate media are hands-off and ineffective at doing their jobs
  
  

Essentially, when writing about regulation, your conclusion will usually be that the regulation of the [x] industry is largely ineffective.

IPSO - the Independent Press Standards Organisation 

Click here to find resources appropriate to IPSO. 

(only the link to IPSO's code of practice still works, so don't worry about the other link)

Task 1 - Make notes on the IPSO code of conduct. What do newspaper editors have to think about when including stories? The following headings may help you

• Invasion of privacy
• Grief
• Self-harm and suicide
• Racist and discriminatory language
• Crime
• Reporting on children

Regulation in context: the News Of The World phone hacking scandal

First, watch this short (five minute) news broadcast that concisely explains what the phone hacking scandal was all about

Then watch this one, which goes in to more detail, several years on

Task 2 - make as many notes as possible on the News Of The World hacking scandal. What happened, who did it, where did it happen, why did it happen?

As a result of this incident, IPSO was formed to replaced the PCC. However, IPSO's guidelines are almost identical to the guidelines set out by the PCC. Why would so little change?

Criticisms of IPSO

Click here to find a link to a valid criticism of IPSO

Check out this short article by Mark Dixon which outlines some more issues and criticisms of IPSO's regulation of The Daily Mirror, as well as the hands-off method of regulation that IPSO operate.

Task 3 - in your notes, online the criticisms that exist about IPSO, and the regulation of newspapers in the UK. Why is it so hard to regulate the UK news industry?

Looking for trouble 

Now you know a little bit about IPSO, pick an online newspaper (eg The Sun, The Mirror, The Star, The Express... frankly tabloids will work better for this task) and complete the following task

Task 4 - make screenshots of articles that may breach IPSO's guidelines. Invasion of privacy is the easiest one to find here. How and WHY does this article breach IPSO guidelines? See how many you can find!

Bonus tasks

Here are some more tasks you may or may not have already completed. They're all importnant, so check them out!

Political ideology

UK newspapers: how representations reconstruct reality

If you are NOT in P block, or you just missed the lesson, then check out THIS post on a time when the Daily Mirror broke IPSO guidelines so significantly, IPSO had to step in! And... ask them to print a very small apology...

Demonising the working class for a working class audience

Click here to read the article as it was published in the Mirror's online edition before reading any further

Back to basics: the four types of media question

Industry - how a media product makes money 

Representation - how a group is re-presented by the producer to demonstrate their ideology

Audience - how the audience uses or interacts with a media product

Media language - how shot types, camera angles, MES etc make meaning for the audience

Representation

Which group is being represented in this article?

Working class people, specifically lower working class, the struggling working class. 

Who is the target audience for this article?

The target audience for the Daily Mirror is working class people, and it targets a left wing audience through it's political bias. 

What ideological perspective about this group is being constructed for the target audience? How?

That this family are unlikable, lazy, and bad with money. Therefore, it's their fault that they're poor. This ideological perspective is reinforced through the selection of images and the anchorage of MES

• Setting of a car boot sale is a sterotypically a working class environment, which has connotations of poverty and finacnial desperation
• The mother is wearing a handbag, which may suggest that far from being actually poor, she is spending money on hereself. This reinforces the narrative of the article. 
• Additionally, she is wearing the bag round the front, which functions as a proairetic code, suggesting that she is showing off her wealth 
• However, a polysemic interpretation is that the mother is vulnerable, and that she is taking care and control of her money, looking after it by keeping it in plain sight
• The man is wearing an Adidas tracksuit, which is a potentially expesive tracksuit. Once more the inclusion of this image constructs a representation of a family that have made poor finacial descisions
• The MES of the objects of the table further connote wealth. This includes a sterero, a keyboard, football shoes, and protien powder. However, the fact thayt they are selling these things constructs a narrative where the family have realised that these are not necesities, and must do things to make ends meet
• The family are clean, and are wearing nice clothes
• The Addidas trancksuit suggests stereotypical connotations of a working class lifestyle, involving council houses, being bad with money, and even crime
• Sterotypes are a widely held belief about a certain group of people, and they must be reinforced by being repeated multiple times in multiple situatuins
• The MES of the man's balding head and severe features further reinforces his status as a stereoypical working class person
• The MES of the cigarette in the woman's hand yet again further reinforces a stereotype that the working class are uncultured and bad with moeny
• The families car is small, modest and non-descript, which could be connotative of poverty

This entire article takes a highly voyeuristic mode of address which positions the audience in a judgemental position. 

Regulatory issues

• IPSO are the regulatory organisation for UK newspapers
• The Daily Mirror is owned by Reach PLC, a horizontally integrated distributor of hundreds of UK newspapers 
• However, despite being factually incorrect to a level that legally means that the newspaper has to apologise for it, the story is still being hosted, for financial reasons.

Why does the Daily Mirror encourage hatred of working class people?

• If the working class hate other working class people, does it make them feel better about themselves? Yes potentially! But it also means that working class people are more likely to blame other working class people for their issues. However, it is the ruling class, i.e. the government, the rich and those in power who actually cause widespread societal issues. If working class people are blaming the working class, then they are not blaming the people in power for their issues.

Does the Daily Mirror force the working class to fight against each other rather than facing their own issues? Does it reinforce hegemony?

• Marxist ideology - there are two types of people: the working class, and the ruling class. Everything in our society is based on the domination of the working class by the ruling class. 
• George Gerbner: cultivation theory
• Intertextuality: where one media product makes reference to another media product

Considering the representation of Camille and Lena

In what ways is age represented in the TV shows that you have studied?

In what ways does this scene construct an uncomfortable mode of address, and what message does this construct about teenage girls?

Les Revenants uses fantasy and horror conventions to emphasise and to allegorically draw attention to the issues that young women may face

Representation refers to how something is re-presented by the producer of a media product using media language to reflect their own ideology. Therefore, when a producer choses to re-present middle class teenage girls, they are not strictly re-creating reality, but instead are reinforcing and re-presenting certain ideologies about teenage girls. This process is extremely complicated, and must be analysed in detail. 

Representations construct reality. They reinforce and communicate to audiences what something ‘should’ look like, or how someone ‘should’ behave’. 

One way in which teenage girls is represented in Les Revenants is through the deliberately uncomfortable and potentially problematic final sex/death scene. 

• A close up birds eye view shot is shown for an extended period of time, deliberately positioning the audience not as a casual observer, but in the bedroom, right next to the couple as they have sex. This uncomfortable mode of address is anchored through the lack of musical/non-diegetic soundtrack, forcing the audience to confront the sounds of the couple. This is further emphasised through the characters whispering loudly, again positioning the target audience in an intrusive and intimate mode of address. Finally, this is yet further anchored through the deeply off-putting dialogue from Lena, as she discusses her resemblance to her twin sister during sex. 
• Awkward performance
• The MES of the hat...

What message about teenagers is being constructed through media language in this scene?

While the scene is highly uncomfortable and highly atypical in terms of how it represents sex, it arguably represents teenagers in a stereotypical way. Lena is represented as being rebellious and independent. We are positioned with her rather than her lover in this scene, which is highly relatable to the secondary teenage female audience. It reinforces a not often seen stereotype that sex is often awkward, especially if it's for the first time. 

However, it also reinforces a further ideological perspective, that sex is dangerous as has hidden implications. Throughout this scene, we cross cut from the Sexually active, rebellious Lena to the stereotypically innocent Camille. 

In cross cutting between this two highly dichotomous scenes, a binary opposition in constructed between life and death. Sex is typically symbolic of reproduction, as in creating new life. However, this scene presents an ironic symbolic code, where sex instead is symbolic of death. A symbolic bond is constructed between these two sisters which constructs a highly confusing and upsetting mode of address for the target audience, which reinforces a stereotypical representation of the confusion and upsetting nature of being a teenager

How does this scene position it’s audiences? What is the intended response? 

• The sex scene positions the audience in a deeply uncomfortable mode of address. This is constructed through a variety of different ways:
• The apparent age of the characters is very young. Lena (the character) is 14 years old, which may mean that some audiences may feel uncomfortable by this. 
• The use of close up BEV shots position the audience literally on top of the young couple as they have sex, which again is a deliberately uncomfortable mode of address
• A highly voyeuristic mode of address, where the audience are essentially seeing something that they shouldn’t see
• The MES of the duvet completely obscures the audiences vision, and heightens the voyeuristic mode of address. Additionally the performance is very innocent, awkward and naïve 
• Lena makes explicit reference to her own sister in bed, which is highly innapropriate, and a little creepy
• The pleonastic sound of the characters whispering construct a deeply voyeuristic, intimate and off putting mode of address for the target audience. 
• Ultimately this sex scene is potentially relatable for teenage audiences, who may be going through similar things
• Lena loses her virginity in this scene. To loose one’s virginity is symbolic of losing one’s innocence, and in this scene, this is symbolically occurring with both Lena and Camille.
• Le petit mort - the little death. This oxymoronic term is confusing considering one ‘function’ of sex is to create life. It could refer to the death of one’s childhood and innocence, and the vulnerability that one has in such in a situation. 
• However, Camille, experiencing what her sister experiences, has a violent panic attack in confusion, and ultimately this Camille and all her friends. 
• This scene makes a profound and symbolic comment on what it is like to be a teenager. It is uncomfortable, strange, awkward, scary, terrifying and confusing 

An analysis of the Daily Mirror set edition double page spread

This article has been compiled from the responses of three separate classes, and therefore contains some repetition. Repeat, revise, remember!

Headline, centre spread image etc

• Front line workers are constructed through the MES of the hospital setting and the MES of surgical masks. These elements of media language construct the enormous pressure that frontline workers are under, and constructs a message that frontline workers are heroic and hard working
• However, a binary opposition is constructed between the heroic frontline workers and Boris Johnson. Johnson is pictured with the MES of a glass of prosecco in his hands, which has connotations of wealth, fun, and relaxation. This damning representation is further anchored through the lack of MES of a mask, the MES of his suit and his smug facial expression
• The lexis of the headline reinforces an ideology that Boris Johnson does not care about Britain or frontline workers. The word ‘shame’ in particular has connotations of not caring, but it also accuses Johnson of being guilty of something, in this case a potentially serious crime 
• This story would resonate with nurses and other medical professionals, as well as the general public, who would be aware of viral campaigns by NHS workers discussing the pain and discomfort of wearing masks for long shifts 
• Caption: rule breaking Boris Johnson took us for fools’. Caption reinforces the ideology that Johnson has fooled the public. The use of the term ‘us’ is more intimate, and it allows the audience to identify not only as those being exploited, but also it reinforces the ideology that the Mirror is ‘one of us’ 
• A binary opposition is formed between the picture of Johnson and the picture of the NHS workers. 
• The Mis en scene of Johnson’s alcoholic beverage as connotations of wealth and status. Champagne is a stereotypically wealthy drink, and it has symbolic connotations of celebration
• However, immediately to the left of this picture, the surgical setting and the MES of surgical masks and eye shield has connotations of suffering, death and danger. Clealry, these two images are a strong contradiction
• The facemasks present a highly relatable mode of address to the target audience, as the vast majority of the audience would have experience of wearing a a facemask. 
• However, Johnson is not wearing a mask, which could be symbolic of carelessness, superiority and a sense of social hierarchy. Johnson is wearing a suit, which is symbolic of superiority. The tone of his shirt is similar to that of the key workers, yet they are clearly from different parts of society. The use of a mis shot here does not create intimacy, but instead positions him too close to the audience, indicating that he is not ‘social distancing’ 
• Lexis: ‘man’ connotes that Johnson is a human like anyone else, and it is highly hypocritical that he is getting special treatment. ‘Man’ here suggests he is a man like any other, and should bare responsibility for his crime.
• Man with no shame is a (weak) pun, and symbolically encodes that johnsons crimes are a joke and ridiculous. The word ‘shame’ clearly has significant negative connotation. The shadows on his face, along with his smug and sarcastic facial expression even have connotations of villainy and ‘evil’
• Lexis of headline, in particular the word ‘shame’ has connotations of a negative nature. It heavily insinuates that Boris Jophnson is guilty of something
• The layout is busy and exciting with a big emphaiss of the colour blue. This has connotations of cold, death, misery and a hospital setting
• The mise en scene of Johnson’s cheeky smirk forms a symbolic code of villainy and guilt. This is confirmed and anchored through the lexis of the enormous word ‘shame’ hanging above his head. This combination of media language confirms a negative perspective of Johnson. 
• The caption immediately beneath Johnson reinforces the ideological perspective that Johnson’s presence is negative. “rule- breaker”, which clearly demonstrates the newspaper’s opinion
• The MES of the champagne flute has symbolic connotations, parties, wealth, and celebration. It’s presence forms a powerful binary opposition with the hospital setting immediately to the left, where the MES of machinery, the chaotic arrangement of people, and the MES of surgical masks all construct a stressful and exhausting mode of address
• The chaotic and frantic nature of the hospital scene positions us in an up close and personal mode of address
• An unflattering image of Johnson holding a champagne flute is selected, which constructs a highly biased representation of the former PM. By constructing him almost as a Bind villain, the producer is making intertextual reference to James Bond films

Body text - Keir Starmer addresses Mirror readers

• The ‘dear mirror readers’ first sentence is in larger font, and is in italic, which has connotations of handwriting, and has the connotation of it being more personal and relatable to the target audience
• Use of emotive language, including lexis such as ‘missing funerals’ has the effect of remind the target audience of what they suffered. Sacrifices…
• An informal mode of address is adopted, which might be surprising given the status of ‘sir kier starmer’. He uses contractions such as i’ts’, and uses emotive speech, a direct mode of address, and the use of the word ‘we’ suggests a collective response that both we (the audience) and he (stramer) were involved in. His language heavily infers that we all (he included) were as affected as one another!
• Letter singed off as ‘yours, Kier Starmer’ 
• The mug shot of Starmer’s face leaning over and directly addressing the audience has connotations aof a friendly pub like setting, where he is enjoying a pint with us. His lack of tie has connotations of infomrality, which allow the audience to relate to him more effectively
• The colour red has connotations of love, affection, power, and is also the colour of the labour party, and therefore the colour of revolution
• Use f ‘the British people’ evokes patriotism, pride in Britain. The use of the lexis ‘we’ symbolically constructs a sense of togetherness, the country 
• Missing off the ‘sir’ is more informal, but makes him more relatable
• The italic (comic sans?) font has connotations of handwriting, constructing an informal mode of address
• Starmer’s mugshot seems candid, caught off guard, and relatable for the target audience. He is slouched, and directly addressing the audience in an informal and welcoming way. 
• By referring to the audience’s intelligence, he is flattering the audience, and the use of the term sacrifice infers that the target audience have followed the rules. this is highly emotive language, and infers that the entire audience (and British public) are all in this together
• Italic, serif font of ‘Dear Mirror Readers has connotations of being handwritten. This clearly presents a relatable mode of address to the target audience of working class labour voters. 
• Starmer’s serious facial expression is further anchored through his relaxed yet firm body language,that positions us in a serious, yet friendly mode of address. His lack of tie is symbolic of his casual laid back nature
• Use of definite language constructs a mode of address which is clear and precise to the target audience. The use of language is appropriate to an audience with little or no education.
• “He insulted your intelligence” suggests the target audience are intelligent, and presents a flattering mode of address
• The word ‘sacrafice’ is highly emotive, and constructs a sense of unity and togetherness

Editorial: voice of the Daily Mirror

• Lexis ‘voice of the’ suggests that this newspaper is a spokesperson for ‘the people’ the general public, which heavily infers a sense of consent from the general public. If we disagree with the ideology of the daily mirror, then we are clearly on the same level as Johnson, the ‘villain’ of this narrative
• The use of patriotic language ‘our great nation positions the audience as British and proud and powerful. However, Boris Johnson is represented as an other, as different, and as destructive to the British way of life
• The word stain has connotations of being messy, disgusting, corrupt, and hard to get out. This reinforces the ideological perspective that essentially Boris Johnson is less than human. He is a traitor to our country. Clearly the Mirror does not say this explicitly, but it heavily infers this
• The lexis ‘charlatan’ is an old fashioned word with connotations of being upper class and well spoken, which presents an authentic and compelling mode of address
• Patriotic mode of address is constructed through the lexis ‘our great nation’ that positions the working class target audience as British, proud, and patriotic
• The symbolic connotations of the word stain include being dirty, and less than human. This is an aggressive and insulting mode of address

Political cartoon

• A satirical joke is one that criticises stupidity of those in power 
• Political cartoon humorously infers than Johnson is actually worse than Putin. Satirical comedy is often very harsh, and draws attention to public figures and political figure’s idiocy 
• The joke is heavy handed, and clearly argues that Boris Johnson is worse than Vladimir Putin!

Les Revenants initial discussion

The following notes were pulled from two different classes as a starter activity. As ever, if there's repetition, this means it's a good point worth making twice!

• The link between Lena and Camille is bizarre! Camille essentially crashes a bus killing everybody because her sister has an orgasm 
• Les Revs is an extremely unconventional show!
• But what genre is Les Revs? A drama? A zombie horror??? Is Camille a Zombie?
• Use of soundtrack: eerie soundtrack 
• A highly confusing narrative featuring a range of different characters. A flexi narrative or multi strand narrative
• A deliberately confusing narrative that forces us to engage with the topic of death 
• An extremely confusing use of time and space deliberately positions the target audience in a confusing mode of address, and will lead to confusion as to the relationship between Lena and Camille (actually twin sisters!)
• The use of long takes: continuous shots with no editing create a deliberately slow and awkward pace
• The narrative is highly unorthodox. There is not traditional typical build up to the bus crashing off the cliff, and this is potentially very unsatisfying to the target audience
• The final sex scene takes place between two 15 year olds having sex, which is below the age of consent in the UK. However, this scene clearly does not breach any UK guidelines, beyond offending certain audiences. This scene clearly reflects the differences in values between France and The UK
• The aesthetic: very dark, very gloomy 
• The show is set not in Paris or a major city as the audience might expect , but instead in the French ALPS, deep in the countryside
• Metaphysical: something beyond the physical realm and our understanding
• The concept of death itself is broken in this TV show, which constructs a highly confusing mode of address for the target audience
• Les revenants is a mysterious show. It makes extensive use of hermeneutic codes to position the audience in an inquisitive 
• The entire show is completely predicated on hermeneutic codes. It is reliant on them to an extreme degree, as many of the mysteries never get resolved?
• For example: 
• how did Camille come back to life?
• Why is it so jarring? This isn’t normal?
• How isn’t Camille eating anyone’s brains
• What are our expectations of this show? Because it is targeting a niche audience, it is very likely that audiences that stumble across this show rather than seeing advertising for it for example. 
• Audiences may choose to watch this show because of the music, which was composed by a band called Mogwai, an instrumental rock band from Glasgow. But why did they do the soundtrack? It acts as a unique selling point, and allows the show to target a pre-sold audience. Their music is also loud and mysterious, which suits the theme and the aesthetic of the show 
• It’s very creepy! The central theme is quite horrifying! Camille coming back from the dead, not as a zombie but as an identical girl to how she died is extremely unsettling to the audience. It completely subverts our expectations of the zombie genre, as none of the zombies/les revenants seem to be in any way aware of what’s going on, which is highly creepy, in a far more subtle way
• Deeply confusing narrative can be completely off putting to the audience, leaving them confused, overwhelmed, and even bored 
• The narrative is actually extremely straightforward, and for much of the episode, characters act in an off putting and emotionless way, which can be pretty distancing for certain audiences 
• A focus on ‘normal’ and relatable people. There is no struggle for life, there is no barricading in a house. In fact, ‘normal’ and relatable things happen, such as having sex, picking up guys, trying to find a house, and grieving over the death of a daughter. 
• However, there are two moments of shocking violence in this episode, including a scene where Mr Costa ties up and burns alive Mme costa, the bridge suicide, and the waitress being stabbed to death in the underpass. 
• Les Revenants is highly atypical in every conceivable way

Researching Les Revenants

This set of tasks is frankly absolutely essential. But they are all as straightforward as possible, to ensure that you are able to complete them without a teacher present. This means that we can spend the time when I return working on more complicated and knotty issues, such as representation. 

So please take this seriously. This is an easy lesson, but we will not have any time to go over this again!

Please note before you start: while we refer to this show by it's correct, French title of Les Revenants, internationally it was released as 'The Returned'. So, when researching merchandise for this show, try googling 'the returned merchandise' or 'the returned tv show t shirts' or something. You can also search for Les Revenants as well. Go wild!

The Les Revenants EP by Mogwai

Les Revenants: absolute basic facts

Task 1 - please copy the following information in to a new blog post called 'Les Revenants research'

• 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

Music

Stick this on in the background as you complete the next research task 

The soundtrack to Les Revenants is pretty atypical. This is partly because instead of being scored by a conventional composer, or being made up of a selection of music from other artists, it is written be a single band, Mogwai. 

Task 2 - research Mogwai

• Who are Mogwai?
• What kind of music do they make?
• What does this mean? 
• Jot down some facts about them
• Why was this band in particular selected to compose the music for the French TV show Les Revenants?
• What possible advantages does featuring Mogwai in this show have for audiences and the producers of this show?

Trailer 

This trailer is not for the original run of the show in French. Instead, it's for the Australian DVD release of this show. So this trailer gives you a fairly good indication of how this show was marketed to foreign (as in not French) audiences.

Task 3 - Watch and analyse the below trailer

How does this trailer target it's audiences? What techniques does it use? And how does it appeal to potential new audiences?

Merchandise

While Les Revenants is a highly atypical show, it still does have a smattering of merchandise, both official and unofficial that can be found online. This is an excellent example of not only producers minimising risk and maximising profit through vertically integrated business practices (Hesmondhalgh), but it's also an excellent example of audiences interacting with this confusing TV show in completely new ways (Jenkins).

Task 4 - research and screenshot examples of merchandise for The Returned, both official and unofficial

Canal+

Canal+ is the name of the 'channel' that commissioned and funded Les Revs. However, Canal+ is a very different TV channel to something like Channel 4 (which is funded commercially and in part by the licence fee), AMC (an American 'basic cable' channel that is primarily funded through advertising but also increasingly through international franchising of it's often wildly popular TV shows) or even the BBC (a UK conglomerate that is funded primarily through a state mandated licence fee, which makes the BBC 'public access'). Canal+ is a bit different.

Task 5 - Spend five minutes researching Canal+.

They're big! So only include the most straightforward facts. Who are they? How did they start? How much money do they have? What notable shows do they have? How are they funded? Etc!

Regulatory issues

Regulation refers to the rules and restrictions that a media product must face. In the UK, TV is regulated by OFCOM, and DVDs, other physical releases and theatrical releases are regulated by the BBFC.

The principal way in which the BBFC regulate media products is to 

1. Take in to account the context of any sex, violence, swearing, and so on, and 
2. Assess the potential harm and offense caused to the target audience

Task 6 - harm and offense in Les Revenants

• Make a list of everything in Les Revs that might get it shown after 2100 on TV. I'm talking swearing, sex, sexual references, spooky scenes, whatever. Go wild. You may wish to access the episode to help you, and even make screenshots of these scenes and subtitles (!)
• Which scenes in Les Revenants are most likely to cause harm and offense to the target audience? 
• Check out the BBFC page for the episode of Les Revs you watched. Do you agree with this rating? Why?