1 - Explore how TV shows can target and attract a niche or specialised audience. Make reference to both the Black Mirror episode San Junipero and The Returned to support your answer [30 marks, 50 minutes]
Teacher exemplar
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Niche or specialised audiences are smaller yet devoted audiences who are particularly engaged in media products. Whereas previously media was predicated on mass media models, where media products must appeal to the very largest audiences possible, not audiences are far more fragmented, and producers will typically try to target a range of far smaller audiences, with media products that now speak to many different people. To make this argument, I shall refer to The Black Mirror episode San Junipero, an episode from the third series of the long running anthology science fiction show that somewhat atypically demonstrated a softer approach to ideas of simulation and misery in the future. I shall also refer to the French supernatural horror TV show Les Revenants, produced by French TV powerhouse Canal + and initially distributed in the UK by mainstream TV channel Channel 4, and later digitally distributed through Netflix, which is highly typical for such a niche TV show.
Rather than targeting a single, mass audience, both shows use a variety of ways to target and attract a range of niche and specialised audiences. Stuart Hall argues that audiences are active and that they can negotiate the ideological perspective of the producer. I believe and shall argue that both shows encourage polysemic responses by positioning audiences through a variety of different techniques.
San Junipero actively attracts a range of niche audiences. Perhaps the most straightforward example is the use of queer themes and iconography used to appeal to queer audiences. Both Kelly and Yorkie are presented as complex, queer characters that audiences are encouraged to identify with. The theme of queer complexity and confusion is best evidenced in the ‘dress up’ scene of San Jun, where Yorkie tries on a series of costumes from different iconic 80s music videos and films. This use of intertextual relay not only appeals to genre fans and indeed middle-aged audiences, who are positioned by these complex representations, but also symbolically encodes the complexity of gender identity and queer ideologies in the 21st century. This is encouraged through the montage of mid and close up shots of Yorkie that demonstrates her identity as being central to the show, and encourages niche audiences to identify with her, thus targeting a specialised audience.
Les Revenants also uses a range of positioning techniques to appeal to a range of niche audiences. However, unlike San Jun, Les Revs typically does not use anchoring devices, and instead asks audiences to come up with their own negotiated and highly polysemic interpretations. An excellent example of this can be found tin the final montage. Cross cutting between the 14-year-old Lena losing her virginity and the death of her twin sister in a panicked frenzy on a coach, the scene makes heavy use of binary opposition to position the niche audience in a highly confusing mode of address. This confusing and objectionable address is further heightened by the scandalous and problematic representation of underage sex, which will certainly prove upsetting to certain audiences, and shocking to others. As Lena loses her virginity, she whispers to her lover about her own sister, which provides a highly abject and problematic mode of address. Unlike San Jun, which ultimately presents a straightforward set of meanings to decode, Les Revs actively encourages its audiences to negotiate the many hermeneutic codes themselves, positioning the audience as meditated, involved, and certainly niche. In this way we see Canal + sacrificing mainstream success to explore darker themes
To return to san jun, which is significantly more straightforward in many ways, we see the queer central narrative being inserted into a highly complex frame story that deals with postmodern issues of simulation and simulacra. The highly postmodern narrative asks the niche audience to understand that the world of San Jun is merely a computer simulation and is therefore at best only hyperreal. An excellent example of this targeting of niche audiences through the postmodern mode of address can be found in the wonderful final montage, that sees the hero’s accepting their real-life death to be inserted in to a digital dream world forever. With the non-diegetic sound of Belinda Carlisle’s Heaven Is A Place On Earth blasting pleonastically and contrapuntally over the action, we see a fairly rapid montage of euthanasia drugs, gravestones, and the mise en scene of fast cars and neon soaked clubs. Far from offering a traditional ‘happy ending’, the niche audience of science fiction fans will take delight in the bittersweet conclusion that combines the inevitability of death with pumping 980s power pop and beautiful bisexual couples dancing forever. Here the niche audience are positioned and appealed to through the combination of traditional science fiction conventions (such as the MES of robotic arms and data banks with twinkling lights) , with atypical features such as dancing girls and perfect beaches. This beautiful and highly affecting montage clearly will appeal to and position a range of niche audiences.
Les Revs also positions a range of niche audiences, though there is little here that is optimistic. Instead, Les Revs appeals to niche audiences through its unrelenting misery, and inclusion of themes of misery, depression, and anxiety. These themes of anxiety are best encoded through the character of Julie, who forms a fascinating and highly atypical bond with a young boy called Victor. In a conventional zombie horror narrative, Julie would be the victim. Living alone in what an establishing montage reveals to be a bad part of town, Julie is dressed in stereotypically non-feminine clothing of baggy jumpers and baggy jeans, which symbolically encode depression. This is further anchored through the MERS of her cluttered flat, where stacks of books and DVDs construct her as an intellectual, a fact which forms a binary opposition with her low status, low paid job as a care home/ home help mobile nurse. In a wonderful shot, Julie is seen isolated and alone in the middle of an abandoned concrete industrial estate waiting for a bus. The desaturated colours and low-key natural light reinforce the emotional preferred reading of desperation and depression. However, Julie, far from being stereotypically scared instead performs in a stereotypically bored manner, with her flat, lifeless performance clearly indicated that she is no victim, yet is clearly not happy either. David Gauntlett argued that audiences can choose to identify with characters and themes in a variety of ways, and Julie’s representation of a realistically depressed woman will clearly be appealing to a range of niche audiences who may typically feel omitted from narratives, a fact which is only further anchored through the casting of a not hegemonically attractive woman to play Julie. Once more Les Revs sacrifices financial success to appeal to niche audiences instead, therefore increasing the potential of the show resonating with fans.
Black Mirror has always appealed to fans. Jenkins argues that fans are the ultimate niche audience: engaged and active, as opposed to being distanced from the product they are facing. Created by grumpy cult favourite Charlie Brooker, Black Mirror enjoyed its early success in no small part due to fans of Brooker himself, who found the show through his controversial products such as Screenwipe, Dead Set and Nathan Barley. This presold audience expected more brutal and troubling entertainment, and from the very first episode, which saw the UK prime minister being blackmailed in to having sex with a pig on live television, fans certainly got what they wanted. However, when series three arrived, many fans argued that the show had softened, and the brutality of early series was now missing. In this way, we see that while San Junipero clearly still appeals to a range of niche audiences, it also appeals to more mainstream ones too. An excellent example here can be found in the casting of the two lead actors. Unlike Les Revs, which often casts hegemonically less attractive people, both Kelly and Yorkie are hegemonically attractive, with the lesbian relationship being presented in an arguably sexualised and fetishistic way. This is anchored through the use of the sex scene. Clearly presented to present intertextual reference to the hyperreal ‘perfect’ sex scenes of 80s drams, the MES of billowing curtains and crashing waves to represent an orgasm is as stereotypical as it is cliched, and complexly on purpose to draw attention to the role of stereotypes and narrative codes. However, many audiences may simply enjoy looking at the pretty characters having sex, which is arguably the preferred reading. The very fashionable 80s lighting and extremely on trend MES of 80s costumes help anchor this position, and potentially allow this complex story of queer romance and simulation to appeal to a new audience. While there are many excellent examples of fan art of the episode online, which would seem to agree with active readings of the show, we see much of this art ‘shipping’ Kelly and Yorkie as kissing or hugging in a stereotypical 80-s setting. While Shirky and to a lesser extent Jenkins argued that active readings are emancipatory and allow for a range of potential representations, we can argue here that the vast majority of audiences here follow the preferred reading of the dominant ideology of the episode, and instead choose to see Yorkie and Kelly in love. In this sense, we see San Jun also appealing to a more mainstream audience, who also may be positioned and encouraged by the show’s American cast and scheduling on Netflix.
There is of course no such concession in Les Revenants, which instead continues to appeal to solely niche audience. Once more this show encourages highly polysemic interpretations. However, there are several factors which pull in niche audiences based on the shows marketing and production. One such audacious measure is the hiring of Glaswegian rock band Mogwai to soundtrack the episode. Mogwai have a sizable presold audience, and are internationally famous, selling out huge venues in the UK, the US, France, and Japan. This therefore appeals to the typically male and middle class audience for this highly atypical band. Yet while mogwai are popular, their music is atypical, and a guitar heavy rock bad scoring a TV show may confuse certain audiences, while delighting others. An excellent example of this can be found in the scene where Claire suddenly gives in to her emotions are frantically prepares Camille’s room, just moment after realising she is still alive. The frantic cinematography and understated performance is anchored and emphasised by the ugly, noisy soundtrack, with the non-diegetic soundtrack emphasising an anxiety inducing bass noise that is not unlike the experience of seeing Mogwai live (the band are famous for their extreme volume). This interpolation to a niche yet sizable audience demonstrates a clear contradiction: that even a supposedly niche media product can appeal to many people, especially if this appeal is international. Clearly, there are many aspects of Les Revs that may appeal to international audiences, including it’s luxurious setting (funding by the ALPS tourist board!) and its exotic themes of sex and death, which position the intellectual and engaged target audience in a range of different ways. In this sense, we see Les Revenants proving quite popular, not with a single audience, yet with many.
As a final example of how San Jun appeals to a niche audience, we see the inclusion of many examples of arcade videogames, which not only appear in the background, but may also have symbolic significance. Games such as Bubble Bobble, a game like Outrun, Time Crisis, House of the Dead and Defender create an appealing and nostalgic mode of address to middle aged video game fans. Furthermore, this use of nerd culture is also an excellent example of how Brooker works, and his love of videogames is often inserted into his media, with his entire career starting from being a journalist for PC Gamer. Video games often appeal to choose audiences, and their inclusion here helps to reinforce the elements of simulation, while also including an exciting spectacle for niche audiences to pay attention to.
To conclude, we have seen a variety of ways in which both shows appeal deliberately to a range of niche audiences. However, it can also be argued that by targeting so many niche audiences, both shows are ensuring their own financial success. Rather that simply appealing to a single niche suggested by their genre (zombie for les revs, simulation narrative for San Jun), both shows instead have used their skilful positioning of niche audiences to conversely appeal to many different specialised audiences, maximising their appeal. In this way, we see a significant shift from models of mass media to a more fragmented appealing to niche audiences that is typical of digitally convergent distribution methods.
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Judith Butler argues that gender is far more complicated than we previously thought, and that rather than there being very simple and straightforward presentations of what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman, that gender is fluid, and that it can change over time. Butler refers to this process of gender performance: the actions that we perform every day, from putting on certain clothes to wearing certain makeup and even the way we walk or talk or what job we have. Our representation of gender is a performance that is constructed from ritual, though this is typically informed by patriarchal hegemonic expectations, for example the expectation that women ‘should’ wear makeup and should look happy in public. However, Butler takes this controversial ide further by arguing that gender is performative: not just a performance, gender affects the world around us, and will always lead to certain consequences, especially if our gender performance is not stereotypical. These complicated ideas are essential to understanding the world around us, and therefore the theory can ultimately be seen as being highly useful, not just for understanding gender, but also for understanding the episode of Black Mirror, San Junipero. This episode of the popular sci fi anthology series focuses on theme of gender performance and performativity and uses them to push further into themes of hyperreality and simulation.
An excellent and comparatively straightforward example of performativity can be found in the opening montage of the episode, where Yorkie, a hegemonically attractive, nervous queer woman enters a nightclub in search of a romantic sexual relationship. Yorkie’s costume is neither feminine or masculine. Her stripy top (the blue and pink symbolic of queer identity) and her somewhat unflattering short are further anchored through her oversized glasses, which represent Yorkie as a nerd archetype. True to form, Yorkie lingers by an arcade cabinet, playing 80s Taito game Bubble Bobble, where a stereotypical male nerd attempts to seduce her by listing the features of the game. This humorous exchange is made fascinating by Yorkie’s complete lack of interest in him. Mired in her own interiority, she rejects him. Her performance of gender has performatively attracted a likely boyfriend, yet her status as a queer woman cuts this interaction short. Instead, Yorkie finds herself drawn to the hegemonically attractive Kelly, and the two instigate a complex queer relationship that is made fascinating through their binary representations of gender performance. In short, this episode presents a deeply complex representation of gender, and Butler is essential in understanding it.
However, both Yorkie and Kelly are deeply flawed characters, and reject stereotypically ‘perfect’ representations of attractive women, instead often being unwholesome to the target audience. In a late scene, Yorkie gleeful asks Kelly to kill herself in real life. San Junipero is a simulation, and, in reality both characters are old and seriously ill women. Yorkie has discovered that death is the only way to fully immerse oneself in the simulation. Kelly is horrified, and while she has been using the simulation for casual sex, sees euthanasia as a step to far and a move away from a Christian ideal of heaven. This highly complex representation of women is constructed through media language. Both Kelly and Yorkie’s extravagant dress and over the top, melodramatic performance codes reinforce the complexity of gender performance, and underline exactly how far Yorkie as progressed since the start of the narrative. However, even more so, the performative nature of gender can be seen by the extreme reaction that Kelly makes, symbolically attempting suicide in a virtual world to jump out of the simulation. This highly complex use of simulation as a theme reinforces the complexity of gender, and suggests that Butler’s notion of performativity is the only way of understanding this episode.
Earlier in the episode, long before the twist has been revealed, Yorkie plays dress up in a mirror. This scene is a clear intertextual reference to any number of 80s tween films, which may have been essential for many audience members in constructing their gender. Here Van Zoonen’s theory of gender representation being constructed though media language is essential as well to understanding this scene, which clearly makes use of intertextual relay. Likewise, Hall’s theory of stereotypes also helps us top understand what affect Yorkie is going for, as the quick montage of exchanged costumes and direct mode of address sees her trying stereotypical gender roles. Ultimately though, it is Butler’s theory of gender performativity that helps us to understand the scene. Yorkie, by playing different roles is clearly hoping for a different reaction for each and every role, from the sex implied by the tight blue dress to the chaotic wedding dress of the ‘weird girl’ from the breakfast club, the MES of which suggests a complex and exciting lifestyle. This scene reinforces the importance of Butler’s theory in understanding how gender works in a complex world. Not only can our gender fluidly change, but we can also see the affects that such a change has. Tellingly Yorkie chooses to ‘be herself’ by sticking to her stereotypical ‘nerd ‘look encoded though her glasses, while the stereotypically cool Kelly chooses to ghost Yorkie for not living up to her romantic and sexual expectations that are fulfilled through polyamory.
These highly complex and highly contradictory performances of gender in Black Mirror reinforce that Butler’s theory is useful and valid. It suggests that not only is gender fluid, but that it has affects. Even the sight of a queer relationship in a mainstream sci-fi show would have been unthinkable not too long ago, and we see a highly complicated collection of gender and gendered identities that will appeal to a complex and fragmentary audience.