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!