Television

Television in the global age

Black Mirror (2024+)

Initial analytic discussion (2023)

San Junipero initial discussion and allegorical perspectives 

San Junipero - negotiated readings

A semiotic deconstruction of San Junipero's opening montage

Exploring how media language combines to construct meaning in the opening montage sequence of San Junipero

Generic paradigms and intertextual relay in the dress-up montage of San Junipero 

Intertextuality as metanarrative: how does intertextual relay help audiences to understand San Junipero?

Postmodern readings - Hyperreality and the opening montage of San Junipero

Postmodern readings - hyperreality and the ‘crossing over’ scene in San Junipero

Hyperreality, gender performativity and the sex scene in San Junipero

Hyperreality, gender performativity and the marriage scene in San Junipero

Exploring gender performance and gender performativity in San Junipero

Building representation and media language case studies in San Junipero

Black Mirror and the 'cult' of Charlie Brooker - wider reading and taking audience way further

Charlie Brooker as auteur - brief notes on the creator of Black Mirror

Applying reception theory to San Junipero - brief examples

Industry research megatask

Cult TV

Teacher exemplar

Postmodernism - how to actually refer to the hardest theory in media studies

Representation, media language and representation - TV industry ultrapost

Les Revenants (2019 +)

Considering genre in Les Revenants

Researching Les Revenants

Les Revenants initial discussion 2022

Les Revenants - initial discussion 2024

A semiotic analysis of the scene where Camille comes home

Les Revenants - initial discussion, including narrative applications

Utiliser uniquement la théorie française pour analyser une émission de télévision française

Les Revenants: atypical of genre, typical of representation?

The representation of teenage girls in Les Revenants

Representations of age and gender: Lena and Simon walk home

Subverting representations of women - Julie

bell hooks and Les Revenants

Reception theory - audience negotiation and Les Revenants

How does Les Revenants appeal to an international audience?

Cultivating polysemy - audience negotiation and the final montage of episode 1 of Les Revenants

Audience responses to Les Revenants

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

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

Les Revenants: what makes a cult show?

Les Revenants: structuring a response

Les Revenants: in-depth key scene analysis

TV mini mock: exemplar answers

Stuart Hall argues that stereotypes serve a variety of complex functions and are integral to understanding media products. Evaluate this theory of representation. Make reference to Humans and The Returned to support your response [30]

According to Claude Lévi-Strauss, texts convey their meanings through a system of binary oppositions. Evaluate this structuralist theory. Refer to the set episodes of Humans and The Returned in your response. [30]

Compared with the past, David Gauntlett argues that in the media today ‘we no longer get singular, straightforward messages about ideal types of male and female identities.’ Evaluate the validity of this claim with reference to the set episodes of Humans and The Returned and the historical contexts in which they were produced. [30]

Industry and audience discussion 1

Industry and audience discussion 2

Industry research megatask

Cult TV

Teacher exemplar

Representation, media language and representation - TV industry ultrapost

Wider reading and additional examples

Parks and Recreation

Exploring how representations construct reality in the opening sequence of CSI Vegas

Considering representation and ideology in classic American holiday specials

Legacy case studies

Humans (2019 -2023)

Opening scene analysis: to what extent is Humans typical of it's genre?

Brothel scene analysis: how are the audience positioned through media language, and how does the scene demonstrate themes of sexual exploitation?

Exploring the diegesis of sound in the opening scene of Humans

Applying structuralist theory to Humans

Applying semiotic theory to Humans

Commodity fetishism and sexual fetishism: how is Anita fetishised through media language?

Gender performativity, Humans and cyborgs

Applying postmodern theory to Humans 

Exploring Human's marketing campaign 

Considering the marketing campaign for Humans within an economic context

Applying reception theory to the ending montage 

Humans facts

Life imitating art: delivery robots

Exploring how representations of gender are encoded in the final montage sequence of Humans S1E1

Hyperreality and simulacrum in Humans and beyond

Analysis of a viral marketing strategy: Persona Synthetics spot advertisement

Humans: Exploring audience theory

TV mini mock: exemplar answers

Hyperreality and Humans

Explore the ways in which audiences can respond to and interpret the representations of gender in Humans

How does historical context affect the representations in Humans?

Applying representation theories to Humans

How have economic factors shaped Humans?

In what ways does the TV industry use specialised forms of distribution?

Stuart Hall argues that stereotypes serve a variety of complex functions and are integral to understanding media products. Evaluate this theory of representation. Make reference to Humans and The Returned to support your response [30]

According to Claude Lévi-Strauss, texts convey their meanings through a system of binary oppositions. Evaluate this structuralist theory. Refer to the set episodes of Humans and The Returned in your response. [30]

Compared with the past, David Gauntlett argues that in the media today ‘we no longer get singular, straightforward messages about ideal types of male and female identities.’ Evaluate the validity of this claim with reference to the set episodes of Humans and The Returned and the historical contexts in which they were produced. [30]

Industry and audience discussion 1

Industry and audience discussion 2