exam preparation

The Heavy Hitters: (most important theories/key terms)

• Ideology
• Intertextuality
• Semiotics
• Polysemic's
• Negotiation
• Hegemony (patriarchy)

DEMONSTRATE AN OPINION!!!

Knee jerk reaction? yes or ? but why?

Examples: 

1. "In the 21st century, it is essential for TV shows to offer multiple meanings?" - evaluate this claim with reference to Les Revenants.
2. What are the genre conventions of Les Revenants, how do they work, and how have they developed?

Question Plan:

Introduction (DAC) Definition, Argument, Context

Paragraphs (PEA) Point, Evidence, Argument

Question 2 Breakdown

Define Genre: 

• A way of categorising media texts.
• Conventions are the building blocks of genre.
• Genre allows producers to specifically target audiences.
• Steve Neale believes that genre is essentially instances of 'repetition and difference'.

Definition:

Genre is essential for both audiences and producers alike. It is a way of categorising media texts. This allows the audiences to identify what type od media product to select based on their own expectations and prior knowledge. Genre is also important to producers, as it allows them to specifically target audiences, and thus ensure profit. Conventions are the building blocks of genre, acting as a crucial signpost.

Argument:

Les Revenants takes a more challenging, subversive approach to genre convention. Rather than being categorised into one or two genres, it's a text that encompasses many - a fluid, post-modern drama that embodies genre hybridity, polysemy and the complexity of modern day media. In this response I will be discussing the genre conventions within the text, how they have been developed to work and change genre convention.

Context:

Point:

Las Revenants is encoded with meaning from a variety of genres, it forms a complex ideology that challenges genre convention. Arguably the text reflects both horror and supernatural genre conventions, it is an enigmatic drama that makes references to both French poetic realism and the avant-garde, as well as embodying iconography and paradigmatic features from the 'zombie' genre.

Evidence:

In the opening scene we are introduced to 'camille' through close-up on a bus, the non-diegetic music is sombre and emotive connoting the lyrical codes of French drama and poetic realism. As the bus crashes there is diegetic screams from inside the bus - reflecting horror conventions of death and mortality. Next, as the camera moves through the house there is a mid-shot of a butterfly, seemingly dead, breaking through the glass from which it is kept, reflecting paradigms from the supernatural/zombie genre. This opening uses hermeneutic code and is very polysemic, encompassing multiple meaning and genres.

Genre in Les Revenants

Les Revenants (The Returned):
French supernatural drama television series
Create by Fabrice Gobert
Based on a french film They Come Back (Zombie Horror)
Shown on Channel 4
2 series, 8 episodes each

Genres within Les Revenants
Sci-fi - things happen that don't happen in real life, supernatural
Drama - Serious tone, very niche typically French style conventions
Horror - typical conventions, little boy, fear of children, gory stabbing scene in alleyway
Avent-garde - arthouse, very forward thinking
French - moody, lowkey, stylistic, based on french culture
Zombie - characters coming back from the dead

Cult TV
small passionate fanbase/community, not mainstream
Examples: Buffer the Vampire Slayer, The Wire, Grand Budapest Hotel
**Could argue that The Returned was Cult tv as it had a small passionate fanbase.

Zombie Genre:
Settings - Always abandoned (landscapes, shopping hall, houses)
Characters - typically, hero/leader, victim that is saved, villain zombie characters
Examples - Zombieland, World War Z, I am Legend, The Walking Dead, Shean of the Dead
Narrative - Typically Todorov Narrative style, equilibrium, disequilibrium, resolution, sometimes fragmented, with flashbacks, reflects past coming back to haunt you.
Themes - Violence, Lawless, Death vs Life, Survival, Rising from the dead, 
Cinematography - dusk shooting

The zeitgeist from The Returned captured a feeling of tension at the time, the fear of an unknown invader, (people coming back from the dead) At the time, many refugees and immigrants were coming to France, and politicians were adamant to reduce this. Could argue this tension represents what lead to the Paris attacks of November 2015. Les Revenants was a media product to recreate these ideologies in an allegorical way.

French Poetic Realism:

• Poetic realism was a film movement in France of the 1930s. 
• They usually have a fatalistic view of life with their characters living on the margins of society, either as unemployed members of the working class or as criminals. 
• After a life of disappointment, the characters get a last chance at love but are ultimately disappointed again and the films frequently end with disillusionment or death.
•  The overall tone often resembles nostalgia and bitterness. 
• They are "poetic" because of a heightened aestheticism that sometimes draws attention to the representational aspects of the films. 

Targeting and maintaining Audience

How can we break apart a target audience?

• Age
• Social/Economic Class
• Gender
• Ethnicity
• Sexuality
• Hobbies
• Demographic
• Psychographic(Aspirer/Reformer/Mainstreamer)
• Occupation
• Location

Family Breakfast Scene

Typical middle class British family

Relatable to audiences: bickering, moody fighting teenagers, dad jokes, etc

Aspirational to audience - the want to be a nuclear family

polysemic Reading - funny and creepy scene, hinting at situations to come ''we should throw a party for the dishwasher its been working for years!'' - confirms Anita's status as a slave - a challenging concept for the middle class audience to decode. 

Close-ups of mums face to show dislike toward Anita.

Presentable, financially comfortable family, relatable to middle class audience.

Dig at Laura "this is what breakfast is supposed to be like", suggesting she is failing to provide the role of mother. 

Mise-en-scene of cups of tea, stereotypically British, specifically targeting a British Audience which is relatable to them.

Costume - pyjamas and loungewear, apart from Anita - intertextual reference to British TV sitcoms, steriotypical 'wake-up' scene, for example 'Outnumbered'.

Audience Theory - Hypodermic Needle theory - (injecting the message of a domestic motherly role into the audience)

Channel 4

Persona Synthetics:
How does this advert target audiences?

• In a very unconventional way

What techniques are used to promote Humans?

• Enigma codes, withholds the narrative
• Self reflective advertising

Factfile for Channel 4:

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster that began transmission on 2 November 1982. 

ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA)

List of 10 most watched TV/film on channel 4:

Innovative, Distinctive, Diverse

Associated channels: E4, Film 4, More 4. Each one targets a specific, niche audience (for example E4 targets a young student type of audience with typically a comedy genre)

Notable releases - Skins, Big brother, Gogglebox, Made in Chelsea, The Inbetweeners

Homework Mock - by Mia and Maddie

What are the genre conventions of this product, how do they work, and how have they developed?

The television series that we have been studying, Humans belongs to the Sci-fi genre. This is noticeable from the very first few minutes of the series; a pylon is filmed from an angle underneath looking up in a spinning motion, an unusual technique which is typical of Sci-fi. Pylons connote metallic, technology and electricity, all themes of the Sci-fi genre, which is then placed in an isolated green landscape, much like the binary opposition between life and technology. This is complimented by the use of non-diegetic electrical sounds that are typical conventions of the genre, which the producer continuously uses. Monotone robotic voices take role in the synth characters, creating more binary opposition between human and robot. These genre conventions develop through repetition and difference. Steve Neale believes that texts need to conform to some generic paradigms to be identified within a certain genre- but must also subverts these conventions in order to not appear identical.

How (and why!) have stereotypes in this media product been used both positively and negatively?

In negative ways, Humans stereotype women through objectification and sexualisation. For example, Anita’s role as a synth plays a housewife, cooking, cleaning and looking after the children. This is a huge stereotype of what people, mainly men, think women should do. Furthermore, Anita is objectified when the youngest daughter of the family says ‘I hope she’s pretty’ and if not can they ‘send her back’. This connotes to the idea that women should look a certain way. Additionally, Niska is sexualised in the first episode when she is forced to work as a prostitute. This is another stereotype of women that their pure purpose is for the pleasure of men. Overall, I would argue there are no positive stereotypes in the first episode of Humans.

In what ways does the specific industry (i.e. Television) use specialised forms of production, distribution and circulation?

I would say in some ways that television is the easiest way to project ideas and ideologies to audiences. This is because you can physically see the ideas and actions of the characters or programme and the audience can follow it more easily. For example, in Humans, you can see that Anita is a synth not only by being told but also by her actions, costume, facial expressions and speech. The format of the media product (tv) is extremely popular so is available on different platforms such as TV, on demand and catch up. It is also available to stream on multiple different devices such phones, tablets and laptops. This could be seen as an example of media convergence.

Postmodernism in Humans

Critisism of Narratives

Tests the narrative of old religion, 'at the beginning the was only Adam and Eve'. This rejects these themes as there are hundreds of naked robots that look like humans all lined up, with no natural features.

Style over Substance

There is no real meaning for this scene, Matilda has no reason to shoot these bullets at Anita, yet it is a significant scene for violence and old technology vs new technology.

Intertextuality

Anita dodges the bullet that matilda shoots by swaying to the side, due to the sci-fi genre themes and conventions, audnience could recognise intertextuality from the infamous scene from the matrix, where the main character dodges the electrical bullets.

Additionally a lot of intertextuality is taken from the original Swedish series, (Real Humans).

Rejection of High Culture

These synths work in a factory, in comparison to the house synths that wear neat plain clothing. The are more scruffy, and this particular synth has a number tatto lookng like it is bunt into his skin.
Breaking the Fourth Wall

Calling him son, as if he has lost the ideas that the synth is robot and has no feelings. The fourth wall is broken as the old man character has forgotten what is real and what is not, due to the loneliness he has felt after his wife died, he hung onto the synth as his only hope.

Mock

According to Levi-Strauss, texts convey their meanings through a system of binary oppositions. Evaluate this structuralist theory, refer to the set episodes of Humans. (30)

The Sci-fi genre based series Humans, demonstrates many binary oppositions within the text. The most significant opposition lies between Man vs Machine. There is a constant tension between all of the human and synth characters. For example, initially we only see Anita's feet, in the mesh 'delivery bag', claiming she is an object to be bought and sold. This is our first impression of the synths, in a scene where a family 'buys Anita'. The non-diegetic music however, suggests a heart-beat rhythmic sound that represents the birth of Anita when she is programmed and started-up. This contrasts with objectification themes as the synth is so human like that it is presented to be alive.
Producers have used these themes to maybe reflect the on goings of today's world, and how technology has overtaken society. This explores how humans revolve around the use of electronics, and makes audiences ask the question, have we become cybernetic organisms.

Theories and Definitions

Theories: 

Key Theory 15- ALBERT BANDURA                                                            SHORT TERM

The Hypodermic Needle Model:

• The "hypodermic needle theory" implied mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences.
• The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and uniformly be 'injecting' them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response.
• Theory implies that we can't think for ourselves, and we are passive audiences/consumers.

Key Theory 9 - BELL HOOKS

Feminist Theory:

• Feminism is a struggle to end patriarchal hegemony and the domination of women.
• Feminism is not a lifestyle choice: it is a political commitment.
• Race, class and gender all determine the extent to which individuals are exploited and oppressed.

Key Theory - CURRAN AND SEATON

Power and Media Industries:

The media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the profit and power. Media concentration limits variety, creativity and quality. More socially diverse patterns of ownership can create varied and adventurous media productions.

Transformations in the production, distribution and marketing of digital media. 

'Diversity is in the public interest - but modern societies suffer from collective attention deficit disorders. The public have to work harder to be noticed and we need agile but resourceful media to do that' 

Key Theory - CLAY SHIRKY
End of Audience:
Audiences are no longer passive: they interact with media products in an increasingly complex variety of ways.

Key Theory - DAVID HESMONDHALGH:

Cultural Industries:
Companies try to minimise risks and maximise audiences through vertical and horizontal integration.
Media Convergence
Conglomeration

Key Theory 7 - DAVID GAUNTLET
Theories of identity:

Despite many negative perceptions of the media, audiences are capable of constructing their own identities through what they see on television. (He writes there are now many more representations of gender.) People Pix and Mix what they beleive in and what they don't to form their identities.

Key Theory 16- GEORGE GERBNER                                                            LONG TERM

Cultivation Theory:

• "The idea that prolonged and heavy exposure to [TV]...cultivates" as in grows and develops in audiences "a view of the world consistent with the dominant or majority view expounded by television."
• Television presents a mainstream view of culture, ignoring everything else.
• In doing so television distorts reality.

Key Theory 18 - HENRY JENKINS

Fandom:

• Refers to a particularly organised and motivated audience of a certain media producer franchise.
• They are active participants in the construction and circulation of textual meanings. 
• Fans appropriate texts and read them in ways that were not fully intended by the producer(textual poaching) examples of this exist through conventions of fanfiction.

Key Theory - LIVINGSTONE AND LUNT

Regulation: 

Media is controlled by a small number of companies, driven by the logic of profit and domination. 

Todays regulations in the film industry are at risk due to global media corporations and new technologies. 

Key Theory 8 - LISBET VAN ZOONEN

Feminist Theory:

Gender is constructed through codes and conventions of media products, and the idea of what is male and female changes over time.

Women's bodies are used in media products as a spectacle for heterosexual male audiences, which reinforces patriarchal hegemony.

Key Theory - LEVI STRAUSS
Binary Opposition:
When meaning is created through conflict in the narrative. 

Key Theory 11 - PAUL GILROY
Ethnicity and Post-colonialism
Post colonialism is the study of the impact that being under direct rule has had on former colonies, for example, Britain colonised and took ownership of many countries, including India and Australia.
These ideas and attitudes continue to shape contemporary attitudes towards race and ethnicity in the postcolonial era.
These attitudes have created racial hierarchies.

Key Theory - RICHARD DYER

The role of stereotypes:

• an ordering process
• a shortcut for producers
• a reference point for audiences
• an expression of dominant societal values

Key Theory - ROLAND BARTHES

Semeotics:

Hermeneutic - mysterious

Proairetic - action

Symbolic - what does it make the reader feel?

Key Theory 6 - STUART HALL 
Representations:
Thinks representations exist through the repetition and remix of media trends.
Representations: the ways in which media products constructs the world and aspects in it. Including social groups, individuals, issues and events. 

Key Theory 17 - STUART HALL

Reception Theory:

• The 'right' reading of a text which can be enforced by positioning.
• This concept has to be approached carefully: often texts intentionally have multiple meaning/readings, and audiences can potentially get whatever they want out of any media text.
• Hall categorised audience response into 3 separate group.
• These can help us to understand wether or not an audience sticks to the preferred reading, or if they decide to make their own decisions on how to decode the text.
• DOMINANT READING: The audience agrees with the dominant values in the text, and agrees with the values and ideology it shows.
• NEGOTIATED READING: The audience generally agrees with what they see but they disagree to some amount.
• OPPOSITIONAL READING: The audience completely disagrees with what they see, and rejects the dominant reading.

Key Theory 3: STEVE NEALE 

Theories around Genre:

• Neale believes that genre is essentially instances of 'repetition and difference'.
• He suggested that texts need to conform to some generic paradigms to be identified within a certain genre- but must also subverts these conventions in order to not appear identical.

Key Theory 2 - TODOROV

Narratology:

Within a story, the equilibrium creates the initial beginning of a film, representing the period of the film where there are no problems. This changes after a disruption occurs, where the equilibrium is broken. (Disequalibrium) The film then results in a partiaal restoration of the disequilibrium where there is resolution. However the equilibrium can also be partially restored where sequels are intended, so the film does not end on a complete equilibrium.

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Definitions:

Agenda - a list of items to be discussed at a formal meeting. 

Bias - inclination or prejudice for or against one person or group, especially in a way considered to be unfair.

Conglomeration:

Conglomeration is a company that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises, such as television, radio, publishing, motion pictures, theme parks, or the Internet. Conglomeration is the 'process' of a conglomerate being formed.

Cultural Capital(Power) - The cultural resources of an individual, for example knowledge, qualifications, art, customs and tastes.

Examples: Versace, Ralph Lauren, Gucci, Burberry, Horse Riding, Caviar.

Culture Jamming: The practice of criticising and subverting advertising and consumerism in the mass media, by methods such as producing advertisements parodying those of global brands. 

Commodity Fetishism: "is the process of ascribing magic "phantom-like" qualities to an object, whereby the human labour required to make that product is lost once the object is associated with a monetary value for exchange." - Patricia Louie

Distribution:

The digital distribution is the delivery or distribution of media.

HEGEMONY: Where one group wields power over another, not through domination, but through coercion and consent.

INTERTEXTUALITY: is the shaping of texts meaning through referencing or alluding to other text. Texts provide context within which other texts can be created or interpreted- reflecting the fluid boundaries or genre convention. (The way the Simpsons use lots of scenes from other media, almost exactly)

Linear narrative- when a narrative is chronological, and follows a story through time from beginning to end.

Non-linear narrative- the narrative is not chronological, and goes back and forth between beginning and end.

Polysemy - not everything has a single meaning. In newspapers however producers typically try to avoid polysemic readings. 

Anchoring - the fixing of a particular meaning to a media text, often through the use of captions. The process of forcing an audience in to a particular reading.

Conglomerate: a larger corporation consisting of multiple smaller companies.

Subsidiary: a smaller company owned by a larger corporation.

Production:

The production process refers to the stages (phases) required to complete a media product, from the idea to the final master copy. The process can apply to any type of media production including film, video, television and audio recording.

Vertical/Horizontal Integration:

Vertical - where a company buys "up other companies involved in different stages of media production

Horizontal - where a company buys "other companies in the same sector to reduce competition.

The Studio System:

The classical (Big 5 - Warner Brothers/Disney/CBS/21st Century Fox/Comcast)

Institution - the values and ideology of a media product.

Scopophilia - sexual pleasure derived chiefly from watching others when they are naked or engaged in sexual activity(they do know this happening)

Voyeurism - the practice of gaining sexual pleasure from watching others when they are naked or engaged in sexual activity (similar to scopophilia but they don't know you are watching them)

Patriarchy - a system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it.

Representation in Humans

Binary /opposition that create meaning in HUMANS:
Man vs machine
Anita vs Laura
Captivity vs freedom
Progress vs Regression
Family vs Institution
Conscious vs unconscious
Past vs present
Male vs Female
Old vs Young
Appearance vs Reality


Representation of Women vs Synths in HUMANS

• Representation - repetition, showing something so much that is becomes a normal thing
• Representation exist to make it easier for viewers to understand/recognise/label/categorise things.
• Women roles in HUMANS: Mother, Caregiver, Prostitute

How does the scene 'Buying Anita' represent women?

• Objectification: 'hope she's pretty' - play on feminine ideals, values of being a woman relying on looks.
• Initially only see her feet, in the mesh 'delivery bag', she is an object to be bought and sold.
• Non-diegetic audio track reflects heartbeat - "birth" of a synth
• Programmed for 'standard domestic model... basic housework" - female as domestic.
• "my primary user" suggests she is simply an appliance "used" by the humans
• "she's ours"- ownership of the object
• Referred to by Laura as a machine.
• Focus - use of deep shallow focus to connote dominance eg, Laura is in the background, Anita is clear in the foreground.

Key Theory:

MADONNA/WHORE COMPLEX: Sigmund Freud

• developed a theory to explain men's anxiety towards women's sexuality, suggesting  that men define women into one of two categories: the madonna (women he admires and respects) and the whore(women he is attracted to and therefore disrespects)
• The Madonna is typically virtuous, nurturing, saintly and sexually repressed
• The Whore is sensual, sexualised, and desirable without purity

Cybernetic Organisms - a combination of the organic and mechanic.