P2: TV Drama

  Long Form TV drama                                                                                                            31-10-23

2 essay questions -

30 mark comparative question, applying academic  concepts to the 2 case studies

10 mark question, connect case studies to a particular theory 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1bhOaLV4FU

The Boys Season 1 trailer

• Flexi narrative, clear main cast of multiple varying characters, all displayed on the overlaid title cards with their names/nicknames 
• Intros with mention of the Seven - the prominent antagonist group which has its own narrative super hero plot in the trailer
• Butchers voice overlay revealing major points of the story about the heroes
• The main cast the Boys are seen going through development - they argue constantly and with comedy in the show we see them develop back together like the 'Spice Girls'
• Instant change in vibe mid trailer to show the shows 2 sides of a dark superhero fantasy and a brutal comedy 
• Clear high budget 
• Use of backing sound with overlaid voice and text, having high budget CGI and representations of a strong male cast with both unstereotypical and stereotypical people displayed in Hughie and Butcher 
• The central characters such as Homelander are also shown, with their personalities being shown off as complicated, having scenes which contradict each other in terms of his personality, providing development.
• Subplots such as 'The female' are seen in which she is shown as having some rough backstory 
• Main story seemingly related to Hughie being helped by Butcher and the Boys to track down the hero who killed someone seemingly important to him, with him going from a normal citizen into a man holding a gun and committing 'crime' 

• Media language - Shots are casual in design for a long form narrative with nothing insane, mainly placing focus on 1 or 2 characters and their actions in that particular scene whether it be The Boys or one of the supes, The clothes are almost uncannily stereotypical when compared to the sea of superhero outfits seen in Marvel and DC, presenting this as somewhat of a satire or twist on the genre with a more realistic and pessimistic outlook on the idea of superheroes being real. The editing overlays voice clips and text for the characters ands the stories around them
• Representation - Variety of masculine depiction with Butcher being the rough and tough gritty masculine man whilst Hughie is portrayed as less heroic, The 'female' as shes dubbed in the trailer (Kimiko) is also displayed as rather strong physically and independent of another, giving good female and male representation 
• Industry - Big budget is clear with Prime backing and substantial amounts of god CGI and set design, with well designed hand crafted costumes made of high quality material 
• Audience sees some familiar actors who aren't necessarily known for roles in the superhero genre, targets both superhero and drama fans alike in how it seems to be a dark comedy on the genre with a more realistic and distasteful look on superheroes when compared to the massive names such as Marvel or DC 
• Social context of an oversaturated genre of generic superheroes with little variety in the outlook on how the world perceives them in the modern era, The Boys shows clear social media and news reports reflecting the current 21st century, characters such as Homelander and A train seeming to be much lessthan al good in the trailer helps reflect the real life contexts of the show with people never all being good. The trailer further shows context in how it represents movements present at time of scriptwriting and filming. (Not in trailer but the show mentions and sometimes parodies the way companies approach BLM or LGBTQ movements with its characters)  

Media HW

Gen V

Characters are represented in a modern fashion with gender neutral characters alongside very little gender borders with each character being strong in their own right.
The camera shots and cuts are streamlined to create a continual narrative for long form, with high budget cgi and special effects in order to portray a realistic role with superheroes.

The set design is representative of a traditional American college with the youth and social media being rather present

There are current social contexts with diversity and the main cast being people of numerous race and sexuality represents this, with some of them being undermined due to societal views.

7-11-23

Central characters whose motives develop with them

Family and presumably the mysterious woman

A main storyline with interwoven subplots 

-Numerous characters who seem to be hiding various things like what happened to the man or what has the wife been up to with the kids, having him reappear and the country/vice president appearing

Complex characters that are ambiguous or enigmatic 

-Mysterious woman setting up observations in the families house, unclear her goal 

Genre - war, politics, spy, thriller

Characters - Jess, Brody, Mike, son and daughter, CIA agent

Brody - Returns form being a prisoner of war, CIA agent suspects him

Killing Eve

• Developed by Sid Gentile films for BBC America and BBC 3
• Released 8th April 2018
• Has women at the helm of production 
• Awards 
• 
• Inspired by events such as the poisoning of Kim Jong Nam, serial killer Angela Simpson, 
• 3.5 million UK viewers
• Genre - Thriller, Action, Drama, Dark comedy, Mystery   
• 168 nominations, 44 awards, Emmys, BAFTAs, British film design guild, Golden globes

Killing Eve

Main Narrative

Eve looking into an Assassin who has killed numerous officials, seemingly investigating cases in order to catch her. Eve works under MI5 before being fired due to endangering people and failing to protect a witness due to trying her own investigation, assassin seen killing. Carolyn offers Eve a job afterwards. Marriage subplot. 

Enigma Codes

Whats going on, who is the man giving the assassin the jobs, why is she killing these people 

Individual character narratives 

Eve - husband and somewhat of a rivalry with colleagues, friends with others who seem slightly lower in the chain

Characters

- Eve

- Bill, Boss

- Niko, Husband

- Carolyn, MI5 

- Frank 

- Dom

- Villanelle 

- Konstantin, boss  

14-11-23

Genre Conventions

-Travel both in the country and globally

-side kick characters 

-Secretive

-Lead is competent and skilful

-Often male lead

-Headquarter of some sort

-Serious content, slight humour 

- Supportive female role

-Backstory 

Todorov 

Equilibrium - Eve living with her husband and going to her job each day under the MI5 with no serious assignments, works under Bill and Frank 

Disruption - Villanelle assassinates a girls boyfriend, begins an investigation for protection of the girl and some investigation on the assassin as everyone but Eve presumes its a man

Recognition of disruption - Eve begins to privately look into the killing whilst Villanelle attacks another person, Eve narrows it down to being a small chested female behind the attacks 

Attempt to solve disruption - Eve is tasked with protecting the girl and fails whilst doing her own investigating on her, loses her job in the process

New Equilibrium - Eve offered a new job in search of Villanelle as she is being investigated due to her killings across the world 

 20-11-23

Neale

- Genre theory is about what they are and how and why they are created, changed, or how they endure/decline over time

- Neale argues genre is a process by which generic codes and conventions are shared by audiences and producers due to repetition in media 

- Genres are not fixed, constantly evolve with new additions to the generic corpus. Media products often become hybrids of numerous genres 

- Generic codes and conventions are used in both the products and outside texts referencing the products, creating an intertextual relay in advertising and marketing material 

Killing Eve

• Genre - Spy Thriller, dark comedy 
• Similar to shows like The Game or Revenge
• Killing Eve breaks select genre conventions such as gender roles in its dominant female cast, follows conventions such as the offices with private meetings and MI5
• Intertextual relay in marketing material showing both Eve and Villanelle as somewhat close to each other whilst keeping up genre conventions in the way Eve is headlocked, linking to thriller. The 2 characters relay the gender convention break present in the show.

Neale is clear in presentation here, having the intertextual relay of both subversion and reinforcement in terms of genre conventions seen in the show present in advertisement externally like the posters 

Killing Eve - Industry and context 

•  Historical - how historical context influences representations of society and intertextuality in media
• Economic - reflection of economic contexts through production, technology, finance and budget as well as advertisement/ownership
• Political - how political states of affairs across the world are represented as a product of their time
• Social - How societies views are influenced or have influenced a shows view on something
• Cultural - How audience consumption of culture is effected by representations of a culture in media 

Social context - supreme court judge accused of sexual assault in public trial

Reflected in killing Eve, a lot of the targets of Villanelle are misogynists or in some form demeaning towards women, similar to the judge.

Cultural context - Saudi Arabia let women drive a year before hand, laws on women were being eased off 

Killing Eve reflects this in the power it gives to both women in the show and the fact that it has a heavily female production team with all women writers, showing gender does not matter in order to make something good 

Political context -  Majorie Stoneman Douglass high School shooting in America, student survivors demonstrated for anti gun laws 

Political context - Donald Trump became president of USA, what changes to law and some equality did that mean for some Americans

- more bias against immigrants 

-Nation protection against foreign terrorists

-Removed all mentions of LGBTQ issues

-Pushed equality back  

Social context - #metoo started to be used in 2017 bring attention to the sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and rape culture. Harvey Weinstein case 

 

21-11-23

-UK, Brexit voted in 

-Terrorist attacks, Ariana Grande Manchester arena 

-Van attacks on London Bridge 

Industry and Context

In Killing Eve cultural and historical context has clear impact on the themes present in the show. As of 2017 ideas of women and mens equality as well as active sex life with lack of thought for age were prevalent with little care or attention brought to if a character was sleeping with men or women as it did not matter, reflecting context of the time where things were much more accepted. However contexts of the usual espionage and spy shows being male dominated are removed with a look into the rise of female representation as more than objects for the male gaze. Other themes however of the homosexuality aspects do not define characters. 

Barthes

-Semiology is the study of signs

-denotations signify connotations, association from the denotations 

-denotations and connotations are organised into myths, the idealogical meaning 

-Can be applied to any sign

-Useful for micro analysis

-Does not explain anything specific to LFTVD

-Less useful for analysing macro elements such as genre/narrative

-No information about ownership and control of TV

Levi Strauss

-Structuralism is the study of hidden rules that govern a structure 

- Binary opposition, hot and cold, good and bad

-Has to be hot to show something is cold, has to have day in order to show its night 

-ideology

-applicable to any cultural product

-can analyse narratives 

-can analyse representation of ideological effect, seeing which side of an opposition is valued by the narrative 

-Does not explain anything specific 

-does not explain audience interpretation 

Ice cream - childhood/innocence

Older - younger

power - subordinate 

male - female 

assassin - MI5

serious - funny

Killing Eve - Characters                                                                                                        27-11-23

Gilroy

• colonial ideology - superiority of white western culture across a range of representations 
• Colonialism - the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.
• African diaspora caused by slave trade has constructed a transatlantic culture that is simultaneously African, American, British, Caribbean, 'black Atlantic'
• Britain failed  to mourn loss of an empire - created a postcolonial melancholia, an attachment to an airbrush version of British colonial history, expressed in criminalising immigrants and an 'us and them' approach to the world founded on a belief in inherent superiority  of white western civilisation 

-Can be applied in representation of race and the post colonial world

-Theory lacks support for other inequalities 

-underestimates social consensus on representations 

Opening Scene representation of Eve

-Exaggerative

-somewhat egotistical, late, rude, unorganised

-uninformed and disorganised 

-Does not adhere to societal norm of politeness

-Smart/perceptive, good ability to theorise 

-lighthearted, sleeping on arms and screaming

-confident/defiant, late, eating in meeting, speaks out on her views 

-Immature, betting money on the gender of an assassin, screaming in bed due to sleeping on arms "it was scary"

-relatable, drunk, karaoke, informal speak with colleagues 

Scene 13-19 minutes representation of Eve

-Argumentative, office scene with boss

-firm in belief, refuses to fully pay up due to her belief of the assassin being a women

-Both professional and unprofessional while lighthearted, interrogation of the polish girl, investigation

-Defiant, does personal research onto cases even when not required 

-Determined, research to find out if its a girl 

-persistent, phone call, personal research

-informal

-Funny, dom + niko translation

In Killing Eve we can see Eve as being represented as a determined and defiant individual who is characterised by her juxtaposing unprofessionalism and persistence. In a scene between Eve and the Polish girl we see her act in a somewhat serious manner with a stern look on mid shots depicting a curious face of hers as she attempts to pry out information from a girl in order to prove a point. The silence outside of the dialogue helps add to the supposed seriousness of the scene but this is broken by Eve's informal remarks towards the translator and girl. This creates a visible view on Eve as an unprofessional but determined character, she gets the job done whether needed to or not but doe sit in her own way, reflecting her defiance.  This further in some aspects depicts Eve as a severe subversion of gender roles, she is leader like and dominant in that room reflecting the typical male portrayal, creating a more masculine view if you are to discard ideas held by Van Zoonen in which gender is not who we are rather but what we do, and in this scene Eve is presented more so as the stereotypical man rather than a traditional feminine spy or agent. The representation of gender is also linked to a subversion of gender roles in the context of women's jobs often not being associated with the spy aspects or defending nature of the country, with Eve breaking this, whilst also following growing social change of women's status in society where everything should be equal with both genders being able to do both jobs.    

28-11-23

Eve

Determined

30-39 mins

-Bill in office, stands up and argues her own belief 

- Continuous close ups of Eve's face during the back and forth as well as the sound and raising of her voice in a non angry but more 'leet me show you' type of way, slight low angles on Eve in order to portray her as having some form of power in dirty single mid shots and close ups  

-close ups emphasise the seriousness of her expressions 

-accusatory, high pitched feminine

-prop of papers, 'compiling these papers for months' shows she does her own work for personal interest, determined

Determined - in hospital she is more emotional but still tries to help the dying witness in an attempt to salvage nay last information 

Butler - Gender performativity 

Gender is created in how we preform gender roles. Created in performance, repetition of a ritual that becomes naturalised within the body 

Any feminism concerned only with masculinity and femininity excludes other forms of gender and sexuality - causes gender trouble for those who do not fit heteronormative society

Queer Theory 

Van Zoonen

Ideas of femininity and masculinity are constructed in our performance of these roles

Gender is what we do rather than who we are and changes meaning depending on cultural and historical concepts. 

Concept of patriarchy can be applied to ownership and control of television as well as representation of gender 

Bell Hooks 

Intersectionality - coming together of gender, race, class and sexuality to create a white supremacist capitalist patriarchy which dominates media representations

-Women should develop an oppositional gaze that refuses to identify with characters that reinforce patriarchal ideology and politicises the case   

Applies to Killing Eve via the way we see how Eve is both non English and a women yet still does what she believes, somewhat showing an actualisation of Belle Hooks 

4-12-23

Eve is represented in the first episode as a flawed employee of the MI5 in both her personality and actions. In Killing Eve during the first moments of Eve's presentation we see her sloppy attitude and disorganised lifestyle in how she is shown with the rustling sound of food or the talking under her breath during a professional environment, only to be followed by an in depth prediction by Eve on the gender of the killer and how she could have done the killing and gotten away with it. We see the camera shift from a mid wide shot on the characters as it cuts between parties present in the conversation, shifting to a wide shot when Eve begins explaining her plans as if to suggest her now gained control and understanding of a situation, juxtaposing her previously sluggish representation. This combination of a disorganised but rather  intelligent women who has a clear sense of internality in her personality creates a flawed representation in how she is both strong yet not without weaknesses like having too much self drive towards a personal view, later on leading to her downfall somewhat in how she loses her job. In this representation of Eve a reflection of the products social context can be seen, with the push for equality between men and women and the obtaining of it, the glamorisation of women being perfect beings in their organisation and cleanliness is lost alongside the thoughts of women being more submissive to others views, having Eve depict the modern view of women in society with all the flaws men often are seen to have. This can be explained well by Butler in how Eve's gender is performative, she works in a stereotypically male role with the motivation and self serving nature often seen a that of a mans, displaying how Butler states that there is a repetition of gender that is noticeably broken when societal norms are challenged,  like Eve.  

Character  - Villanelle 

Anti-Hero - Main character who lacks conventional hero qualities 

Antagonist - goes against the protagonist directly 

Feminine, powerful - pink clothes in a traditional dress, assertive expression

Wealthy, powerful - green clothes well dressed, low angle

Red dress and black robe - feminine

Confident - facial expressions and sometimes direct address of the camera

Scene 1 - Ice cream shop

Villanele lacks natural social understanding of how to act in a new situation, with a lack of empathy and a lack of emotional understanding. We see her unable to personally deal with a situation and it leads her to mimic the salesman in how he smiles at the girl, giving of a public impression of a normal feminine woman. The action of pushing ice cream onto the girl and the speck of blood on her watch indicates the darker side to Eve as she acts in a way no normal person would. 

Shopping to apartment scene

Feminine depiction in her clothes and how she carries numerous bags of clothing items 

-See her as normal and somewhat kind, helping a person on the tube

- See her with a humour towards her neighbour, not offering help and rather being demeaning to the elderly, although the neighbour respond sin a way that seems like it is a joke 

- Dark humour in how she fakes an overdoes

- Childish in how she mimics what others are going to say and asks for her essentially employer to stay and watch or have someone to play with, as well as the overall humour to her personality 

 

Villanelle is represented in a feminine nature via the props and mise-en-scene throughout the film. The way Villanelle is seen in a lightish pink trench coat carrying presumably designer bags from fashion stores within Paris to her home, the bags most likely carrying clothes and such. This as well as the way we see her with an abundance of self care makeup products leads to a stereotypical depiction of femininity, caring about clothes and fashion as well as wanting to look good for yourself and others. This in turn is reflective of modern day culture in which fashion is not only a big thing but to care about set products is still seen as a feminine thing, unless the items are sportswear or shoes. Furthermore the way Villanelle is represented as feminine she follows stereotypical norms created by a social expectation, leading to her being a walking example of Van Zoonen's theory on gender performance. Feminine roles are performed in a certain way to follow stereotypes and Villanelle can be seen as one of those characters at least in some scenes.  

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Next segment copied from someone else's blog due to absence

Tuesday 5th December 2023          

L/O: To explore the narrative and characterisation of villanelle in set products. 

 - By doing Unfeminine traits such as murder but in addition she climbs up onto buildings as well as in the photo stand next to a big bike as well as that ride it.

- Interested as we are already seen many variations of assassins however Villanelle is different and shows a new side of assassins.

- She would've been likeable however she kills 

- Personality, she's comical and her ways of murders are cool.

Tuscany scene

 Plenty establishing shots and closes ups of  food showing the culture and beauty of Tuscany.

Mid and close up shots of her repairing on the bike to go to the party

Fully body shot yet camera goes lower showing her capability and strength

non diegetic sound of a track about women with power

She looks over everyone showing he power and intelligence so she knows what to do next.

Changed clothing and now diegetic music is playing showcasing she successfully is fitting in with the crowd getting closer to the victim

She analyses everyone including the kid watching like a vulture 

Quite caring and kind to the child which is quite left wing and out of character for her.

The man views her as a sexual object however she doesn't pay into that role which any spy thrillers do.

Looking down on the victim she kills with a smile as she is proud of herself.

non diegetic sound plays music which makes her seem soft in caring way

writes down the designers name on her hand as the guy is dying in front of her

Hairpin is used to show how tactical and versatile she is  

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11-12-23

Konstantin 

• Villanelle's authority figure, seemingly like both an older friend and an employer
• Depicted as seemingly caring for Villanelle in his concerns for them catching her and he plays into her immature jokes, however he seemingly keeps his distance never getting out of his coat when he sees her showing he intends to leave as soon as possible, suggesting the chance he is using her for personal gain 
• He is the older guidance figure with a care for Villanelle but also has a clear disconnect with her, serious when it comes to work and lax when talking about anything else 
• Positive representation but has negative aspects - somewhat neutral 

Niko

• Represented in a less stereotypical masculine way with him being the one who gets led around by Eve and also presumably does the cooking, as well as bringing her drinks, looking after her 
• Emotionally concerned 
• Plays Eve's husband in a way that dictates them as equal but also as if he is just going along with what she wants with little emotion behind it, however he is supportive of her 
• Positive masculinity

Bill

• Somewhat condescending towards Eve despite being friendly
• Lazy and simply bad at his job with a very uncaring attitude towards work with it being solely work to him with no passion behind it
• Further down helps actually look and relies on Eve
• Positive masculinity

Dom

• Somewhat sheltered, polite and well mannered feeling it rude to even say flat chested and being flustered by it
• Caring, suggesting chocolate for someone he doesn't even know 
• supportive and innocent 
• Not stereotypically masculine 
• positive masculinity 

Frank

• stereotypical portrayal of a male authority figure, condescending, holds power and seemingly dismissive of any fault of his own like the fact there was no CCTV or not enough security, not caring about the useful information gained 
• Beard and short hair encapsulates this
• His yelling is similar to that of a teacher or parent telling off a child
• Fires Eve despite her gaining useful information. 
• Deceptive as seen in lying about the evidence 
• Negative masculinity 

Carolyn

• Authority figure and taking control 
• Tells Eve what to do and considers Eve's belief of the killers gender
• Short hair and traditional traits are all representative of stereotypical masculinity 

Victim/Security

• Sloppy, view Villanelle as an object of sexual desire with no question of her as she is assumed to be a gift for desire
• Somewhat caring for family and lineage - 'family man'
• Objectify women,  misogyny
• negative masculinity

12-12-23

In episode one of Killing Eve Villanelle is represented in a contrasting light through the first and latter halves of the episode. Within the opening sequence we see Villanelle represented via her clothing and actions as somewhat feminine but abnormal in behaviour, she is presumably upbeat in her actions until you see the blood on her watch and the way all her expressions are imitations of the shopkeeper. Her actions followed by the way she pushes ice cream onto a child for their lack of reciprocation to her smiling leads her to be represented in a definitive negative but likeable light, only to be contrasted with the scenes of her murdering innocent people in brutal ways at the hospital scene. The representation throws into question the modern glamorisation of serial killers, showing a depiction that wants to deny this view of them as good people but keeps the presentation of them being real people.  This paired with Villanelle being a woman helps deny a view as seen by those such as Van Zoonen in how gender roles are created in performance of whats played, this traditionally masculine roll is played by a feminine character who is strong but denies sex appeal through her horrendous actions which both removes the glamorisation of a murderer and removes the public context of the 'its ok if they're hot.'

Weakest area - theory

Representation 

Masculinity as thoughtful - Niko and Dom 

• Niko - seen as supportive of Eve, despite being asked for sex he still supports her in her tangents rather than asking for more in the actions, showing he thinks of her as a person. This paired with how he brings her food despite her being somewhat distant, followed by asking what she thinks rather than continuing to disappoint her in his answer. The way both him and Eve were often in shown in the same wide shot in the bed suggesting an equality between them
• Dom - Wide shots and pans between him and Eve showing his awkwardness, paired with his looking around makes him look thoughtful to some extent in how he has a mid wide shot of him looking at the girl and then suggesting chocolate, showing thoughtfulness despite not knowing her. His expressions look somber upon seeing the girl 

8-1-24

Killing Eve - Theory and representation 

Baudrillard 

-Postmodern

-Simulation, lay of images and signs

-implosion as differences of gender, class, politics and culture dissolve in a world of simulation in which individuals construct their identities 

-Simulacra 

Baudrillard applies to Killing Eve, hyper reality in the real locations and recreated idea of realism in the world, as well as the Simulacra clear in the MI5 office as it is unknown what an actual MI5 looks like meaning that there is no real way to differentiate it. Images presented are a simulation of reality. 

World of hyperreality in a form of media simulations that express a false reality as a true one in their contents. 

Killing Eve has minimal intertextuality. Parody and homage to James Bond in Carolyn and aspects of the MI5.

Gauntlet 

-media has complex relationship with identity 

-diverse and contradictory messages present in media that allow an audience to select identities 

-self expression, ideas of gender and sexuality freedom 

Killing Eve presents its female characters like Eve, Carolyn and Villanelle as less traditional feminine with feminine traits but predominantly being strong, independent people helps created a more diverse representation, with the variety of male personalities have both traditional and untraditional characters. Assumes power of the audience as active agents rather than passive watchers. 

 

Hall

-Stereotyping and ideology those in power try to fix meaning of representation to a preferred reading that suggests there is only one true meaning  

-both what is present and what is absent create the representation 

-identify what they tell us about an ideology 

Killing Eve attempts to create a dominant meaning through the use of ideologies in good vs evil preferred reading of those who created the societal norms 

Representations of race and gender as well as somewhat age but lack of disability or class representation.  There is a distinct lack of disabled representation however it is hard to utilise clear disability without it feeling forced in this genre due to the realism, but highlights could be done on side characters to shoe the disability life.  

Multiculturalism

Killing Eve holds distinct multicultural aspects in certain areas, characters such as Niko and Dom contribute to a culture outside of the standard British with their seemingly polish origins in their knowledge of the language and attitude. This henceforth creates a separate culture from the standard within the characters, with them having a visible gathering amongst similar people as seen in the scne in which Eve search's for Dom in the bar. 

Other cultures included are Italy as seen when Villanelle goes to Vienna, we see the focus on family and such present from the characters before she murders one of the older males, however due to this being in a separate region it detracts from its actual sense of being multicultural and instead just references other countries culture. 

Villanele and Constantine have a similar problem in which both Paris city life and Russian culture is displayed in their attitudes but it is such an isolated representation that it is in fact barely multicultural. 

Therefore due to the absence of proper diverse multicultural representation with only very limited elements of the limited cultures shown, an audience response from people who are not primarily British may find harm in trying to relate to the views or acts of the main cast due to their majorly British nature.  This perchance causes the world to be hyper-real, a simulation of the real one in its actual lack of different cultures present in everyday life in the UK, as such is presented by the theorist Baudrillard in their  ideas on the medias creation of a false reality. 

Not My work below:

Masculinity in Killing Eve:

There are many diverse representations of masculinity in killing eve, supporting and subverting typical cultural stereotypes spanning across the male characters of killing eve.

Niko:

Constantine:

Bill:

Represents a very tame variety of masculinity, Stern in the face of argument, serious when appropriate but also unserious in multiple occasions, emotionally supportive of eve after hospital situation.

Frank:

Represents a very intense representation of masculinity. Supports very typical masculine and male stereotypes, is aggressive and unkind toward Eve in regard to her failing to keep the witness alive, remains very stern, serious and uptight in every appearance. Keeps his appearance in very high standard, wears suit, neat facial hair etc, physically fit etc.

Dom:

Represents a younger, less confident form of masculinity, unsure of his own place and actions. Willing to help eve even though partly aware its illegal, lying to parents to sneak out etc. Shocked and afraid in the face of violence and death. Overall brave yet timid

Representation: Violence & Death:

Villanelle:

We do not see her killing the Human Trafficker - 

Her method of murdering the Mafia boss is violent and almost unrealistic - stabs with a poison hairpin.

Audience sees her at her most violent in the hospital when she murders innocent people + the witness (Kasha)

Her first two assassinations make her seem like a likeable character, as the people she kills are inherently evil (Human Trafficking + Mafia), however she is shown to be a more evil & violent character in the hospital scene, as she murders innocent nurses and Kasha.

Human Trafficker:

His death is not seen on camera, we first hear about it when it is discussed in their meeting. His death is not represented as a bad thing, as he is a bad character himself

Mafia Boss:

His death is violent. Villanelle stabs him with a poison hairpin. His death is also represented as not bad, as he is seen treating villanelle as a sexual object through touching her without her consent.

Patriachy in the British Intelligence service:

Bill, Frank, Carolin, Eve and Elena

Bill is seen to be the head of the office, at the start he is commanding Eve around.`presented as the factual man with the dialogue that he has the knowledge of the CCTV and 'knows' the killer is a man. This shows even though he isn't the main boss, he still knows more at the beginning than Eve, presenting him to have knowledge of the case than she does initially which makes the audience know how eve and Elena still have less knowledge to begin with which presents how the patriarchal order in the MI5 begins with knowledge and how those higher up have more info about the case more than the workers do. We also learn that Bill is reluctant to let Eve investigate- again with dialogue, facial expressions as he doesn't support her initially  but warns her about the possible danger that she gets herself in. This conveys a representation that the higher authorities in the MI5 don't give out details to there workers which may represent the differences in authority and power of how they gain information and how they act on cases with very hard work and effort

Socio-economic groups (class ) Within Britain

In killing Eve the lack of socio economic groups isn't apparent throughout the first episode. Most of the main cast lives in a middle or higher class as their jobs revolve around the secret service and their home lives are rarely shown. In Britain we are shown only Eve's perspective of life outside of work and even that is rarely highlighted appon and seems rather average for the high life of an MI% agent as we see her go to corner shops to get some milk. People around Eve also aren't highlighted on and seem to be in the same class as her. Overall, Killing Eve fails to highlight different socio economic groups as in the first episode it lacks showcasing the different classes and mainly focuses on Eve who lives in the middle class of society but that isn't focused on in the episode.

An example within Killing Eve of equality in society, especially relating to contexts of the time, would be Eve's societal role and expectations. Killing Eve is set in a 21st century, first world country. Due to this, equality is much more developed than if the show were set earlier in history. Eve works in a traditionally "masculine" job role as an MI5 agent, which is never questioned or doubted. The fact that there is a woman in such a powerful and high-level job wouldn't have even been a possibility a few decades prior, which showcases the level of equality our current society is at. Eves personality is also normalised, despite being strong-headed, resolute and independent, which defies old-fashioned expectations and stereotypes of women being meek and submissive.

Femininity: 

Characters- Villanelle, Niko, Eve, Elena

Stereotypes:

Villanelle - Nice fancy clothing, a dress for the undercover mission. Shopping at the beginning, puts her hair up in a bun. Really cares about appearance 

Niko - Caring, cooks for Eve, Serious, Protective. Goes against masculinity.

Eve- Doing her hair in the hospital when Villanelle tells her to keep it down shows that she cares about her hair a bit. 

Elena - Thoughtful and caring getting a croissant for Eve in the beginning 

Carolyn- has some elements of femininity but mainly goes against it.

                                                                                                                                                      

9-1-24

Audience and Industry

Hall

Audiences can decade in 1 of 3 ways:

• Dominant reading - accepts preferred and idealogical meaning 
• Negotiated reading - accepts part of the decoded message whilst disagreeing with other aspects hence changing it to fit their experience and values
• Oppositional reading - both preferred and any idealogical assumptions encoded in the product are rejected 

Producers encode meaning via shared codes e.g genres. 

Hall argues that audiences respond to the preferred meaning in 1 of 3 ways either agreeing or rejecting the message with the other option to meet halfway. 

In Killing Eve when Hall is applied the power of the audience is shown in how they question Eve or Villanelles actions and motivations, highlighting the way those in power view race, gender, class. 

Acknowledged power in media of creating dominant messages within TV messages and values. 

Killing Eve and Hall:

• Dominant Hegemonic reading is patriotic duty
• Dominant - Eve is committed to saving lives due to her job and goes beyond the call of duty to find truth
• Negotiated - agree with the need for patriotic duty but find Eve and her methods unrealistic
• oppositions - British propaganda that demonises Russia and such 

Bandura

-Media influences people directly

-Media influences both directly and indirectly through related platforms such as social media so we can become influenced by the media without being exposed to them 

-Believes media can have a direct influence on values and behaviour of audience. The media can also indirectly influence though social networks. Argues audience may imitate behaviours they see represented especially violence and aggression.  

LFTVDs have less effect as they are more nuanced and complex 

-Killing Eve trivialises violence with black humour, loosens severity that may cause imitation, patriarchal ideas reinforced via Mi5

Gerbner

-Attention to the need to investigate longer term effects on individuals who consume LFTVDs box-sets

-Attitudinal effects of violent representations suggests that television programmes create the belief to the audience that the world is a dangerous place, with negative events

-supports idea TV should be regulated to avoid harm

-Attacks from Villanelle are violent and suggest poor British security, mistrust in Mi5 and Russia with conspiracies created against the government.

-Mean world syndrome is repeated in the violent acts and crime 

-Scenes like 'there's no cctv we've been had' and the 2 armed guards dying can easily lead to an audience perception that sees the British society not only as dangerous but with coverups and conspiracies behind the scene with the government playing roles. This causes mistrust in society, also making it seem like the security of the country relies on people who endanger teenagers for personal gain that they have convinced themselves is serving the country as a justification for personal desire.   

15-1-24

Industry

Curran and Seaton

• Patterns in ownership and control are important in how the media functions 
• Media industries are capitalist and aim to increase concentration of ownership; leads to narrowing of opinion represented in the media, affecting plurality
• Owners pursue profit at expense of quality or creativity

Media ownership dominated by small number of conglomerates limiting represented viewpoints 

International dominance of American streaming services distributing LFTVDs. 

Killing Eve released on BBC America which is payed for in America, goes against Curran and Seaton as there is less concentration of ownership. 

Not being part of main BBC also means it had no remit to follow causing a greater freedom in its creation. 

Diverse race representation, diverse gender representation, diverse sexuality, depictions of the diversity in Britain 

Conglomerates want profit and power

Disney and such purchasing companies like Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm gives them power over. majority of diverse franchises in Hollywood, pumping out good content which lacks soul.

The political campaigns in the UK often have an advantage if given Murdoch approval and their companies can push an agenda to support who they want to lead. 

Hesmondhalgh

• Cultural industries follow a capitalist pattern of increasing concentration and integrations so production is owned and controlled by a few conglomerates 
• Risk is seen in terms of loss of money. Risk is high because production costs are high 

Reduce risk done through vertical integration and reliance on established franchises, stars and genres/narratives. 

• Cultural industries follow norm capitalist pattern of increasing concentration and integration - cultural production is owned and controlled by a few conglomerates who vertically integrate across range of media to reduce risk. 
• Cultural industries rely on big hits to cover cots of failure 
• industries and gov try and impose scarcity through things such as copyright laws
• Draws attention to ownership and control purposes such as BBC PSB ethos even though this was a paid subscription in the US 

-Killing Eve risk is minimised through use of Sandra Oh who is a known star, brings an audience to the show due to her presence 

-The use of Sandra Oh as a star, known genres such as spy thriller which garner popularity naturally do to their previous acclaim, this paired with popular locations such as London and MI5 or Vienna is a little risk choice

-The intro and main antagonist being a unknown actor reduces risk from cost but increases risk in how the actor is unknown therefore no audience is brought from their name 

Livingstone and Lunt

• Consumers are individuals who seek private benefits the media and require regulation to protect them. Citizens are social, seek public or social benefits from the media and require regulation to promote public interest 
• Media regulation serves variety of purposes and must balance a range of consumer/citizen needs. Regulation is necessary for promoting of public interests, things such as internet can challenge trad regulation. 
• LFTVD produced in EU by PSB may be regulated due to public interest 
• LFTVD produced in NA are lightly regulated  

Killing Eve - Theory, audience and industry                                                                     16-1-24

To what extent do TVD create contrasting representations in contemporary media products?

Within TV dramas representations often contrast one another creating a divers array of characters in the plot that reflects a real world society, a prevalent example of this would be considered Killing Eve in how it depicts its characters, attitudes and gender alongside other relevant topics. 

Within Killing Eve the character of Eve is represented as a strong but humane individual throughout the shows narrative structure paired with the complimenting elements of sound and camera work that focuses on creating a diversified set of representations for the ensemble of moving parts. Within the first episode's concluding segments of the show Eve is depicted under a low-key lit room with a cold colour palette and numerous close ups on a weakened but determined Eve as she shakes her hands from what can be seen as anxiety and somewhat determination after the events that have transpired. The close ups on her hands reveal red stains that have crusted over her skin, displaying that in the plot her character is yet to clean her hands after trying to save victims of a crime scene, causing them to turn red, she has had the strength to head to her office without so much as a thought about cleaning herself as she has put others safety first. This strength is however caveated by her visible humane nature that shows her as somewhat vulnerable and emotional in this situation, she is rightfully shook up after seeing people die but it highlights an innate floor that in person she is awful at dealing with death, better than the average person but still emotionally flawed like a normal person. This garners a representation of her strength as a person but also highlights her weakness which brings her personality down to earth as a character. This when paired with the context of her character being created by an all women team allows a more realistic representation of strong women in media, rather than a flawless creation as often seen to be like 'women can do what men do too' which ignores any humanity or soul put in the character, the writing team has crafted a flawed and real character with her strengths and weakness. This representation is created in a way that is extended when Hall's theory is applied, her representation is created in both the presented weakness and strength in actions but also the lack of normal human emotion in breaking down after seeing death for the reason it is a death rather than just 'loss of a witness.' This links to Hall in how the absence of certain humanistic traits creates a more unnatural but real representation of the stereotypical person working in MI5.

The representations in Killing Eve such as Eve have their contrast in characters such as Villanelle, a polar opposite in attitude with the same baseline trait of being strong but having a  lack of humanity and a focus of her work ' just being work' lacking Eve's determination for the job as she works even outside of hours due to personal interest. Within scenes in the first episode such as those in Italy we see Villanelle kill a man mercilessly, he inherently wasn't a great person but the lack of remorse of doing it near a young child and the only care being the furniture brand written on her hand as we see in a close up narrows down her representation to parallel Eve's in her lack of care for human life. Paring with the narrative point of her character doing killing for a job and it being an organised expertise in what she does with no relation to it outside of her work where she just sits at home or shops the streets of Paris.  This henceforth contrasts the representation of Eve, someone sluggish with work but passionate even outside of working hours about areas of her job. This representation creates an un-relatable portrayal of a character living as an audience is not primarily sociopathic, but her being an assassin to begin with garners credibility in her character a historically assassins are often depicted as a professional male with the finesse suit and the like. Therefore having a feminine character be this strong antagonist knocks down walls of gender performance and creates the meaning through its performance, linking to a theorist such as Van Zoonen and how gender roles are created in how they are preformed in media.  

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

      Lupin     

Flexi Narrative - Money heist

Central characters whose motives develop with them

Tokyo - seemingly main character who is roped into heist s she has nowhere else to go

Professor - Unknown motive with a unknown past who brings al these characters together 

Other characters who all seemingly have their own backstories bought into this heist

Main storyline with interwoven subplots

Criminals all brought together by this 'Professor' who wants to preform the greatest heist in history with a seemingly good plan to rob the mint of Spain, each character seems to have had their own past with crimes and the like, like how Tokyo's heists went aloof after her lover was shot dead and she became a murderer. 

A combination of complex characters that are ambiguous or enigmatic, creating tension and questions for the audience 

Character's like the professor are mysterious, he knows more than he seems which instantly garners interest. The other characters like Tokyo seemingly already have interest in the others. 

Lupin

• Created by Netflix
• Wrote by George Kay and scripted it in English, Francois Uzan translated it into French context
• Won the satellite award for best actor on a drama, most successful non english programme on Netflix at the time
• First French series to reach top 10 list on Netflix
• 3rd part released in 2023

Lupin season 1 overview - Assane Diop plans the theft of an expensive diamond necklace, once owned by Marie-Antoinette, which his father Babakar had been accused of stealing from the wealthy Pellegrini family 25 years earlier. He enlists the help of a group of loan sharks, to whom he owes money. 

 

 

23-1-24 

Lupin watching 

Main Narrative Quest/Conflict setup 

MC - Assane is seen working a janitor job at the French art museum, planing a heist he suggests to 3 thugs to steal Marie Antonnette's necklace. We see his past in which his father killed himself after being falsely accused by the family which he worked for. We see Assane being a bidder at this auction with a heist he sets up to frame 3 thugs and then get the necklace through means, monologuing about Arsene, with a detective at the end clocking a link to Arsene. 

Enigma Codes

Who stole the necklace to begin with? Whats the detective cooking at the end? Whats the deal with his family? What happened to mcs mother. 

Individual character narratives 

MC - Get necklace as father was falsely accused of stealing it and was murdered.  Arsene Lupin.

Detective at the end seems to be a developing antagonistic force. 

The mother of his child and her relation with him.

Family who sold necklace, daughters brief relations to mc. 

Mother from Peligrini 

Lupin - Genre and narrative                                                                                             29-1-24

Todorov Narratology 

-Useful in teasing out messages and values present in narrative 

-Shows transformation between the initial and new equilibrium 

-Not designed to explain long form serial narratives but single narratives with resolutions so does not explain complex narratives where climaxes are delayed

-Does not help tendency in TV of the segmentation rather than linearity 

-Does not help understanding narrative that focuses on characterisation rather than resolution 

Can be applied to Lupin in how the episode although creates many questions it does have a sort of episodic format in how there is a seeming equilibrium of lupin being out of money and working as a janitor only to lead to him being this successful heist winner. The disruption being the need for money and the attempt to solve being the heist, however it is not entirely liner due to flashbacks between scenes and long scenes like the auction which don't elevate the narrative outside of weaving strands together. 

• Equilibrium - Assane is living with his father who works under a rich family named the Pelrigini's, he visits them with a somewhat ok relationship to the mother and daughter of the house with a racist undertone in the background, having a lack of a mother figure
• Disruption - Assane's father is accused of stealing Marie Antoinette's jewels from the Peligrini's safe, he is sent to prison and 'commits suicide' 
• Recognition of disruption - Assane receives the book of Arsene and Lupin, a the of thieves, the last gift from his father taken from the family he worked for before he died, cursing out the mother of the family for her not helping his father
• Attempt to resolve -  Leads to him learning the art of thievery, having numerous faces and strategies, decides to eventually steal the necklace back from the museum after it was reassembled 
• New Equilibrium - Assane has a child and successfully steals the necklace in. a heist with a possible police detective catching onto the crime 

Narrative can also be seen as the linear story from struggling father to a successful criminal where all of it was planned out. 

Narrative is primarily non linear within the story, with flashbacks and red herrings to provide an unravelling mystery about Assane and his genius plan whilst misleading the audience in what is actually going on, with details like Babakar's mistreatment and how it causes the central narrative being interwoven throughout the narrative within flashbacks. 

Neale - Genre theory 

-Genre is process by which generic codes and conventions are shared by producers and audiences through the repetition in use

-Intertextual relay seen in pieces that link to the main media piece

-Useful for films more so than LFTVD, still applicable, draws attention to processes of difference within repetition and hybridity of LFVTVD 

-Shared codes can be applied to he concept of LFTVD with traits like twisting and enigmatic narratives that are developed in a general format

-Lupin, crime/thriller, twists in plot, casing of joint, gang, plan and robbery

-Difference, gang is hopeless and robbery is not central plot, family drama and police procedural elements used

-Many LFTVD can rely on things like star system and high production values over generic similarity and genre to market themselves 

-No star vehicle in Lupin but the name indicates genre 

• Genre - crime/thriller, mystery, heist
• Similar shows - Oceans 11, Money heist, Sherlock,

Application

Boys S1 Trailer - Neale

The genre is a superhero fiction adaptation of a popular comic series, this paired with using star vehicles means Neale is less applicable, however it does use the over saturation of the genre to promote itself with the use of an antagonistic look at the heroes, unlike popular franchises like Marvel or DC in The Boys we follow powerless people trying to take down the hero organisation due to their nature, fitting in with the crime genre as well and having large amounts of action.  

Todorov - The trailer lacks an equilibrium but the main disruption is Huey having his girlfriend killed by a hero, leading to an attempt to solve by killing Vaunt's seven heroes  

Lupin - Context                                                                                                                        30-1-24

-Written by an English writer and scripted in English

-Translated by a French writer who co-wrote some of the episodes into a French setting and situation

-Appeals to an international audience through how it appeals to both audiences through the joint writing and fitting to the context of both cultures accurately 

Social context

How the audience is influenced and influences the way politics, culture, and issues and such are produced in society. 

-Racial discrimination present in France is reflected by how Assane and his father were looked down upon due to their skin colour 

-Stereotypes of Black people being unable to swim are present linking further into the context with a binary opposition of the rich and poor present in Assane and the Pellegrini family 

Opening scene

-Clothing in the lower class areas, tracksuits, beanies and plain hoodies as well as the cleaners wearing a cheap uniform that looks prison like, portrays a clear class difference of this poor society within Paris 

-The setting juxtaposes between the slums and a refined museum

Economic context

The budget and money behind a production and the current economic climate 

-Compared to Killing Eve the shooting is all in one location on site of France, this differs from Killing Eve as that show was filmed in various locations and countries in Europe, 

-Suggests that Killing Eve had a higher economic value and a greater budget behind it 

-Was Netflix's most successful French series despite having a lower budget than other shows out at the time 

Cultural context

How LFTVD is affected by how an audience consumes, things such as streaming services change the culture of consumption therefore inducing a different set of choices  production

-Paris is a leading region of gender equality 

-Paris is the culture capital of France

-80% of Paris population liv outside the city in areas that are deprived

-Divided society from class, slight race options 

Intertextual references

-Mona Lisa, internationally known

-Arsene Lupin the gentleman burglar, iconic book thats somewhat well known 

-Eiffel tower + Louvre reference both films and the concept of Paris

-Shots of rough banlieue reference seats in French TV (La Haine)

-Links to pink panther and the saint 

Political Context 

US vs EU values of democracy, how LFTVD facilitates political developments through media language and messages created for events or issues, political perspective, representations of national identity vs global perspective 

-Class divide, immigration of Assane

Historical context

How LFTVD are influenced by historical context in intertextual reference, reflection of a set period in time

Social context

-Crime is an indicator of social decay/decline

-Racial tension acknowledged and class are seen as intersectional, all those in power are white within the show 

-Flashbacks show the relation of an immigrated family working under a powerful white family 

-Considering France has very far right leadership it links into the anti immigration messages regurgitated in the country and the policies introduced 

Cultural context

-Released during lockdown meaning everyone had more time to simply watch more stuff and were experimenting with shows of other language types 

-Immediately available in dub meaning it could reach a wider audience 

Lupin Male Characters                                                                                                         5-2-24

Scene Analysis 5:23 - 11:32

-Constant wide shots with aerials, establishing shots, creates a clear image of the setting and location that the show is going to be set in (Paris), Comparatively makes Assane seem irrelevant or minute compared to this grand city 

-The dark tone of music paired with a lowkey lighting and dim atmosphere creates a gloomy tone for the show almost reflecting these working class estates these characters are present at

-Tattoos and cheap sportwear worn by thugs reflects their class and reinforces negative stereotypes about what sort of people are aggressive.

Van Zoonen

-Femininity and masculinity are constructed from performance of roles

-Patriarchy is applicable to ownership of the TV industry and the main leads behind the scenes

-Gender is what we do not who we are

Butler

-Any feminism concerned only with masculinity and femininity causes uncertainty in those who fall outside those regions, removing sexuality from the picture and causes gender trouble 

-Queer theory

Gender is created in how we preform our roles through repetition 

Gauntlett - Identity

The media have a complex relationship with identities. In the modern day people are making their own choice on their identity and lifestyles. Many media have messages that individuals can use through their identities to express themselves.

Hall - Representation

Stereotypes and how they are constructed should be pulled apart and deconstructed to identify what they tell us about ideology. Power of media try and either showcase one way of the representation making it the preferred reading or openly expressing it showing and highlighting multiple possible meanings.

Within Lupin we see the main male characters be somewhat dismissed as lesser in their jobs, we first see them working manual labour for a poor wage in a place which barely treats its workers as p[people, only to be followed by an overly aggressive set of thugs who seem capable of only crime and violence, reinforcing numerous negative male stereotypes with a lack of subversion until the end of the episode. Within the scenes of  Assane being assaulted for not repaying debt a clear theme is present in the characters, they have built muscle paired with cheap clothes and tattoos, along with the fact they live in a run down apartment complex built top hold the working class creates a negative representation of men in Lupin, it connotes this aggressive and thug nature of all men within the show, despite Asssane's father being the opposite to this the majority of the male cast at the start is like this. This henceforth leads to a representation of Butler's theory being visible, the idea that gender is a performance is clear here in the repetition of previous stereotypes of the male gender, characters act a certain way because characters before them did the same, further depicting an underclass society of unhealthy tropes for men to be shown as what they should be. 

Lupin Characters                                                                                                             6-2-24

Assane the Gentleman  12:06-18:54

What happens in the scene?

-Assane enters the auction at the Louvre

-Thugs enter museum posing as  cleaners

-Auctioneer talks about history of necklace

-Flashback to Assane's father being eft in the rain but humbly serving the head of the house wth his requests 

-Assane sits and observes the auction, when Juliette enters another flashback occurs of Assane at the pool, in which Juliette is seen to be somewhat demeaning and racist yet kisses Assane

Assane lowers his head almost seeming nervous that she was present

-Thugs fully enter the museum posing a s cleaners and begin task

How is Assane represented?

Assane is represented as respected, confident, successful, respectful and such reflecting this supposed upper class representation, yet he is also seen a san outcast, being one of the only people of a non White appearance and being alone alongside having his invitation singled out. 

Also represented a slower and segregated, like seen in the pool scene. 

Why this scene is effective and significant in episode one?

Shows off a topic of the show, e.g the necklace being an important point to the story and Assane lore,  shows the topics of racism and segregation between class in French society. 

How does this highlight the class differences in French society?

Clothing and the physical disparity highlights a clear difference. 

How is the mise en scene used to portray this?

Clothes and lighting e.g cleaners prison like outfits compared to the auction audience in suits who are also located physically above, makes the rich and poor seem to have clear gap and segregation. 

Camera gracefully circles the necklace juxtaposing the shaky emphasis on the thugs, sows  a clear shift in power and status. 

Gilroy

-Suggests the way in which black cultures blend elements of different African, American, Caribbean and European cultures.  

-Post colonialism suggests ways in which colonial history continues to influence attitudes to ethnicity with assumption of western white supremacy in culture 

-Gilroy draws attention to the continuing role of colonial ideology.  superiority of white western culture across a range of representations. 

-History of colonialism continues to influence attitudes to ethnicity in western society

-African diaspora caused by slave trade has now constructed a transatlantic culture that is  simultaneouslyAfrican, American, Caribbean and British - the 'Black Atlantic' 

-Postcolonial melancholia in Britain 

In Lupin the colonial views of Peligrini and how they are praised for the retaking of items, paired with the racism of the suggestion that the Black Chauffeur and his son are inferior through how they are treated and ordered around, suggesting white western civilisation is superior. 

Gauntlet

-Media have a complex relationship with identities 

-There are many diverse and contradictory messages that individuals can use to think through their identity and how to express themselves 

Baudrillard - Postmodernism 

-Postmodernism is idea that society has moved beyond modernism, in either belief or culture

-Baudrillard argued that postmodern society is organised around the 'simulation', play of images and signs 

-Previous social distinctions implode, differences of gender, class, politics and culture dissolve as individuals construct their own identity 

-Hyperreality, media simulations like Disneyland are more real than the real 

-Images and signs are a key feature of society

-Hyperreal , representations don't represent reality instead representing other representations 

-Simulacra, representation that is not able to tel the difference between reality and representation 

Exam Question

Within Lupin the representations of class and race are both depicted in a negative manner suggesting possible issues within French society whilst pushing them to the forefront of the audiences view. The contextual issue of the class segregation in France and especially Paris is emphasise din the auction scene, we see characters such as Assane garnished in fine suits with little care for whats around them, with their goal of the night to be spending money on an overpriced piece of jewellery that all the proceeds from go to a foundation focused on the supposed art and culture within Paris. This is done in a manner that juxtapose the clothes of the cleaners which look almost like prison rags and has them segregated out of peoples sight, this however is even more emphasised with the way there is a physical setting difference of height in that the characters are split with the higher class being above ground and the lower class being below the surface level of the museum. This represents the clear class divid in Paris society and how there is a vast difference in treatment of those with money and those without, despite being clear these representations are subtle. 

In a contrast the representations of race are at a forefront with obvious racist stereotypes ad judgement present and the contextual issue of racism being broadly on display, We see Juliette make a remark towards Assane almost like he is a separate creature, asking hi is it true what they 'say about blacks? That can't swim.' She uses him for her amusement, this paired with the way her father treat Asssane's father and how Assane feels isolated 

Lupin Race and Class                                                                                                        19-2-24

-Lupin's starting antagonistic force is a set of lower class criminals with rough and heap clothes, representing the underclass within Paris society.

-In a contrast the antagonist in Killing Eve is a stylised, middle class woman who lives a flamboyant life in public and a more toned down life in private with a sociopathic nature for killing. 

-The choice of having Lupin's antagonists be these rough, somewhat built but undefined and tattooed men with short hair and cheap sportswear who live in a run down apartment complex infamous for holding the lower class emulates how the French society would see these people 

French views

- negative views on Asylum seekers and such despite having a high rate of people migrating in

-Laws proposed to impose restrictions on rights of asylum seekers but allowing students or well educated workers to migrate if it benefits the populace 

-If born to immigrants must apply for French nationality

-Far right viewpoint rising

-Neglected high rise flats that serve as what the French view as suburbs, exclude the lower class to run down areas

-45% poverty rate in these areas, 15km away from the Eiffel Tower

-----------------------------------------------

Killing Eve uses an array of different ethnic origins of people, the main actor is a Korean American women playing a presumably British agent whilst she is married to a Polish man, with links to other people of a similar nature. Characters like Villanelle despite being outside of the UK in a majority of scenes are still seen as normal when they enter. This leaves an implication of the UK being accepting to people who are not native and depicts Britain as Multicultural society with equal standing between people who reside here despite their origins. 

Immigration in Lupin is depicted in a more negative light, Assane and his father are prejudiced against from the start just for being black, depicts France in a far more negative light. Suggests France society has a major inequality between its people. 

Class issues in Lupin

• The cleaners having a grey and gritty setting out of the way leaves an idea of prejudice
• Variation of ethnic background amongst cleaners, suggests its. a job given to those who are not native or 'less fortunate'
• Muted lighting 

• Suburban apartment complex, graffiti on run down concrete suggesting the lack of care, control and order in this location 
• Lack of greenery, devoid of life and dull with damaged architecture and rusted metal 
• Hoodie worn to fit in with this social decay area with the hood up as if to not stand out
• Tilt pan emphasises height of the high-rise
• Flat is small with junk around and sportswear on show 
• Low angle drone shots and shots off of balcony emphasise the size of these suburban lower class regions

• The presentation of the lower class being incompetent is clear in how the criminals struggle to preform tasks like knocking something out, or how he taps buttons in hope something happens rather 
• Lack of knowledge and tact seen

Racism in Lupin

• The 'like you' said responded to by hesitation leaves a clear implication of racial profiling and  expectation within France 
• built in prejudice within the system 

Barthes -semiology 

-Tattoos used connote a lower class set of people with links to gangs or aggressiveness 

-Sportswear has connotations to gangs or lower class, contrasts with the suits and fancy dresses worn by the action attenders

-Concrete buildings covered with Graffiti link to social decay 

 

Bell Hooks - Feminist theory

-Characters such as Assane's ex or Juliette Peligini are somewhat sexualised or not seen outside of their male backing

 

Levi strauss

-Foreign and native binary opposition 

20-2-24

Representation of gender - Lupin

Van Zoonen 

-Objectification of women in media 

-Ideas of gender roles being constructed in our performance of the roles 

-Gender is what we do not who we are

-Historical and cultural context impacts gender roles 

-patriarchy in terms of production and control of TV 

Gauntlett 

-identity, resonation from the  audience within characters through their representations

-changing of identity representation is contradictory and complex

-Gender and sexuality are not as fixed as they once were 

-online media allows expression and exploration of identity 

In Lupin the representations of gender are diverse between masculinity and femininity. The masculine gender roles range from the fine gentlemen etiquette to the overly aggressive but powerful ideas seen, with both the sides of severe incompetence and sheer genius and determination, seen in the thugs and Assane or the head of the Peligrini's.

The female representation has a range with the independence of Assane's ex who denies his money before he forces her to take it suggesting she can support herself and a child, a less stereotypical representation, or the objectification of Juliette in both the necklace and pool scene where she is seen as an object of Assane's sexual desire for him to be rewarded with after completing a task, a form of objectification commonly found in media. 

-Lack of women in the show, character like the head cleaner are disrespected and get no development outside of their job title 

Hall

-Stereotypes imply a fixed meaning by those in power

-Meaning is created by whats present and absent

-Stereotypes should be pulled apart to represent the ideology behind them 

Social Issues

-White patriarchal society, seen in how there is racial inequality and white power from the Peligrini's and the people question Assane as well as having an underrepresentation of women 

-Racial issues 

Killing Eve 

- Gender equality and multiculturalism seen within the show in the representation of women and culture in the show, leading female characters

Question

Within Lupin and Killing Eve societal issues that reflect the nature of their setting and the cultural context are present, including those of race, gender and a patriarchal society, these are displayed through the protagonists actions. Within Lupin we see the societal issues of French views on women in power and even outside of power where they are displayed as unconfident, inferior and objectified for the male gaze. Within the episode we see a young Assane have Juliette used as an object of desire in which he fulfils a task to be rewarded with her, the provocative nature of her speech paired with the swimsuit and cigarettes alongside the act of offering to treat him sensually if he succeeds creates an objectification of the female gender. The fact Assane plays into this, even though he is young, reflects a societal issue of gender inequality, she is seen as an extension of her family and Assane rather than her own person and has no development outside of Assane, with a similar case of how Assane is the controlling one in his relations to his ex wife, with her having the same issue of lacking any development outside of her connection to him. This reflects the views of Van Zoonen who viewed gender roles as those created by performance and in this instance the gender is that of male superiority with a clear objectification of women in the media for any in the audience who wish to gaze upon it, deriving itself of any substance in terms of female characters and leaving and enigmatic protagonist who enforces these societal issues, being presented as smarter and better than all the women around him even when it is seemingly unnecessary. The consistent use of long and medium long shots within the pool scene of Juliette which emphasise her physique and the sensual nature of her outfit when paired to with the close ups and mid shots of Assane in the same scene which emphasises his actions rather than looks displays the contrast between the representation of gender. The male dominance seen in these scenes is a reflection of modern day Paris society which is heavily dominated by the patriarchy with women despite being equal in words still being seen as lesser by a major level of the public, a known issue within the society of Paris and France.   

Within Killing Eve the protagonist of Eve reflects the societal issues of gender inequality in a different way that leads to different conclusions about the problem, perhaps in part to the fact they both represent two separate cultural backgrounds. Despite the ideas of gender equality being thrown around within British society and on paper the equality is there, peoples views and attitudes have not fully shifted to view one another as equivalent beings. In a stark contrast to Lupin's female representation, Eve is represented as a smart and developed character who leads her husband around with an under appreciated intelligence and a substantially underestimated ability to deduct information on cases by her superiors with them criticising her for even trying. This is seen in scenes such as those of her and Bill, we see the two argue and she is seemingly ignored for her views as he has a personal belief against it whist being somewhat lazy, with Frank posing a similar thin gat the end of the show in which he discredits her achievement whilst blaming her for an incident that she was not able to fully deal with under the circumstances handed to her by her superiors. A further representation of Van Zoonen lies within Eve as she is a representation of how gender role is created from performance, she has a more masculine role if going by logic of tradition yet her character is feminine, reflecting the idea that gender is not who but what in current society. This and Lupin's representation of gender equality both lead to the conclusion on the way women in society are seen as inferior still in separate cultures, whether they lack development or not and despite their capabilities  they still have someone above them in the shows, this is reflected by how both Eve and Lupin are fairly smart individuals yet one is looked down upon for their gender whilst the other is looked down upon for a variety of separate factors.  

Within both shows the main characters both embody a separate end of the spectrum in terms of race issues in society. Within Lupin Assane is looked down upon for the colour of his skin, people question him and make comments within the auction such as 'man like you,' or when he gets stopped but no one else does when he enters the auction. This is a reflection of French views on immigration and foreigners with the in built racism amongst their society an dhow they treat those not native to their land. This also embodies a binary opposition as suggested by Strauss of native against foreign.  The view of distrust to those who are unlike themselves in race is a clear representative force of Lupin's messaging, people lack respect or belief in Assane and distrust him despite him being the mastermind behind the whole operation, an ignorance seen in the characters of the antagonistic force that leads to heir downfall and loss. Within this that opposition of native versus foreign is clear, an idea that every good has its bad is clear despite neither being worse than the other, causing a connotation of French society and the systematic racism to be made clear to the audience. The close ups on Assane's face paired with the dialogue of "man like what" with the confused expression and hesitant response from the auctioneer reflects this message, displaying Assane is used to this but still does not allow it for it is wrong in nature to profile someones personality by their ethnicity. 

Lupin - Representation Gender                                                                                         26-2-24

Scene (18:54 - 21:11) 

-Gang is represented as incompetent and stupid, being incapable of basic tasks after having a plan gifted to them

-Camera work is handheld and shaky with wide shots representing a street vibe style due to the rough and incompetent nature of the aggressors 

-Upper class are represented with a stylistic fancy who are oblivious to the issues surrounding them, throwing money at a piece of jewellery whilst others struggle to make day to day causing the heist happening below 

-Camera is rough in scenes with the thugs being more handheld and fast while we the auction contains mid wid shots of the characters viewing the auction, desaturated auction when showing the thugs and a brighter and warmer tone for the upper class, mirroring the 2 worlds 

-Birdseye view of thugs in cleaning room

-Lack of variation in nationality outside of Assane, representative of French inner working and the dominance of then white race in the upper class regions of Paris, the below levels with the other cleaners are more multicultural

Scene (21:11 - 25:14)

-Mr Pellegrini is represented as being arrogant and dominant, he cares only for his money and the things which further benefit him, aggressive and emotional

-Mrs Pellegrini is seen as submissive to her husband but somewhat caring when left alone to others, she offers Babakar a book and reassures him for not being at fault 

-Babakar is represented as a good person who is lower than those around him due to situation, the foreign nature he holds put him at a disadvantage from systematic racism but he is seemingly great for this job and the money it brings, alongside the book from Mrs Pellegrini 

-Gang are represented as foolish in comparison to Assane, they don't fit with the upper classes or the fancy dress of an auction, unlike Assane who blends in for the most part, adapting to his environment

Levi-Strauss - structuralism 

• Hidden rules that govern a structure 
• Binary opposition - structure was ruled b opposing terms, e.g hot and cold or male and female 

-Lupin uses Rich/poor insiders/outsiders/ power/cunning exploitation/caring native/foreign

-We see rich and poor represented in the juxtaposing actions of the thugs and the auctioneers/Assane, how the incompetence is displayed with a rough attitude in comparison to the smooth operating of Assane

Idea of the rich being deserving of success and the poor are deserving of their failure - despite the clear absurdity of this  

-Power/cunning is seen in how the rich hold the power yet Assane holds the power behind the scenes, plotting a plan and accounting for every mishap to achieve his goal 

-The representation of the Police as powerful and being onto Assane at the end displays the fact the producers do not condone the element of crime Assane does, despite his cunning nature 

Scene (25:14 - 30:10)

-Fast paced back to back mid wide shots highlighting the 2 characters followed by a close up on Assane highlighting his facial expressions of distrust and discontent with French views 

-Editing cuts between him and his father, causing a flashback that expositing the backstory and how he links to the necklace

White gloves link to the wealth 

Semiology - Barthes 

-Study of signs, consist of signifier words 

-Denotations signify connotations 

-Bulldog may activate myth of Britishness as an example

Applies to Lupin 

• Denotation of gloves to show the precious nature of the item and the choice of white gloves links tot the wealth and expensive aspect
• The choice of having a character question Assane in saying he is not the sort of person he expected connotes a clear systematic racism in France 
• The constant violence used by the lower class thugs has implications of this cave man like brain of hit thing harder to fix problems linking to French views of lower class people  

Scene (30:00 - 31:59) 

Establishing shot of the prison, clear link to the false crime and how he is being persecuted, prison looks more realistic than traditional media prison, close up on Babakar in prison hung displays the cruelty of the situation

Prison is represented as somewhat isolated and poorly managed but not rough as usually expected, probably more of a holding place rather than a place you would serve life 

French justice is represented as sloppy, no care over those they hold captive

Sound is loud, lack of music outside ambience, extends realism 

Assane mocks Mrs Pellegrini for her attitude as she is the cause, he apologises and thanks her whilst telling her to go to hell 

Hall - audience theory 

Encoding/decoding

• Dominant reading - accepts preferred meaning and idealogical meaning
• Negotiated reading - some decoded messages are accepted but the audience disagrees with parts of it, changes it to fit their experience and values 
• Oppositional reading -  both the preferred meaning and any idealogical assumptions encoded in the product are rejected

Lupin application

• Dominant reading - French has a poor justice system which is lacklustre in quality
• Oppositional reading - French has a perfect justice system with little to no racism and it is built up for TV expectation 

Gerbner - cultivation 

-Gerbner suggests that the media can influence the audience over. along period 

-Gerbner found people who watched a lot of TV were likely to have a more negative view of the world (mean world syndrome)  than people who did not watch a lot of TV 

-People who watched a lot of TV have more similar views 

-Negative view of Paris society with the justice system, racism and systematic racism shared amongst audience and producers

Scene (31:59 - 34:45) 

Genres of crime drama represented in how we see both the criminals and the success of Assane and his crime with the opposing side being blindsided by the criminals,focus on Assane being searched and the handcuffs closed up on with the gang being arrested to represent the enforcement of law

Elements of crime range from violence of the bulky criminal to the intelligence of Assane who is underestimated, he is seen as a gentleman

-Casual  outfit on the policeman, no uniform but rather a leather jacket and plain t-shirt 

Police Procedural are shown in the captain and detective in their inspection of Assane,  the necklace and the foreshadowed link to Arsene

Close ups on the police and the bag of evidence 

The choice of having a wide shot with Assane in focus whilst Arsene Lupin is spoken about whilst the police officer is out of  focus  

Mise en scene is the same as other seems but roughed up like the loose of the suit and the scrape on the pen with the smart outfits warn by the police and security

The camera is often wide shots with multiple characters in 

5-3-24

Neale 

-attention to process of difference with repetition and hybridity with the mixing of genres 

 

-Lupin interweaves different genres into 1 mystery thriller, mixing crime, police thriller, mystery. The overarching genre of heist intertwines with other genres. The heist isn't revealed until the end of episode through editing 

-Genres of crime drama represented in how we see both the criminals and the success of Assane and his crime with the opposing side being blindsided by the criminals, police procedural. seen within the detectives attitudes and nature with the stereotypical crime scene run down of the focus on Assane being searched and the handcuffs closed up on with the gang being arrested to represent the enforcement of law, breaks genre in how police are antagonistic rather than the protagonists 

 

                                                                                    

Scene (34:50 - 36:20)

Social realism - text/character reflects the issues with society 

-Close up on Tv displaying the fate of Babakar, zoom out to show Assane watching the screen in the dark

-Realistic apartment interior, the attitude of father and son is also realistic, the setting is liveable bot not lavish, basic and functional apartment

-Establishing shot of the cityscape of France and its high rise apartment blocks and such, realistic 

The reading of Assane Lupin overlaid onto Assane links to his nature and backstory 

-Arsene Lupin unwrapping, main birthday present that his father got for free, linking to their social class, the gratefulness for the book links to the fact young Assane may of lacked materialistic items 

-Social realism of France is displayed with the in built racism, lack of family outside of direct and a lack of money, displaying a class division. The choice of having these real life based high rise buildings with a lack of possessions outside of daily possessions, displays the gratefulness for things the working class have whilst the materialistic greed of the upper class is seen in the Pellegrini's 

The mise en scene used within the show such as the lavish suits and dresses worn by the Peligrini's or the excessive settings of a pool and office filled to the brim of books in comparison to the empty and unwilling minimalist lifestyle 

Life in the lower end of society is displayed as rough, with crime and minimal material possessions being common 

The escalation of racial divide shown in the scene is displayed through how Babakar is described by his race and nationality with no highlight to his actual characteristics, almost demonising a race, the news report also slanders him in the other dialogue that is stated

Audience theory - Bandura 

-Media influence people directly

-Media can influence directly or indirectly through related platforms such as social media so we can become influenced by the media without being exposed to them

-Media can have direct influence on value and behaviour of audience  as well as an indirect via social networks 

Cultivation theory - Gerbner 

Draws attention to need to investigate longer term effects on individuals who consume LFTVD box sets

-Attitudes effects of violent representations suggest that television programmes create belief to audience that the world is a dangerous palace with neg events

-Supports idea that TV should be regulated to avoid harm 

Scene (36:50 - 41:30)

-Assane is seen to have been living a somewhat lavish life whilst putting on the farce of a working class man, the monologue of Lupin is a dialogue that reflects Assane and his actions 

-The setting, clothing and dialogue reveal Lupin's true self, he lives in a nice apartment, owns nice clothes and has friends in high places

-His juxtaposing cleaner working class persona and the rich actual self who is a cunning mastermind displays the juxtaposition of rich and poor in French society in the way competence is view 

-The unrealistic nature of the heist s seen within the characters having every move being planned out with it gong all to plan, it is over exaggerated for entertainment

The sound being a monologue of Assane reading Lupin is a highlight of the actions he took, using a friend, changing face and more 

11-3-24

Baudrillard 

-Postmodernism  - challenges and establishes order to question ideas of fixed identity

Hyperreality - Idea that representations ar enow more powerful than reality

Hyperreal - representations represent other representations 

Lupin Application

-Intertextual references through Assane and lupin Arsene, hyper real world of France and society with a clear simulacra that disallows the audience identifying reality 

End Scene 

• Irony - the fact the plan was always for the crime to fail of the gang and succeed for Assane
• Homage to Arsene Lupin and the book
• Intertextual - wikipedia, the music 'got the blues,' 'Eminem instrumental,' Paris locations e.g the Louvre 
• Fragmented narrative jumping between flashbacks to show the planning of the crime to it being pulled off
• Self reflexivity 
• Partial what if themes in the idea of a crime genius 
• Loss of reality - very unrealistic crime and plan
• Lack of verisimilitude - lack of truth in how he is able to play the whole system, lack of truth in ability of police to deduce the similarity to Arsene Lupin  

Hyperreal text - features large amount of feature from hyperreal ideas in a creation of a false reality

Viewpoints and Ideologies                                                                                         11-3-24

Equilibrium - Living with father, negative relations with son owing his ex wife money

Disruption - Fathers death

Recognition of Disruption - News story of Necklace being put in Louvre and auction

Attempt to solve - heist 

New Equilibrium - Family relations with son seem to be improving, also gains necklace

Individualism - self reliant, independent

Consumerism - preoccupation of society with acquisition of consumer goods  

Patriarchy - Male leadership in society and gov

Ethnocentrism - belief that your own culture is normal and natural and that other culture is inferior and strange 

End scene 

Conclusion of Assane and his personal narrative. 

Gilroy draws attention to colonialism with roles of colonial ideology. The failure to mourn the loss of an empire, representations support the superiority of white western cultures

The way Assane and immigration is viewed in Lupin represents the us vs them approach and negative views held by the white dominance on people who are different to themselves.

Stereotypes

White patriarchal order in Peligrini family and auctioneer 

Lack of feminist credentials, have some women of foreign ethnicity in cleaning who are manipulated 

Racism is seen as an issue, shown Babakar and Assane both suffer it

Dominance of French culture in the setting

Avoidance of queer or proper feminist representation

Lower class - incompetent, foolish, incapable, rough, aggressive 

Aristocracy/rich - Peligrini, controlling and powerful

Police - capable, intelligent, 1 step behind 

Migrants - lower society, treated worse in harsher and less liked jobs, mistreated and looked down upon 

Family unit - Variety in the closeness and coldness seen, split parent stereotypes 

Racism - almost natural in France, common 

12-3-24

Realism 

• Events - the scenes of family between Assane and his son, the Louvre and its workers who clean being shadowed and the setting of the lower class areas all reflects realistic ideas from France
• Characters - Assane' family with the ex wife and child both feel like traditional split parent
• Ideology - views of racism and patriarch and individualism, reflect Paris society, 
• Narrative - The story behind Assane and his family, the wrongdoings of Paris to those lower class people 

Lupin - Industry theory 

American TV - followed free enterprise model which meant commercial TV became dominated by few networks as Curran and Seaton's model states

-Leads to narrowed creativity with focus on profit

-HBO, 90s subscription based satellite TV led to better quality programming and less ads, paved way for Netflix 

Curran and Seaton

-Political economy approach to the media, argue patterns of ownership and control are the most significant factors in how the media operate

-Media industries follow normal capitalist pattern of increasing concentration of ownership in fewer and fewer hands, leads to narrow opinions and creativity

-Internet does not represent a rupture with past in that it does not offer a level playing field for diverse voices to be heard

-constrained by nationalism and state censorship

Hesmondhalgh

-Stated that in media risk is loss of money, higher production costs = higher risk

-Leads to repetition of models in genres, actors and franchises to sell narrative to the audience 

-Netflix fits this model, uses big hits to pull in audience both new and old, have to create creative work to stand out from mass produced drama 

• Cultural production is owned and controlled by a few conglomerates who vertically integrate across a range of media to reduce risk
• High risk, high production costs 
• Reliance on big hits to cover costs of failure
• Repetition through use of stars, genres, franchises and narratives
• -Internet has not liberated cultural production   

-Lupin produced by Netflix, public traded company that reflects economic context of America of free market capitalism, delivers goods that audience pay for

-Killing Eve was produced by Sid Gentle Films, a part of commercial aspects of the BBC

Economic models

• Public funding 
• Commercial funding by advertisers
• Funding by subscription
• Sales of Programmes and formats

Technological change 

-the increase in broadband speeds, smart TVs and steaming services, meant that network TV has struggled to maintain an audience

-audience to a binging society

-Audience watch alone on phones or tablets reducing idea of family TV viewing historically, product placement and sponsorship has increased as audience are impatient 

Regulation 

-Trad regulation at risk due to globalisation of media industry 

-2017 Netflix aired a show displaying teenage suicide, OFCOM would not allow but were unable to do anything due to Netflix not being based in UK

-age ratings are shown voluntarily on Netflix and Amazon

-Media bill set out by Kings speech gave more power to OFCOM on streaming service regulation 

Livingstone and Hunt

-studied 4 cases of OFCOM works

Regulation designed to promote for greater public interest

 18-3-24

The show runner

• Individual or small team, usually writer or producer who places personal stamp on drama to give it 'authored' quality
• Killing Eve - had diff female writers who already had critical acclaim and recognition of their successes. Phoebe waller-Bridge season 1
• Lupin - George Kay, wrote or co wrote all episodes, collaborated with Francois Uzan, Parisian, who translated international themes into French context   

Lupin - Audience theory 

Jenkins - Fandom and Lupin 

• Textual poachers (fans) who will use the range of diversity and representation to create their own products and culture in fan sites
• e.g, fan sites, fan merch, fan art, fan fiction etc
• Many LFVD elevate to cult status
• Optimistic view of power of audience underestimates conglomerate control  

• Textual poachers - Take elements from media texts to create their own culture, idea of online belonging and community
• convergence culture - media is shared, adapted and consumed constantly on a range of different platforms
• Spreadable media - content that is adapted by audience members for their own purpose and shared with others 
• development of new media and growth of social media accelerated participatory culture that audiences are active and creative rater than passive consumers
• Collaboration online with culture, flow of media and problem solving creates. a collective intelligence 
• Spreadable media rather than viral as spreadable emphasises the active sharing of new media 

 

Killing Eve application

-Fan fiction 

-Displate and Etsy, posters and fanart

-Fan doormats, shirts, cutouts, keyring's and other various merch, wikis

-Etsy

-Killing Eve edits and compilations on youtube

Lupin application

-Fan merch on Etsy

-Subreddit 

-Fan articles

-Little fan fiction 

-There is less fan work for Lupin than killing Eve suggesting a less active fandom

Shirky - end of an audience

• Tech developments have changed relations between producer and audience
• In past media producers created content for audiences, now content can be created by audiences
• Prosumers have different motivations to professional media producers
• Creates a cognitive surplus where potentially large numbers of people give time and expertise to make create something
• can no longer be seen as a single mass of people, audiences engage in diff ways with media across diff platforms, some adapting or creating media products themselves

• Old media centralised producers, atomised consumers
• New media every consumer is now a producer, new media producers publish then filter rather than the other way round like in old media
• amateur producers have different motivations to those of professionals, value autonomy, competence, membership, and generosity
• User content creates emotional connection between those who care

• draws attention to how LFTVD can give value to each other via online and fan mediums
• Does not apply to broadcast TV
• Streaming series do not reflect view of online media proposed by Shirky as thy primarily operate like the old media
• underestimates power of conglomerates in shaping and controlling what media is produced 

 

Examples

Alt endings and such

Alt scenes 

Exam Practice                                                                                                                             19-3-24

2 questions

- A longer comparative 30 mark question that requires application of academic concepts to the 2 case studies 

-Shorter 10 mark question that requires connection to case studies to a particular theory studied, told the theory 

Question 3 - synoptic

-Judgement needs to be made

-Context influence needs to be explored, historical, political, economic, social, cultural

-Analysis of texts + applied theory

-Referral to all the theoretical framework, media language, audience, representation, industry 

Question

Gilroy -race/ethnicity

Van Zoonen, Butler - gender

Within TV drama's social groups vary in their representations with a partial set of similarities that reflect the culture of the time but have a majority of differing representation based off of the social, economic and historical context that were present at the time and location of the LFTVD's production. This can be seen in the varying way social groups are represented within the shows of Killing Eve and Lupin which both represent some social groups differently and others in a similar manner. 

Lupin represents the social groups of varying ethnicity in a negative light that highlights the issues present in French society that concern the racial attributes of its leaders whilst also displaying the power and equality of these minority ethnic groups in comparison to the dominance of the white French person. The character of Assane stands out in the show alongside his father Babakar as being an extreme minority who are treated poorly by their peers, as seen in the first episode when Babakar goes to help Mrs Peligrini and is met with fear and distaste, representing this ethnic group as disliked, looked down upon and unwanted on French soil. This is further seen with interactions of Assane such as the pool scene in which Juliette asks 'is it true what they say about them,' with them being a reference to Black people and the truth being a reference to the racial stereotype that they are incapable of swimming o floating in water, followed by other scenes of societal prejudice which is reflected in the auctioneer telling Assane that 'someone like you' is unusual as a buyer. The shots in these scenes often include close ups on the characters faces as they make a confused or distasteful expression towards the racial comments, often followed by a medium wide shot that displays both characters as equal reflecting the fact he racial discrimination is only on one side. These scenes and the characters responses of expectedness creates a representation of the dominance of the whit ethnicity in Paris society and Lupin uses these representations to paint the social and political contexts of the French's push against immigration and the further right leadership alongside just a natural societal prejudice to those who they deem as unnatural. This in turn reflects areas of the theory proposed by Gilroy, the post colonial idea of the superiority of white western culture and the inferiority of people of other ethnicity, as seen so clearly in how Assane and the Peligrini's contrast each other to as substantial amount. 

The representations of social groups such as ethnicity in Lupin however, heavily differ to those found in Killing Eve, a display of how TV dramas will represent social groups in drastically different ways depending on their context and audience. Killing Eve uses constant multiculturalism within its show, we see characters from Poland, e.g Eve's husband, Eve herself who is played by an asian women, Sandra Oh, and the other characters of a variety of ethnicity. The characters see this a normal and the only thing made to seem like a villain from its nation is Russia which reflects the genre and therefore links to the target audience, the fact the show was produced for America as well also links to this as it displays Britain in a positive light whilst helping to continue with their views of Russia being bad after the cold war. This can be seen in the fact the Mi5 has a specific desk to deal with Russia and the fact it is expected of them in the show but outside of this the representation of ethnicity is positive with diversity being treated as natural and it is never pointed out to reflect the cultural context of how Britain is multicultural. 

25-3-24

Q4 - 10 mark question 

e.g

Barthes:

-Study of signs and semiology

-signs denote a literal meaning

-denotations create connotations to make an implied meaning 

-connotations create myths in society and ideological meaning that are natural 

Hall

-stereotyping is used to try and fix meaning of a representation to suggest there is only one true meaning

-meaning is created via representation in whats present and not present 

-stereotypes should be identified and pulled apart to see what they represent about an ideology 

-Limited by the fact it presumes all stereotypes used are used for a meaning, or that certain things are a stereotype when they may not be 

P1 - Hall summary,

P2 - stereotypes are recognisable and visible allowing them to easily be identified to be pulled apart and analysed

P3 - meaning created through whats there and not there, e.g the stereotypes seen of men and women in France in Lupin

P4 - ideology can be seen

P5 - requires active audience

P6 - conclusion

Question

Hall's theory on representation is effective in understanding and analysing the messages, connotations and meaning behind a show and the cast of characters within. The theory proposes that within media texts stereotyping is used in the formation of both what is present and absent in the representations within the product. Stereotyping can be dissected and analysed in order to determine a meaning and understanding of the ideology behind its existence, as well as denying the fixed viewpoint of those in power. 

In a LFTVD like killing Eve the representations of stereotypes are clear and from this are easily dissectible allowing the intentions and ideology of the team behind the show to be clear. The evidential patriarchy as seen in characters like Frank is a stereotype that is portrayed to reflect the genre and real world society but is also shot down by the stereotypes that are lacking in characters like Eve and Villanelle who are independent and strong women, when cut back and looked at deeply the meaning behind these stereotypes allows an audience to recognise the intent of the all female writing team and henceforth creates a meaning through this representation. This henceforth links to Hall in how the representation of the female and male characters is indicative of the ideologies of the all female writing team, allowing the easily recognisable stereotypes to be analysed for audience understanding of the meanings intended to be created. 

Hall can be further applied in how the meaning may be created by what is not present, the representation of women in Lupin is poor outside of limited objectification and powerlessness and henceforth the subsequent lack of any strong female characters creates its own meaning and stereotypes reflecting that of French society. This is a great aspect of Hall as it allows meaning to be analysed whilst accounting for the fact that sometimes the absence of something, e.g women, is evident of a deeper meaning, e.g the Patriarchal society of Paris and the issues with France and gender inequality. 

Hall is further effective in looking at LFTVD in the way it accounts for and recognises the fact that media companies and powerful people may often try to push one solid meaning onto a stereotype in both negative and positive ways for their own benefit. This idea of a fixed representation and true meaning is denied by Hall but it is still recognised to exist, and in a show such as Killing Eve with a character like Villanelle being represented as strong, self indulgent but also feminine and traditional leads to multiple meanings being formed, denying this idea of a fixed meaning and allowing all the stereotypes used to be analysed and reflect the intentions of the creators.

Halls's theory is however limited by factors such as the requirement for an active audience, without an audience who wishes to break down and analyse the stereotypes of a LFTVD and its representation of characters Hall is made redundant and cannot be applied to passive viewing. Hall also cannot account for the various different representations seen for certain characters, many characters in LFTVD change throughout the series leading to a variety of opposing representation that may not even be intentional, linking to another flaw of Hall which is the presumption that every action b y a character or object in a show is an intentional move to impart a stereotype for further meaning. 

Overall Hall has good application to LFTVD but lacks the sufficient depth and passiveness to be easily applied to a large scale show which is often the case of LFTVD. The theory has good elements but when applied there is better options as it is too limited i nits assumptions about both and audience and the creator. 

25/3- Excellent analysis here, great use of theory and examples that show each element of the theory. In your first analysis paragraph just tie the end back into what Hall said, you have done this in all your other paragraphs.

 

Media Language theory                                                                                                  26-3-24

• Semiotics - Barthes
• Narratology - Todorov
• Genre theory - Neale
• Structuralism - Levi Strauss
• Postmodernism - Baudrillard 

 

15-4-24

 

   Question 3 - exam practice                                                                                                    23-4-24

• Make judgement
• explore all context
• analysis of theory on texts
• all of theoretical framework

Plan:

1. Context of production + consumption for KE and LP
2. Link to contextual points and theory (if possible)
3. conventions in KE compare to conventions in LP
4. link to contextual and theory
5. viewpoints + ideologies in KE compared to LP
6. link to contextual points + theory
7. conclusion with a judgement 

Context of production + consumption:

KE: produced by an all women team for BBC America, around time of me too movement and empowerment of women, uses star vehicle of Sandra Oh (Hesmonghald, ensured profit and minimised risk through star vehicle)

Hybrid of genres through recognisable spy thriller, mystery, female leads (Neale)

-Context of Russian spies being killed on UK land

Primarily American audience

LP: Produced for Netflix as a French show written by a British man, translated to French to fit language and culture, releasing in Covid, risk with non english language

Migration policies and class divides alongside increase in far right politics in France

Gilroy - superiority idea of white western culture, colonial ideology links to the racism seen within the show, criminalisation of immigrants with and us and them mentality 

Audience stuck inside, would consume more foreign media as nothing better to do and expanded horizons

Dominant conventions followed:

KE: Russia being the bad, Patriarchal society in business, use of MI5,  other country is the evil (not England/ main country), assassins 

(context of cold war and fear of other countries, Russia poisonings)

Hall, Baudrillard, 

LP: Major level heist, violence, criminal viewpoint, lower class thugs with aggression and lack of intelligence, montage editing, flashbacks to show the reality, underdog hero, racism of upper class, failure of the lower class , dominance of men

Gilroy

Viewpoints and ideologies explored:

KE: 

LP:

 

 

 

29-4-24

Exam Q

The representations of social, cultural and historical contexts vary depending on the production, in part due to the country it is produced in but also the time and the actual team behind it. Both the production context and the context of the audience of the release schedule influence how different countries aim shows at their target audience. An audience from one region of the world will interpret parts of a show in a differing manner to another, this is visible when viewing killing Eve and Lupin. 

The contextual history behind killing Eve and its production lies in the empowerment of women and the all female production team that has been pushed for in the modern era, pairing this with the 2016 social contexts of the '#metoo' movement which allowed women to speak out allowed the producers to have a consumer based American audience who were looking for a female driven show. the consumer base wanted string and independent women that dismissed the ideas proposed by those like Van Zoonen, in which it is suggested women exist in media for the focus of the male gaze and to be objectified. This  means the primarily American audience due to the show being produced for America could see a modern and somewhat realistic take on gender, however audiences outside of the US and other western countries may view these cultural and social representations as 'woke' or too westernised due to their own countries stance o n gender and the independence of women, with some viewer bases being more traditionally right ring unlike the push for acceptance as seen in the dominant western media. 

In a similar manner to killing Eve we see Lupin which displays the different cross country differences in the crafting of representations of the social and cultural contexts. The Netflix show of Lupin left its target audience of primarily French Netflix audience due to the audience historical context of lockdown, the years of lupin's release coincided with the covid pandemic, causing the majority of the world to be inside with excess free time and a tendency to try new foreign shows due to consuming the majority of western produce. The show being produced for French audiences and localised from a British story paints a very different set of representations when compared to killing Eve, displaying the clear variation and separation of representations of contextual details due to the difference of country production. These include but are not exclusive to the way Lupin represents women in a much more traditional light in being the extension of a man, or how the multiculturalism that can be seen in killing Eve is lost in lupin as it comments on the real issue of Paris and its racist prejudice. A french audience would interpret these representations as much more normal than the large western audience amassed by the show, despite it being a cultural reflection of French contexts the American and British Etic is easily impose upon the show, displaying clear reason for the audiences to act so differently due to the way the show is produced and how it was consumed. 

In a LFTVD the contexts behind the show often reflect he representation to a variation  of realism. In LFTVD set in a current time which reflects the era of production often leads the contexts to have influence in order to create a sense of realism. Within Killing Eve we see a reflection of the American belief of Russia being the bad, in a sense relinquishing itself to be subject to the idea of Binary opposition as proposed by Strauss in which where there is good there is bad and in this case where there is the west there will be Russia. Despite being set in the UK KE was made for America, leading it to reflect their value and the social context of hatred towards Russia due to past conflicts such as the cold war and the constant tension between the two countries. This also reflects the stereotypes held at the time as seen suggested by Hall, in how the presence of a Russian Assassin in Villanelle promotes the preconceived idea of Russia always being the 'big bad,' and the lack of any other antagonistic force in the west only supports this supposed social and cultural belief of superiority. This would of course please the target audience however, a the views are designed to reflect theirs. In another manner LP uses a constant representation of the events of cultural prejudice and historical issues of immigration policy and the ever growing right wing agenda. The fact Lupin presented itself as a piece commenting on how racist France was as seen in scenes like 'is it true what they say, that people like you can't swim' or Mrs Pelligrini being scared of Babakar purely due to his race. This creates a realistic depiction of the state France was in during production and displays the clear western superiority that is a held view of many people as suggested by Gilroy and the effects of a postcolonial society, becoming a creation influenced by realism and displayed to an audience who may need a wakeup call about their countries issues. 

The audience response to LFTVD is often a varying level of intense fandom as proposed by Jenkin's or a more relaxed and passive view, this can be due to the social, cultural and historical representations and how it resonates with an audience. We see killing Eve having a very active fandom as proposed by Jenkins, with fans creating their own endings because they resonated with.the social representation of women enough to enjoy the show but felt discontented with the end of the show, leading them to create their own endings that they share online. This displays the shows capability of making an active audience which is a contrast to lupin which has a rather passive audience who are not very active, most likely in part the fact that the show is a culturally French meaning it is not applicable to a lot of it audience. And in further looking it can be seen as the most active its audience may be is in negotiating the reading of the text and what it is trying to say and whether it is actually a commentary on racism and inequality that disguises itself as a heist show, or if it is just a realistic representation of French society.

Overall it is clear in LFTVD and clearly depict-able in KE and LP that the representation if its cultural, historical and social context due to country of production can lead to a variation of audience responses due to the foreign difference. The audience responds in both positive an negative ways that can reflect the context of production and mirror the realism of a show. 

Exam DIRT

 

Q3

Within Killing Eve the representation of Eve as a woman who is a MI5 agent is heavily influenced by the historical contexts of gender  representation within the spy thriller genre. Eve is depicted as being a strong and independent, embodying traditionally masculine stereotypes in order to subvert the stereotypical depiction of women, this is seen in her dominance in her relationship, being the main bread winner and being borderline sociopathic within her nature of talking about murdering her significant other and the infatuation with the assassinations. This subverts the usual femininity and the typical representation of fear and submission, defying the historical context of women in espionage rolls being minor characters who struggle to exist without a strong male counterpart. In application we see how Neale can explain this further, Neale's theory suggested the view that genres within fiction cause a viewers interest via the repetition, hybridity or changing of the tropes. This is reflected in Killing Eve as we see the genre of spy thriller being changed to fit a modern audiences standard and defy the historical nature of the tropes of male dominance, further providing a historical influence via how the genres are altered by maintaining Eve as an independent character who defies societal norm within her representation. This in turn displays clear genre hybridity that has been effected due to the historical contexts. 

Q4

P1 - intro to Hall reception theory

P2 - Element 1 of theory on KE and LP

p3 - Element 2 of theory on KE and LP

P4 - Element 3 of theory on LP and KE 

p5 - Overall evaluation on the pros and cons of the theory on LFTVD