TV Industry - The Big Bang Theory - Audience - 7.5

The Big Bang Theory - Audience

Past exam question:

B4. ‘Most media texts target a range of different audiences.’ How true is this for your chosen texts? [30]

Plan your essay - 15 mins.Take 45 mins to answer this question. Use only TBBT. Use the Internet and your previous notes. Write up on your own blog.

Consider: 

Targeting (language of persuasion, mode of address)

Positioning ( Positive/negative representation and ideology)

Debates (issues the text deals with)

Responses (Read this for revision)

TBBT; Some audience reviews:

The Big Bang Theory is a comedy series about four young scientists who know all about the world of physics, and one girl, who gives the physics world a real spin. Leonard Hofstadter is a smart guy who tries his best to complete his research and become famous for his work while also attempting to be the most socially-interacting guy in their friend group. Sheldon Cooper is one of the world’s smartest men with an intellectual capacity through the roof and a language with scientific words normal people only have one comment to (“What?”). Though it’s never been said by himself, all signs throughout the show point to him having the Asperger Syndrome, making him the smartest, but also least social, group member. Howard Wolowitz is an engineer with his mind partially on science, but mostly on women. He always tries his best to impress a girl and get his share of sexual intercourses, but he always manages to screw up somehow, probably with his bad knowledge of treating women in a bad matter. Rajesh Koothrappali is an Indian scientist performing experiments on black holes, outer space, life on other planets and not to mention string theory. Raj is mostly known for his Selective Mutism, in other words, his fear of speaking to women, making social interaction difficult for him. Finally, there’s Penny. Penny is the gorgeous girl next-door to Leonard and Sheldon’s apartment, and though she does not have any knowledge in physics or science, she makes success by being a funny character frequently having hilarious comments and on- and off-going relationships. All together, this unit of comedians make the show’s half-hour episodes pure enjoyment and whether you like physics, women or neither, this show is surely going to get you laughing!

Funniest I've seen for a while
I decided to give this a shot for two reasons - it is created by the team that do 'Two and a Half Men', which I enjoy, and it had two geeks as its central characters (as a bit of a geek myself I do tend to like shows about geeks...)

I love this show!Finally a humorous show with some intelligence. The cast is hilarious and always makes me laugh. Howard and Leonard are my favorites although Sheldon, Penny, and Rajesh are perfect. I've not seen an episode yet that has not made me laugh.

Maths with pictures degree?
Math-with-pictures, physics, fans might have a special appreciation of some visually nuanced humor attempts.

Characters:

Howard

Raj

 

Penny

Sheldon

Leonard

Task 1:

Explore the different ways in which audiences respond to your chosen text.

Consider:

Encoding/Decoding

Reception Theory. (Prefered, oppositional, negotiated reading. Stuart Hall)

Uses and Gratification theory. Blulmer and Katz

Audience theory powerpoint 

Task 2:

Starting at the homepage for each case study, explore the interactive content and activities available to fans. Assess the interactivity of each text using the following questions:

• How does the interactive content gratify the audience needs? (Use the Uses and Gratifications categories as a starting point but you can adapt them or create your own as well).
• Who are the target audiences for the interactive content.
• What is the relationship between the interactive content and the programme?
• What can fans of the programme do?
  

       Task 3:

       How does TBBT deal with the issue of a) Aspergers Syndrome b) Selective Mutism?

 Task 4: 
       TBBT deals with the issue of geeks and their role or acceptance in society.
       Write about what the word geek means, what are the positive and negative aspects of representation           of  geeks within BTTB. Give examples. Use the episode we have looked at.

Nerd/Geek Research - Media Magazine (Sept 2011)

'In Defence of Media 2.0 or How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love Being a Geek.'
Nick Potamitis reflects on his own experiences as a producer, and calls upon Media students everywhere to embrace their inner geek. He mentions some of the activities he enjoys which can be classed a nerdy, and these include comic designing and Warhammer. 

CELEBRITY GEEKS

Guardian Newspaper article by Alice Bell (Oct 2010

'Who's the Geek?'
Article on what the word 'geek' actually means, with famous people revealing their geeky secrets. The article is inspired by a date with a man of which the author attended, and how he expressed that his geeky secret was 'too embarrassing' to share. He enjoyed Warhammer, which involves taking small, plastic models of orcs and painting them. Alice Bell didn't arrange to see the man again, but revealed that it was because he was ashamed of his geeky interest and not because of what the activity actually involved. The article contains several quotes from several celebrities on the topic of the geek and what it actually is.

•  'Words like Nerd and Geek have been reclaimed in recent years. It used to be an insult, now it just means you're into your stuff. That you're proud of what you love, it's about being enthusiastic. It's a liberation.' Simon Pegg
• 'A geek is being able to be serially obsessed with things. I'm a geek and proud - I used to spot buses.' - Professor Brian Cox
• 'Geek used to mean people who collected Star Wars figures, but now it means anyone who'sgot an interesting slant to them.' - Jonathon Ross
• Geekery is being passionate about something, without caring how it might look to other people or social norms.' - Sydney Padua

Leonard and Penny's relationship

Positive Representation: This is an image taken from ‘The Big Bang Theory’, and it shows how nerds can indeed excel socially and obtain girlfriends. The general conception of nerds is that they are not good socially, especially around females, but the character Leonard from the hit comedy has no such problems. Leonard wears superhero shirts, wears glasses and possesses a comb over haircut, but he still manages to attract a girl who is deemed to be extremely attractive by himself and other people. It shows that people can look like nerds or/and like nerdy things such as computer games and comic books and still excel socially. 

Negative Representation: This is another image from ‘The Big Bang Theory’, and Leonard and Sheldon have just been bullied through having their trouser taken. Nerds are known to lack physicality and be the victims of bullying, and this picture is evidence of that. Obviously this is not always the case, but the idea is represented in this picture. The characters are both wearing typically nerdy clothing. Sheldon is wearing one of his many superhero shirts, has unfashionable shoes and is wearing his socks half way up his shins.

Who is the target audience for the production? (age, race, gender, social class)

Why will the production appeal to this target audience?

What uses and gratifications will the target audience get from the production?

What effect might the production have on audiences….

Here are my notes on Uses & Gratifications Theory – Two-Step Flow Theory These seem to me to be particularly relevant to the way in which your texts might be consumed by audiences.

Here’s a very good page on the Two-Step Flow Theory.

You should also really know about Reception Theory, polysemy, preferred readings etc. Here are some notes on this.

You should also be aware of the writings of Laura Mulvey. I have got a useful page oflinks on Mulvey.