TV Industry - Life On Mars AUDIENCE 15 . 5

 Life On Mars - Audience

In the 70's, The Sweeney wasn't Post Modern.
Until the media producers and therefore the audience have a text to compare with they cannot be part of 'the joke'. You live in the post modern era where the majotity of texts rely on intertextual referencing as a factor of post modernism.

Task 1: Watch this video, Sabotage, by The Beasty Boys.
Consider the reasons for the video's popularity. 

It is a homage to and a parody of 70's crime drama shows such as Hawaii Five-O, The Streets of San Francisco, S.W.A.T., Baretta, and Starsky and Hutch. The opening credits of the video were 'acknowledged' by Danny Boyle in the opening credits of Trainspotting.


 

Targeting

LoM appeals to a wide, mainstream and includes various conventions that enable a passive audience to easily decode the text. However it could be argued that some of its narrative devices provide gratifications for more active audiences.

When we consider audience targeting we know that texts try to appeal to different types of audiences by encoding various gratifications:
• Diversion (escape from everyday problems - emotional release, relaxing, filling time etc.)
• Personal relationships (using the media for emotional and other interactions e.g. substitution soap opera for family life OR using the cinema as a social event).
• Personal identity (constructing their own identity from characters in media texts, and learning behavior and values – useful if trying to fit into a new country/culture)
• Surveillance (information gathering e.g. news, educational programming, weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains etc).

When Life on Mars includes historical and cultural information it is able to appeal to its audience. Use this four point method...

• Identify a point: LoM has encoded historical and cultural information from the 70's where it is set.
• Link: This narrative device is able to satisfy a more active audience with further gratifications than simply entertaining and escaping.
• Justify: This gratification would be identified by Blulmer and Katz's model as surveying and constructing an identity..
• Example: An example in the narrative where an active audience would learn historical, social information is....

Task 1: Watch episode 1 of LoM and note down examples of when an active audience has been targeted through the use of historical information. Consider Active and Passive audiences.

Positioning 

Stuart Hall, in his research [19731, suggested that texts were 'encoded' by the producers of the texts to contain certain meanings related to the social and cultural background of the creator of the text. However, once the reader of the text 'decoded' that text then the meanings intended by the producer may change. Hall then went on to suggest three main perspectives involved in the way in which an audience responds to a particular text. 
This involves how the audience is positioned by the text and its subsequent response,

1. Preferred or dominant readings - this is where the audience interprets the text as closely to the way in which the producer of the text intended. If the social and cultural experience of the reader of the text is close to that of the producer then there is little for the audience to challenge. If you were a police officer then you may well agree with the situations and narratives addressed in LoM because they are within your breadth of experience.
2. Negotiated readings - this is where the audience goes through some sort of negotiation with themselves to allow them to accept the way in which the text is presented. You may agree with some elements of the text and disagree with others. This may mean the way in which you are positioned in a film where you are asked to empathise with a character you do not like, yet you are enjoying the film generally. Gene Hunt could be this type of character. You may need to adjust your viewpoint in order to get the most out of your viewing.
3.  Oppositional or resistant readings - this is where the user of the text finds themselves in conflict with the text itself due to their beliefs or experiences. For example, the narrative in LoM is sometimes centered around violence or sexism. This will encourage a resistant reading in a person whose culture is against this approach:

These perspectives allow you to begin to understand that one text cannot have a static meaning that is communicated in the same way to a mass audience. This concept should also allow us to challenge 'effects' theories that suggest that this is the case including the 'hypodermic needle' response which puts forward the idea that mass audiences are affected in a particular way by the contents of, and messages within, a specific text. What affects the way in which an audience responds to a text?

 Different audiences will respond to the same text differently according to:

• Gender - the relationships between the audience and text according to gender are complex. Men and women will respond to certain media texts in different ways. Certain research has shown that women prefer television programmes like soap operas that deal with narratives concerned with relationships and have strong female characters. Men, on the other hand, apparently prefer more factual programmes related to news and current affairs. However, there are obvious problems with such research as it is generalised and the men / women asked may respond in a way they think their questioner expects. It is commonly accepted that men too watch soap operas particularly those like The Bill. 
• Also easy to say that women would respond to 'lads' mags' like Nuts and Zoo in a disapproving way - but how then to account for the women who send in their photographs to be published in these magazines or on the website?
• Situated culture - this concerns how our 'situation' - our daily lives, routines and relationships - can effect how we respond to media texts; where we are and who we are with has an effect upon our media consumption. Watching a film on TV surrounded by friends or family will be a different viewing experience to one where you view a film alone. This response will change again if you are watching the film at home or at the cinema.

Cultural experience - this is how our culture - our upbringing, experiences and beliefs - affect our response to a text. This also relates to how our understanding and our view of the world are shaped by our media experience. We may have never visited New York but our media consumption of film and television programmes have constructed a view for us. We may never have been in hospital but we feel knowledgeable about a range of medical procedures because our viewing habits include Holby City and ER.

Task 2: How does LoM position its audience?

Debates 

Responses

Postmodernism theories and texts 

12, 6

In what ways is Life on Mars a post modern TV drama?

Watch episode one and note examples of postmodernism.

Pick up the final intertextual references and contrasts between the reality of 1973 and 2006 in this last part of the episode. 
Use the info. below to help you make notes and points. The 1968 film, The Good, The Bad and Ugly and the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz. 
Why are these references there? 
What meanings do they add to "Life On Mars" or it characters?

Essay Task: how do audiences react to this post modern TV drama?

How is reality represented?

1. What is real and what is hyperreal? How does the programme suggest Sam Tyler may be dreaming up the early 1970s while in a coma from his hospital bed? How does the programme show that this may just be an immersive dream?

2. Intertextuality – Can you identify references to other texts/programmes/music from the past: the 1970s buddy cop shows, The Sweeney (UK) and Starsky and Hutch (USA). When you spot or hear an intertextual or cultural reference try to explain how this adds meaning to your text.

3. The historical context - How the programme’ meaning(s) for our time comes out of being set in the past. Consider the issues of Sam Tyler’s identity and his political correctness from 2006 and how this clashes in particular with Gene Hunt. Consider also how Sam's ethics and police methods clash with Gene Hunt's: a scientific approach verses instinct.

Task 2: How does the programme consciously show politically incorrect behaviour and attitudes for audiences to judge them in our time:

Possible exam questions:

How do your three main texts position their audiences?
What do texts offer audiences?
Explore the different ways in which your texts target audiences.

Life On Mars - Not enough viewers

Teachers blame Life On Mars for homophobic bullying

An active audience is one that actively engages with the text.

They do not simply accept every media message.

They question what they see and develop their own interpretation of a media product based on their

life experiences, education, family and cultural influences. Theories such as “Uses

 & Gratification” and “Postmodernist theory” assume that audiences are active.

A passive audience does not actively engage with a media text. A passive audience is one

that does not question the message that the media is sending and simply accepts the

message in the way the media outlet intended. ‘Top down’ theories of media influence tend

to assume that audiences are passive. Theories such as “Bullet/Hypodermic” and “Agenda

Setting Function” assume audiences are passive.

Life on Mars Camerawork and Editing