LFTVD Q3- assessment

Media assessment- LFTVD 

‘Representations of social, cultural and historical events can vary within long form television dramas from different countries.’ Discuss how and why audiences might respond to and interpret these representations differently. [30] 

In your answer you must: 

• Consider the contexts in which LFTVD are produced and consumed 
• Explain how media contexts may have influenced different aspects of realism and audience in the set episodes of the two LFTVD’s you have studied. 
• Make judgements and reach conclusions about the differences in realism of social, cultural and historical circumstances between the two set episodes. 

Audiences do respond to and interpret the representations of social, cultural and historical events differently, because of the ownership structures and the audiences of them. Long form tv dramas have a mass industry with lots of different companies, ranging from global, mass ones like Netflix to niche ones such as DR, with their own different audiences. Netflix has the ability to appeal to an audience in 190 countries with different languages but is originated in USA whereas DR is a more regional and national audience which can appeal to a much smaller, limited audience in their own country. This means that because of their different countries they are available in, their audiences will respond differently to the contexts of their shows. 

The difference between the two audiences, mass and niche, will mean that they will interpret representations differently, because of the contexts and events in the shows Netflix and DR produce- Stranger Things and The Killing. I think Netflix’s audience will be a lot more aware of new genres and will prefer multi-genre series, rather than one fixed genre like The Killing. Stranger Things will have a more gen z audience who enjoy teen shows, as well as adults who will be familiar with the nostalgic feel of the 1980’s. The Killing audience however will prefer the Nordic Noir genre and will usually be culturally aware of Danish politics to understand the show more clearly. Their audience will appeal more to the dark setting and gloomy representation of Denmark, than Stranger Things audience who will appeal to the different genres and representations of all the characters. Hesmondhalgh’ s cultural industries theory fits in with Netflix as a mass company who makes big profits by maximising audiences and minimizing risk. They have done this through creating a big platform with lots of different genres, to appeal to lots of different audiences, such as Stranger Things, in order to maximise their profits and decrease risk. This contrasts to DR, who can only appeal to a niche audience, and therefore they have a low budget to make shows with. 

The social context In the Killing is very important in the sense that it portrays gender representations between the characters and their relationships. For example, the social attitudes shown between the male politicians and their determination for power of Denmark, contrasts with the female protagonist Sarah Lund and her male characteristics that dominate her Femininity. This can be shown through the way DR represented and portrayed these characters but also the media language such as the mise en scene- the male politicians where suits to portray their patriarchal power, and Sarah Lund is seen at the start wearing her boyfriends shirt, but as the narrative develops, she wears a jumper and jeans to highlight her masculine power. This challenges female and male stereotypes and also shows a shift in western power in genders. In addition to this, we can identify Butler’s gender performativity theory with the representations of the characters in the Killing, where both Sarah Lund and Jan Meyer have the same profession, however there is a contrast in the way Lund acts and deals with the investigation, than Meyer, reinforcing that she isn’t a typical female character, and DR highlight this clearly to challenge the repeated stereotypes of women throughout shows. In Stranger Things, the representations are clearly shaped by the nostalgic view of USA in the 1980’s, with the costumes, hair, traditional family values and pressures of the US government. Stranger Things includes pressures of gender relations too, where Steve Harrington is shown to be a popular jock in high school, with Nancy Wheeler being attracted to him in a girly way, however she is shown to be more interested in her studies, forcing feminine stereotypes to appear here. She is contrasted with Joyce Byers, who is fiery and crazy, in order to look for her missing son. Netflix and The Duffer Brothers have purposefully created this representation of the characters, to make the audience feel a particular way about them and think about social context within the 1980’s. 

The Historical events within the two shows are evident as well. The Killing is set and was produced in modern day Copenhagen in Denmark, in the year 2007. This gives more significance to the show, and gives a realistic representation of Denmark, as well as Danish Politics. As it’s a Nordic Noir genre, the setting of Denmark is relevant, due to its rainy, wet and cloudy which is a key feature of Nordic Noir. This would then be familiar with the Danish audience, as they are used to that setting and prefer that, compared to 1980’s USA for example. The rivalry with Sweden and Denmark is highly evident as well, with the police force in Denmark mocking Lund for moving to Sweden in the first episode. In Stranger Things, the historical context is that there were fears in the 1980’s around lots of different conspiracies including Aliens all the way to the government being involved with suspicious activity and random attacks on the innocent. Stranger Things have included this, to make the representation seem more thriller like to appeal to the audience, but to also create awareness of the fears that do still circulate round today. At the start of the first episode, it features the inside of a lab with a doctor running away from something scary, although we don’t know what this scary creature is. This could represent the audience’s feelings towards the fears that go on behind closed doors. The use of the flickering lighting and the spooky non-diegetic sound makes the scene more dramatic and gives it the eerie feel, which appeals to some of its audience. 

The cultural context of the Killing contains plot twists, season long story lines and dark tones which gives emphasis to the story of the Nanna Birk Larsen murder and the effect in political circles alongside the police investigation. The politics are a great understanding to the Danish audience, and they have included the representations of the corrupt political system to appeal to the audience's interests and beliefs. There is also corruption with Sweden as there are racial elements portrayed when Lund is moving. The Danish audience will have to be culturally aware or educated to know what the issues are about and understand the meaning behind it. However, their audience demographic as mostly ABC1, who are well educated and informed. Because of the show’s success, it was played in different countries like UK whose BBC4 audience will most likely be culturally aware of it too. However, the interpretations and representations between the British and Danish audience will be different because the Danish are more fixed to know what actually happens in Denmark, whereas the British audience will have a limited understanding about it. In comparison, Stranger Things cultural events are the racism elements shown, particularly in the first episode. This can be shown when Lucas, who is another race to the rest of his school mates, gets bulled by two white boys, calling him “midnight”. This racial abuse in Stranger Things reflects the 1980’s racial tension in the USA. Even though the Civil rights movement in the USA was during the 60’s, the years after, and still to this day, featured signs of racial abuse to coloured people and treating blacks differently to whites, just because of their race. Therefore, the racism is reflected in the show to make the audience feel sympathetic towards Lucas, and people in real life. 

In conclusion, representations of social, cultural and historical events do vary within long form TV dramas in different countries and their audiences interpret them differently. The representations of these events in both the Killing and Stranger Things are shown and portrayed differently to reflect the audiences beliefs and attitudes, as well as appealing to a mass audience and a niche audience. Some of the issues portrayed like race and gender are still relevant in todays society, so repeating the representations of these throughout different shows can give an idea to different audiences about how its wrong and that it should change. The audiences will be different between the two shows, and will watch different shows. For example, DR has to reflect Denmark as a whole and its society, so it appeals to them as a target audience,  meaning its niche and will be very limited. This is because have different values and beliefs than people in America for example. On the contrary, Netflix can appeal to a global, mass audience in 190 countries because its platform is genre-driven and has a maximum number of different genres that people can choose from, ultimately widening its audience and maximising Netflix’s profits.