essay

3* ‘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. Within longform TV drama social, cultural and historical events are represented differently, depending on the country of origins and the nature of the depicted events. For example, Deutschland 83 portrays the Cold War, which lasted from 1945-1990 and the majority of generation x and baby boomer generations in Germany have personally experienced. Because of this Anna and Jork Winger collaborated with multiple experts to create verisimilitude within the drama. Despite this, the drama did not initially become successful in Germany, as audiences felt the historical events shown in the drama were too personal and recent, as a lot of people wanted to leave that part of German history in the past. On the other hand, Long form TV drama such as Stranger Things, which was produced and marketed for a very different audience, of people interested in more fantasy/sci-fi genre rather than an audience interested in historical television such as the audience of D83. Both shows have a somewhat bildungsroman structure, as protagonists of both shows are young. Both dramas portray younger characters, fighting for an ideology or belief. In D83, Martin is portrayed as a selfless hero, willing to sacrifice himself for his mother. The use of longshots to portray the tense situation he places himself in, such as the longshot of him breaking into the commander's office with suspenseful non-diegetic music playing in the background to build tension, is a direct binary opposite to what life in the east with his mother was like, which is mostly done through mid-shot tracking shot of him in east germany, with the diegetic 99 red balloons playing. This suggests he is intended to be seen as the heroic, for giving up his previous life. Similarly, Stranger Things has a representation of young protagonists battling the government to insure their friend’s safety. This suggests that both Anna and Jork, and the Duffer brothers wanted to present an exciting narrative with the common people vs the powerful. Gerbner suggests that this is cultivation of certain ideas, such as that citizens can stand up to their government, prominent in popular media, such as the Hunger Games and Harry Potter, which all have young protagonists. Historically, these representations are bred from people’s need for heroism and need for hope. Bandura suggests that being exposed to these kinds of characters in the media conditions the audience to also be heroic. Because this is mostly a Western pattern of heroism, the drama was a lot more popular in America and Britain than in Germany, despite the subtitles and being targeted at an older audience. This is possibly because of the way it was marketed on channel 4, as an exciting and thrilling, historical drama. It could be watched every week after the watershed. ST being a Netflix original and being released only on the platform it allowed ST to being advertised to a much larger demographic. This is an advantage for any LFTVD as it stops the show being shown all over the web and allows for more internet traffic to Netflix as the show is a key aspect in advertising Netflix's model. These industry strategies help to explain how the contexts in which LFTVD are produced and consumed. As Livingstone theory shows, Tv is regulated by OFCOM but Netflix is controlled by a company in Holland so they don't abide by UK rules. Parents regulate kids and what they see. Therefore, it makes it a lot harder to regulate. In D83 gender is represented as key aspect of the show. Van Zoonen's theory of feminism is an ideology that shares the idea that gender in LFTVD's are constructed by cultural and historical context. In D83 females are represented as strong and powerful individuals. This is shown through Lenora and Anna who are strong individuals in a very oppressed life in East Germany. Lenora is a prime example as in those days women were looked down upon. However, Lenora subverts these stereotypes and is the main person in charge of Martin's mission. This shows that rather than a man being in charge she is becoming a leader and unfollowing Van Zoonen's theory of women being objectified. But in ST it's different apart from a few anomalies. Women in ST such as Mike's mum are objectified for their bodies and personal traits rather than in D83 when they are seen as powerful individuals. But there are some powerful women in ST but they aren't introduced until the end of the episode. The main female is Eleven who with her special powers really develops into a strong character overtime. However, a character like the government agent disrupts the overall equilibrium of the story when she kills Benny and becomes power hungry. This is how D83 creates a conclusion about realism of social, cultural and historical circumstances In conclusion, it can be argued that audiences react to social and cultural ideologies presented by industries in different ways. Historical facts and figures set out in the two episodes shows how the industries want to connect with the audiences and therefore, leads to them developing an opinion and understanding. But overall i feel that the only way audiences develop new meanings is if their views are challenged and are personal. This is shown in both episodes by the 80's nostalgia which helps in developing realism which therefore, attracts audiences and is the key reason why audiences consider watching these shows, due the ideological forms they are distributing.

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The two groups of teenagers represented are pre-teens and the older teens. At the beginning of the episode, we see that the group of boys are stereotypical nerds, who have a strong interest in the board game ‘Dungeons and Dragons’. This suggests that they may not be the most popular kids at school as they would much rather stay in for long periods of time to play a board game rather than go out. Whilst playing the board game, we see that they are extremely engaged in the activity through the slow panning and extreme close ups of the boy’s facial expressions, completely concentrated in their role within the game. This representation is further shown with the boys’ knowledge of comic books, superheroes and sci-fi which are typically related to characters who are quite geeky, especially in the 80s. However, the show chooses to subvert the nerdy stereotype by portraying the boys as strong, confident and brave. Mike is portrayed as the leader of the group. Dustin is depicted as confident, when faced with bullies, he defends himself. Will’s courage is shown through his ability to keep a clear head when faced with the monster, and incentive to grab the gun when chased. All these aspects of the storyline are typical of modern shows, in which teenagers are often tasked with defeating the antagonists, perhaps as a reflection on current societal issues.