Trial Exam Prep
Exam prep yarrrggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Questions
1. Representation with a historical context focus
2. Question 4 - Audience theorist
* (Asterisk) - Every aspect of course is being assessed (CRAIL).
Context
Social
Social context includes gender roles, racial and ethnic inequalities, class. It includes the influence of social anxieties and/or contested social values.
Lupin
Gender is presented as stereotypical; the same stereotypes used are often challenged too. with Claire being shown to be a nurturing mother, yet being economically self sufficient and Hubert being shown to be the man in power. Juliet is shown as successful.
Race is stereotyped, just the same as gender is; the stereotypes are challenged at times. Assane is a black man, yet is powerful and in control. He uses the prejudice from others to be 'invisible'.
Diverse representation of class is shown. The Pellegrini's are rich, and in France's elite.
Assane is shown to be an immigrant, and French-Senegalese. He challenges stereotypes associated with immigration.
Stranger Things
Gender is presented as stereotypical. The men in stranger things are shown to be the ones with power, and going out on adventures, but are also shown in a negative manner. They are showcased to be lazy, into cigarettes and drinking, and are in no rush to help; this can especially be seen in John Hopper. The women are shown to be working, earning money, being a mother and nurturing their children, and often being helpless. Joyce struggles to cope and seemingly goes insane, and Mike's mum struggles to keep her family together.
Race is not heavily stereotyped in Stranger Things, due to the lack of diversity in the show. Out of the four boys, only one is black; Lucas. In the show, he does not face any racism, negativity, and is treated the same as the other three boys.
Diverse representation of class is shown. The Byers family is shown to have a lack of money, with a small house, while the Wheelers family is shown to have a good amount of money, with a big house.
Political
Economical
- Netflix launched in 2007
- 270,000,000 customers in 2024
- CEO Ted Sarandos created 'Netflix Originals' so that Netflix wouldn't have a dependency on other companies to keep the service alive
- Queens Gambit
- Squid Game
- Breaking bad (AMC)
- Emily in Paris
- Orange is the new Black
- Perfect example of Breaking Bad
- Disney+, Amazon Prime, Hulu
- The Netflix algorithm makes them a powerful force
Why Netflix?
- Lupin and Stranger Things are long form TV dramas.
- Streaming services allow creators to make television the length to fit their story. Episodes and seasons can be different length to suit the show's needs.
- Two-part releases allow Netflix to earn more revenue as customers need to subscribe to Netflix for longer periods of time.
Context
Social
Social context includes gender roles, racial and ethnic inequalities, class. It includes the influence of social anxieties and/or contested social values.
Lupin
Gender is presented as stereotypical; the same stereotypes used are often challenged too. with Claire being shown to be a nurturing mother, yet being economically self sufficient and Hubert being shown to be the man in power. Juliet is shown as successful.
Race is stereotyped, just the same as gender is; the stereotypes are challenged at times. Assane is a black man, yet is powerful and in control. He uses the prejudice from others to be 'invisible'.
Diverse representation of class is shown. The Pellegrini's are rich, and in France's elite.
Assane is shown to be an immigrant, and French-Senegalese. He challenges stereotypes associated with immigration.
Stranger Things
Gender is presented as stereotypical. The men in stranger things are shown to be the ones with power, and going out on adventures, but are also shown in a negative manner. They are showcased to be lazy, into cigarettes and drinking, and are in no rush to help; this can especially be seen in John Hopper. The women are shown to be working, earning money, being a mother and nurturing their children, and often being helpless. Joyce struggles to cope and seemingly goes insane, and Mike's mum struggles to keep her family together.
Race is not heavily stereotyped in Stranger Things, due to the lack of diversity in the show. Out of the four boys, only one is black; Lucas. In the show, he does not face any racism, negativity, and is treated the same as the other three boys.
Diverse representation of class is shown. The Byers family is shown to have a lack of money, with a small house, while the Wheelers family is shown to have a good amount of money, with a big house.
Political
Economical
- Netflix launched in 2007
- 270,000,000 customers in 2024
- CEO Ted Sarandos created 'Netflix Originals' so that Netflix wouldn't have a dependency on other companies to keep the service alive
- Queens Gambit
- Squid Game
- Breaking bad (AMC)
- Emily in Paris
- Orange is the new Black
- Perfect example of Breaking Bad
- Disney+, Amazon Prime, Hulu
- The Netflix algorithm makes them a powerful force
Why Netflix?
- Lupin and Stranger Things are long form TV dramas.
- Streaming services allow creators to make television the length to fit their story. Episodes and seasons can be different length to suit the show's needs.
- Two-part releases allow Netflix to earn more revenue as customers need to subscribe to Netflix for longer periods of time.
- Expectation of quality, both in diversity of representations, visual effects and episode budgets. These three things makes something 'Cinematic'.
Historical
- The influence of key historical events on television programmes
- Links with political contexts
- Issues of colonialism
- History of the country in which the show is set / produced
- Use of ML to create historically accurate mise-en-scene
- Hyperreality - representations of representations
- Realism - how realistic is the portrayal, or are some elements deliberately left absent or included?
Applied to Lupin
In Lupin, there are issues relating to colonialism that can be seen in the scene, for example, where young Assane is swimming Juiliet, and she insists that he cannot swim due to his Senegalese heritage; he is criticized due to his race. Another example is where Babakar is assumed to be a thief by the Pellegrini's simply because of his race, while he was actually innocent; he was made to be a scapegoat.
There are also links to the French revolution through the showcase of Mari Antionette's necklace, which boasts a colonial image. The French historically were major colonizers of Africa, occupying Senegal as a colony.
Immigrants are presented as victims who are scapegoated for their 'crimes'. This stereotype is reinforced but then subverted in the show. This can be seen when Lupin was first presented as a poor cleaner in the Louvre, but later turns into a rich, high-quality gentleman burglar.
Assane uses his 'invisibility' to his advantage.
- Hyperreality
- Intertextual reference to Lupin
- Look of realism in plot juxtaposed to social representations
- Flashbacks
Stranger Things
Historically, women were worse off than men in the time period in which Stranger Things was set and had much less power than they do in 2024. However, in Stranger Things, this stereotype is subverted, and the men are shown to be lazier than the women. For example, Joyce is shown to be protective, while Hopper is shown to be a donut eater. Nancy meanwhile, is shown to be progressive.
The show was released in 2016, during a period of political shift. In 2016, Donald Trump was elected president and the USA saw far right politics take charge. This is reflected in the time period Stranger Things is set in, the 80s, which also saw far right politics take charge.
Cold War experiments
The Duffer Brothers created Stranger Things.
MKUltra were illegal CIA experiments from 1953-73, which involved the use of drugs, brainwashing and psychological torture.
Continuation of Nazi experiments in concentration camps. Various drugs and hallucinogens used on prisoners of war to develop a 'truth serum'.
Giving the approaching Cold War spying and paranoia, the CIA became interesting in experimenting on humans.
Eventually, the project settled on mostly using LSD with the intention of eliciting confessions from soviet spies, or seeing if the same could be reversed.
11 in Stranger Things reflects these experiments. Her mother was subject to these experiments while pregnant, resulting in 11 (or Jane) to be born with psychic powers. 11 is kept in inhumane conditions. When she escapes the facility, she is drugged.
Doctor Brenner is the opening scientist, who has a lab coat, and is therefore connotated as a scientist.
#JusticeForBarb
Representation - meme
- Lonely nerd archetype (repeated character)
- ML - mise-en-scene, costume, book prop, plaid chequered shirt
- Glasses, connotations of being a nerd
- Barthes would suggest there is a myth about wearing glasses
- Intertextual reference to 80s costume design, kids from IT
- Expectations subverted - narratively, the archetype nerd does not get punished
- Subverting expectations - encode an ideology that no one is safe
- Henry Jenkins - shows can create fandoms that exceed beyond the producers control
- Clay Shirky - Expectation of interactivity
- Prosumers - creating content
- Wikipedia
Historical
- The influence of key historical events on television programmes
- Links with political contexts
- Issues of colonialism
- History of the country in which the show is set / produced
- Use of ML to create historically accurate mise-en-scene
- Hyperreality - representations of representations
- Realism - how realistic is the portrayal, or are some elements deliberately left absent or included?
Applied to Lupin
In Lupin, there are issues relating to colonialism that can be seen in the scene, for example, where young Assane is swimming Juiliet, and she insists that he cannot swim due to his Senegalese heritage; he is criticized due to his race. Another example is where Babakar is assumed to be a thief by the Pellegrini's simply because of his race, while he was actually innocent; he was made to be a scapegoat.
There are also links to the French revolution through the showcase of Mari Antionette's necklace, which boasts a colonial image. The French historically were major colonizers of Africa, occupying Senegal as a colony.
Immigrants are presented as victims who are scapegoated for their 'crimes'. This stereotype is reinforced but then subverted in the show. This can be seen when Lupin was first presented as a poor cleaner in the Louvre, but later turns into a rich, high-quality gentleman burglar.
Assane uses his 'invisibility' to his advantage.
- Hyperreality
- Intertextual reference to Lupin
- Look of realism in plot juxtaposed to social representations
- Flashbacks
Stranger Things
Historically, women were worse off than men in the time period in which Stranger Things was set and had much less power than they do in 2024. However, in Stranger Things, this stereotype is subverted, and the men are shown to be lazier than the women. For example, Joyce is shown to be protective, while Hopper is shown to be a donut eater. Nancy meanwhile, is shown to be progressive.
The show was released in 2016, during a period of political shift. In 2016, Donald Trump was elected president and the USA saw far right politics take charge. This is reflected in the time period Stranger Things is set in, the 80s, which also saw far right politics take charge.
Cold War experiments
The Duffer Brothers created Stranger Things.
MKUltra were illegal CIA experiments from 1953-73, which involved the use of drugs, brainwashing and psychological torture.
Continuation of Nazi experiments in concentration camps. Various drugs and hallucinogens used on prisoners of war to develop a 'truth serum'.
Giving the approaching Cold War spying and paranoia, the CIA became interesting in experimenting on humans.
Eventually, the project settled on mostly using LSD with the intention of eliciting confessions from soviet spies, or seeing if the same could be reversed.
11 in Stranger Things reflects these experiments. Her mother was subject to these experiments while pregnant, resulting in 11 (or Jane) to be born with psychic powers. 11 is kept in inhumane conditions. When she escapes the facility, she is drugged.
Doctor Brenner is the opening scientist, who has a lab coat, and is therefore connotated as a scientist.
#JusticeForBarb
Representation - meme
- Lonely nerd archetype (repeated character)
- ML - mise-en-scene, costume, book prop, plaid chequered shirt
- Glasses, connotations of being a nerd
- Barthes would suggest there is a myth about wearing glasses
- Intertextual reference to 80s costume design, kids from IT
- Expectations subverted - narratively, the archetype nerd does not get punished
- Subverting expectations - encode an ideology that no one is safe
- Henry Jenkins - shows can create fandoms that exceed beyond the producers control
- Clay Shirky - Expectation of interactivity
- Prosumers - creating content
- Wikipedia
- Limited for TV
Cultural
- TV reflects and reinterprets national identities, social groups and individuals
- Champions immigrant community
- Characteristics of Assane + Babakar
Cultural
- TV reflects and reinterprets national identities, social groups and individuals
- Champions immigrant community
- Characteristics of Assane + Babakar
- Paris - beauty / glamour, poverty
- Representations of small town America
- Hyperreal representation of small community
- White picket fence, lawn, sprinkler
(^ Spielbergian representation of America ^)
- Subverting representations
- Immigrant
- Cleaner to rich, powerful bidder
- Barb, Nancy, Joyce
- Cultural globalization
- Characters traits borrowed of others
- Lupin as French James Bond
- Influenced by Hollywood
Lupin
- Created by George Kay, who is English and incredibly seasoned.
- Released Jan 8th, 2021 during pandemic
- Watched by 76,000,000 in first month
- Netflix series commissioned from French company Gaumont Television
- Omar Sy as Assane, a famous French actor, signed due to diverse representations
- Success of Lupin shows demand for programmed not in English language
- Demand for non English language stories increased by 90%
Stranger Things
- Directed by the Duffer Brothers, first episode released on 15th July 2016, 8 episodes released at once
- Series 1 costed $6,000,000 per episode
- Cast mostly unknowns for cost and authenticity reasons
- Mixture of above the line and below the line marketing targeted a range of audiences
- Produced by 21 laps, and paid for and distributed by Netflix
- Ranked as most popular digital series in the US after only a week of release
- Representations of small town America
- Hyperreal representation of small community
- White picket fence, lawn, sprinkler
(^ Spielbergian representation of America ^)
- Subverting representations
- Immigrant
- Cleaner to rich, powerful bidder
- Barb, Nancy, Joyce
- Cultural globalization
- Characters traits borrowed of others
- Lupin as French James Bond
- Influenced by Hollywood
Lupin
- Created by George Kay, who is English and incredibly seasoned.
- Released Jan 8th, 2021 during pandemic
- Watched by 76,000,000 in first month
- Netflix series commissioned from French company Gaumont Television
- Omar Sy as Assane, a famous French actor, signed due to diverse representations
- Success of Lupin shows demand for programmed not in English language
- Demand for non English language stories increased by 90%
Stranger Things
- Directed by the Duffer Brothers, first episode released on 15th July 2016, 8 episodes released at once
- Series 1 costed $6,000,000 per episode
- Cast mostly unknowns for cost and authenticity reasons
- Mixture of above the line and below the line marketing targeted a range of audiences
- Produced by 21 laps, and paid for and distributed by Netflix
- Ranked as most popular digital series in the US after only a week of release
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