TV Drama

 Tuesday 29th November

Section B looks at long form TV drama

Section B is 60% of the paper

Learn and apply academic ideas

Compare a US drama to a Europe drama

Central characters: Blonde girl, John Snow, 

Main storyline: Protecting the realm, Living and the dead, 

Subplots: Battle, Watch, 

Characters that are enigmatic: Ice zombie guy, girl looking off balcony, 

SEX EDUCATION TRAILER

Central Characters: Otis, Maeve, 

Main storyline: Money, love, Ruby + Otis, 

Subplots: Otis mum pregnant, Amy + Maeve,

Characters that are enigmatic: Adam, 

HOMELAND:

Which TV network developed the show and which corporation are they a subsidiary of? 

Fox 21 and FOX Network

Which studio produced the series?

Fox 21 Television Studios

What award did the first season win?

Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series and Primetime Emmy award for outstanding drama series

Episode 1 was released in October 2011. What key global events prior to this impacted its development?

It was the 10th anniversary for 9/11.

How was episode 1, 'Pilot', released differently to normal in the US? How many viewers did it have in the US then the UK on C4?

What genre is it?

Espionage Thriller 

Tuesday 6th December 2022

LO: To explore the narrative theme and characters set in episode

Characters - 

Brody - Returning hero/terrorist- family man, solder, white, male, middle class, heterosexual

Mike - Best friend of Brody/Love interest of jess, traditional representation, beer/football games, helped jess around the house.

Carrie - protagonist, cia agent, female, strong career, disliked, confrontational, driven and focused but lacks compassion, hyper fixated on doing the right thing, mental health issues, sexual role- predator,

Saul - Her mentor, her confidant, reliable, sensible, in control, only one with faith in Carrie

David - Boss deputy director of the CIA, criticises carrie a lot, relationship with her, political in his moves, 

Jess - Brody's wife/Mike's love interest, mum, housewife, attractive, sexual object, 

Abu nasir- Main antagonist, 

Main Narrative - 

Carrie investigating Brody trying to pretend a terrorist attack

Sub plots - 

Mike + Jess

Carrie's mental health

Carrie's sex life

Brody beating someone in his flashback

Enigma Codes 

Why did Brody kill Tom Walker and why is he lying about it?

Why was he focused on the Whitehouse?

Why is he lying about meeting Abu-Nasir?

Why did he lie to his wife?

What is the attack?

Will Carrie find him out?

Will Carrie get sent to prison?

Tuesday 13th December 2022

Narratology: Todorov

Equilibrium -

Working at the CIA no threat to security

Power with the cast as US don't suspect

Carrie is unstable and not trustworthy

Disruption - 

Brody's release/discovery initiates the suspicion on Carrie

Recognition of disruption - 

Confides in Saul

Positions men as higher than women

Attempt of resolution - 

Spies illegally on him

Positions her as unstable, crazy, not trusted, not reliable

New equilibrium - 

None as it is a long form TV Drama

Genre Theory - Neale 

Neale says that genre should have details to recognise what genre the film is but also include different features to keep it interesting for the audience.

Thriller/Espionage/Drama- Hybrid of genres, used codes and conventions from all 3 genres.

As a genre become more popular over recent years, as a result of 9/11 the spies genre has re-emerged in popularity.

Homeland: Industry and Context

Homeland historical context is that Homeland was set after the time of 9/11, when Carrie see's that the army people have saved an American soldier she has a suspicion that is going to be a similar attack like 9/11 which was devastating for the whole world, therefore Carrie decides to take action as she feels like it's her fault and she's possibly traumatised from the whole 9/11 event like the rest of the CIA. She takes matter in her own hands showing that she's determined and that she will do anything to prevent this happening again, even by setting up cameras in his home illegally.

Homeland industry context is that 

No women

Old cars

Busy

Camera work shows chaos

Run-down prison, barbwire, nooses to hang someone, military uniform with guns, 

US seen as contrasting ideas

Women is stared at by all the guys

10th January 2023

Long form TV Drama

Homeland: Characters

Carrie

Representations: She's wearing appropriate clothing to respect their culture.

Determined - pays money to go into the prison, close up on the money paid to get in the prison

Demanding - Shouting over the phone at her boss - editing

Powerful - resisting the guard in the prison -

Fearless - dragged by the guards but still clinging on to retrieve the answers

Dedicated - persuasive nature of the conversation with the prisoner -

Reckless - going into the prison, going against her boss - 

Manipulative - talks to the prisoner, bargaining with the prisoner about his family - 

Mise en scene - sets up the post 9/11 fear in opening via over the shoulder shot from the prisoner with the noose and gallows being set up for the hanging of the prisoner - barbaric savage nature of the culture and positions the East against the civilised west. Editing further reinforces this- go from run down Bagdad to Glitzy Washington on the phone call to her boss - 

Post 9/11 fear: How dedicated she is trying to find out this supposed terroist attack, she pays a lot of money to get inside the prison to talk to the prisoner for about 40 seconds

The representations created of the middle East is that its an unstable community, this is demonstrated by the shaky camera work giving it a rough feel, this is also further reinforced by the mise en scene as we see extremely busy traffic and lots of people walking in the middle of the road, Carrie has to leave her vehicle in the middle of the road and head to the prison on foot instead. We also see that when she steps out of her vehicle and starts travelling by foot there are no other females but her and all the males are staring at her which can imply that the country is possibly sexist as well as unstable.

The representations created of Carrie is that she is a determined, manipulative character this is shown 

The representations of Carrie in the text initially is that she dedicated, manipulative character this is shown when she travels to Bagdad by herself with lots of money to give to one of the prison guards to get inside, her determination is also shown when she is shouting on the phone to her boss, the camerawork reinforces this by adding rigid movement as a sign of panic. She calls him for some sort of support however when he declines she still does her mission. The manipulative side of her character is shown when she's talking to the inmate about a supposed future terroist attack and when the inmate refuses to give her information she instantly brings up something he is passionate about which is his family, his family are hiding/frightened and she states that without his information she won't help his family escape. When he's giving her the information she clings onto the door whilst guards are trying to pull her away and when she's speaking to the man in the cell we get a close-up of her expression which seems to be a serious, intimidating look, this again reinforces her determination. Here we can see that the texts supports what Van Zoonen states 'Gender is what we do rather than who we are', this is demonstrated by Carrie taking a more masculine role, while her boss is at a party having fun Carrie is working trying to find as much intel as possible, this shows contrasting people and reverses the stereotypical man and woman relationship. The historical context reflects

17th January 2023

An antihero or antiheroine is a main character in a story who lacks conventional heroic qualities and attributes such as idealism courage and morality

An antagonist is a person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something; an adversary

Brody has been in the locked room for a while, it was padlocked as well which could suggest he has importance to him as they wanted to keep him inside the room. We can also see that his beard is overgrown which can mean he wasn't given the minimum hygiene essentials. We can see that his face is pale which could mean he was barely fed as well as we can see marks/scars on his face which can suggest that he was tortured. Him and David have contrasting appearances.  

David seems to have no sympathy for Brody however want him for the media because hes a 'hero' returning.

Brody makes a weird face when his wife is running up to hug him the camera quickly snaps onto his face then off.

He seems awkward infront of his kids when he first steps in.

When he is throwing up in the plane is shows a close up of his face and we can see he's sweaty.

When Brody is told his mum his dead he has no reaction which can suggest that he's desensitised because of war. 

Initially Brody is presented to the audience as a awkward character with a traumatic background. This is evident in the scene where he greets his family in the airport, there is a silence and the camerawork rapidly switches between the characters to show the awkwardness and their facial expressions. The scene uses camerawork and editing to reinforce the awkwardness of this scene by adding no extra sound effects just silence, when the character do speak the dialogue is very short and snappy, as if theres nothing interesting to talk about. Here we can see that this links to the theorist Van Zoonen 'femininity and masculinity are constructed in our performance of these roles' as Brody presents silence we can see that this creates somewhat dominance which creates a stereotypical role for males.

 

Tuesday 17th January 2023

Brody has been represented as suspicious to the audience and perhaps holding some secrets, this is seen in the interview where low-key lighting is used to create priority and focus, confrontational camerawork is also when Carrie and Brody start speaking, from normal over the shoulder shots it goes to close ups, this is to catch the emotions on the characters face. Before the flashback we can see that he names one of the terroists and David and Carrie make a concerned expression, he then quickly tries to save himself by saying 'that's what he said anyway'. Then the editing is used to inform the audience by presenting a flashback this means there's more to him that he says there is, before this is executed there is a slow zoom into Brody when he is shown the pictures to build suspicion then when we are in the flashback we have shaky camerawork to cause uneasiness. Here we can see that we can link this to the theorist Gauntlet,  

Tuesday 31st January 2023

LO: To explore the representations and theory in set products.

Attempt to seduce Saul

Constantly moving, on the bed trying to listen to music to relax her

Takes medication in bathroom in a frustrated manner

Indecisive on her clothing choice

In the opening of Homeland mental illness is represented as a problem, we can see this with Carrie's itchy movement and the fact that she would do anything to continue this investigation on somebody that she isn't even certain on is a terroist, she does this by trying to seduce Saul to have sex.

The media creates a hyperreality simulations that feel more real than the real world, it has an affect on our behaviour. He also says that modern societies work on the advancement of producing products/services whilst the postmodern society focuses on simulation, the play of clips and images.

Tuesday 21st February 2023

The Killing

Who created the series? Søren Sveistrup

Which two studios produced the series? DR in co-production with ZDF Enterprises

What award did the series win? BAFTA award and an international Emmy.

Overview + Narrative of season 1 -

Main narrative quest/conflict set up:

the missing girl and her body is found, find out how she was murdered, who did it.

Enigma codes:

individual character narratives:

Oliver - her ex boyfriend

Sarah Lund - boss and leaving her job, country moving to sweden with her partner. Prioritises her job over partner and son.

Troels hartman - politician, has a leak in his campaign. relationship with his secretary- is suggested to bit dodgy.  Corrrupt politics as a theme

Pernielle Thies- parents explore their lives, working class lives, but respectable and hard working.0

Tuesday 7th March 2023

Normal mother, close up on her face when looking loving towards her sleeping son. ots shot of the bedroom

Partner to fiance, long shot of embrace, mise en scene - costume choice to reveal a shot of her underwear - why? relaxed in home, her home? sexual comfortable relationship, her partner is fully dressed perhaps to assert dominance.

Van Zoonen summarised: femininity and masculinity are constructed in our performance of these roles, gender is what we do rather than who we are and changes in cultural and historical context. She also states that patriarchy is applied to media and is acted out by television professionals and the representation of gender roles. 

Butler summarised: he states that gender is created on how we perform our roles, there is no identity behind these roles, it is created through performance. Performativity is not a single act but in fact a repetition of the same act which becomes normalised. There is only masculinity and femininity which excludes other forms of gender and sexuality which creates 'gender trouble' for the people that don' fit into the heterosexual norms.

Representations of Sarah:

respected - dialogue - speech, mise en scene, party, male

leader - dialogue, questions

focused - overhead shot, crime scene

brave - lighting torch, close up on evidence

fearless - close up blood + hand, face - not phased

strong - follows evidence alone, sound - tension

fun/laid back - close up sign + her face - mise en scene - party

dedicated - mise en scene rain, blood everywhere but still continues

calculated

Sarah and Carrie are both represented in different and similar ways in the introduction of The Killing and Homeland, as an example they are both strong, fearless individuals this is shown through Carrie when shaky hand-held camerawork is displayed when she is in bagdan for her investigation, we can also see there's a lack of female characters which shows she's a independent women in a man's world. Similar to Sarah, shaky hand-held camerawork and an over the shoulder shot is used to emphasise her strong and fearless personality as well as the mise en scene with the gore-like visuals, she is not phased by the display also a lack of female characters showing she is also a independent women in a man's world. However a contrasting feature about these two is that Sarah is respected whilst Carrie is isn't, in Homeland a full shot and mise en scene is used to shown to Carrie is late to a meeting

Tuesday 14th March 2023

Carrie:

Carrie although in a suit-like attire we can see the chest area is pretty revealed and it seems to look like the shirt underneath her suit-like attire is pulled down. Her suit attire can imply that she's an important figure that's why she's dressed formally. 

Carrie's seems to have makeup on which suggests she could be there to impress people with her looks.

Sarah:

Sarah's attire covers all of her, as well she's were a fleece under her jacket which can suggest it's cold whereas Carrie's environment might be warmer.

Sarah seems to have no makeup on which suggests she's not there to impress anyone with her looks.

Denmark + Sweden had 11 wars.

"In the hands of the enemy" Refers to the police force - historical war rivalry.

"If decomposed herring and light bear are your thing" - friendly rivalry/competition.

Props - gift of skis - cultural focus for Sweden

Props - viking hat + long hair + blonde - stereotypical historical viking image. 

Carrie:

Not respected

Meeting scene targeted

Context: Reflects USA viewpoints that gender is not equal and women are inferior.

Sarah:

Respected

Assets her position to continue the search

Context: Gender should be equal reflected in her role.

Carrie:

When she gets caught setting up cameras by a co-worker and he says he's going to tell people she's then willing to do sexual activity in return for the co-worker not to tell anyone which reflects USA's viewpoints that women are not equal and more of an object.

Sarah:

Sarah is never in that position where she has to resort to sexual acts to redeem herself, this reflects the context of Denmark, they think gender should be equal.

Gender roles change from performance, historical and cultural context, in media representations females are objectified.

Gauntlett: identity creates different messages.

Tuesday 21st March 2023

Recap on Theory - 

Van Zoonen - femininity and masculinity is shown in performance of roles depending on the culture and time, stereotypical. 

Gauntlett - many media messages about identity, the consistent performance can cause gender trouble/crisis 

Representations of gender in The Killing: 

Sarah - Being an independent person when work-related.

Pernielle - Family related women, wife of Theis, managerial job, family comes first, opposition of Sarah.

Theis - Family related man, he travels by himself multiple times to try and find his daughter, when faced with racism he's calm.

Meyer - male, smoke a lot, stereotypically not represented as a professional

Hall – Hall states that through stereotyping and ideology those more superior twist a representation into a reading they prefer that creates only one meaning. He also states that meaning is created by a representation but what is present, absent and different about the representation that creates the stereotypical version. Also stating that stereotypes should be deconstructed to identify what they tell us about a system of ideas. 

Lack of gender equality in the USA

Sexualised female

Mental health issue

The lead protagonist in Homeland, Carrie, is used to reflect societal issues such as gender inequality, we can see in Homeland that her boss David consistently makes sly remarks about her work ethic, such as the time she was late to work. This is further shown when Saw catches her illegally setting up cameras, and doesn't trust her initiative she tries to redeem herself by offering sexual acts to bypass this and gain trust from Saw.  This shows that Carrie is inferior in the CIA and is portrayed as an unreliable character by her co-workers. This can also suggest America's values and how they treat women less superior than men by creating many flaws in a woman with power, this demonstrates what America think of women in power, making her sexualised, taking medication. Homeland is using media to represent real life issues.

The lead protagonist in The Killing, Sarah, is used to reflect societal issues such as prioritising work over family, this is shown at the start when her and her fiance are being affectionate at the start and talking about travelling to Sweden

This links with the theorist Gauntlett and how there are many media messages about identity and that it allows the audience to pick aspects on how they want to create and present their own identity

Tuesday 28th March 2023

Sarah - hectic packing, upbeat

professional when meyer enters, chat about her move

close up over the shoulder of her son

same shot edited of meyers gun picture

opposite of gender roles sarah caring, family

meyer, violence

opposites cigarette vs gum

toy car + toy basketball net = childish

diegetic audio - radio - perhaps doesn't want to hear what sarah says, lack of respect.

Levi-strauss  -

Levi strauss says that people can study the human mind by studying fundamental structure underlying meths and fables. He developed an idea of 'binary opposition' which is opposing characters, like raw-cook.

This applies to the scene with meyer and sarah

professionalism and unprofessionalism

violence and care

diegetic sound, dialogue. sarah shuts down meyers personal attack on her career, directs back to investigation

sarah reamins calm shown by dialogue

respectful to the investigators, sarah

Barthes -

highlights her thought process+focus on the investigation, non-diegetic sound, professionalism

barthes states semiology is the study of signs and these signs have a signifier, this could be a sound, image, word and others. the signifier has a meaning and once investigated its the signified.

loving family, friendly, fun close up of theis/pernielle, end non diegetic sound emphasis the upbeat nature in flood 

economic - tight, duct tape, cant afford new/repairs, contextually reflects 2007/8

theis masculine - fixes it/tries to fix it, gender stereotypes

close up family - importance of family - happy

bells hooks - 

intersectionality = gender, class, race, sexuality

pernielle - female, working class, dependant on theis, works for theis, housewife

sarah/carrie - independent, work for men but are higher up, not a housewife, career driven

Tuesday 25th April 2023

Todorov Theory in The Killing and Homeland

Equilibrium: Sarah is in a relationship and respected at her work and is about to move country.

Disruption: Murder/missing of theis daughter

Recognition of disruption: When sarah notices the picture of the daughter and asks about her

Attempt to solve: Sarah stays in denmark to solve the missing person

New equilibrium: Trying to discover who did this to nana

Equilibrium: Carrie is not in a relationship and is disrespected at work

Disruption: Brodie returning home

Recognition of disruption: Confides with saul and how she is suspicious about Brodie

Attempt to solve: Illegally putting surveillance of Brodie

New equilibrium: Whilst on TV he signals a message with his fingers

Pernille + Sarah's son scene

Sound is used to create suspicion and tension, it's slowly introduced halfway through the scene with sinister-like non-diegetic sound.

Diegetic sound of Pernille's voice, the audience can tell there is a sign of stress in her dialogue/

Mise en scene is used to reflect her son's emotions, the rain, the small space in the car, perhaps implying that he's unconformable with her decisions.

Diegetic sound of Sarah's dialogue where she forgets her sons hockey team and her son says he always has to correct her showing a flaw in Sarah's family life and also the audience sympathising for the son.

Sarah Investigation Scene

Sarah is represented dominant throughout the scene, diegetic dialogue is used when Jan tries to boss Sarah but she ignores him and requests that they search again. Shortly after they find more evidence making Jan seem unprofessional.

Sarah's expertise is shown when medium shot is used and the background is blurred but she is in focus showing that she's realised something or thinking of something.

Whilst on the phone with her fiance, camera work is used to show a close up of her face to show her facial expression of concern, she's curious where those people came from and as it hasn't been searched yet she wants the area searched, this shows her instinct.

Non-diegetic sound is used to create suspicion and mystery with a slow-paced high-pitched piano.

Theis Daughter Scene

Tension is built by sound and the changing of mise en scene+camera shots done by editing, after the discovery a mysterious soundtrack starts playing whilst switching scenes between troells, sarah and theis.

The director tries to make their audience sympathise for the loss of theis's daughter. 

The Killing: Analysis

LO: to analyse key areas of the set products.

Ideologies: Ideologies are a set of beliefs/thoughts shared by a group of people.

Viewpoints: The perspective of an individual.

Sarah Narrative:

Sarah at the start we can see is living a happy life with her fiance and is about to move to Sweden, she is a respected detective shown through the party that is setup for her because of her soon to be absence in the team.

Troells:

Troells is a politician with a deceased wife that he often pays respects to before his political meetings, he shows his respect by planting a rose on her grave, however this is contrasted when the audience find out he's been having an affair with his secretary. Troells seems to be doing very well in the elections therefore the current mayor tries to bribe him, which could show he is favoured by the people for a certain reason.

Todorov can be applied where there is a narrative in the story containing an equilibrium, disruption, recognition of the disruption, attempt to solve and the new equilibrium.

How individualism is represented in The Killing:

The way Sarah brushes off mayer whenever he presents Sarah with an idea to do with the investigation shows individualism in The Killing, we also see that she comes up with her own ideas/solutions to solve the investigation. We see this specifically in the scene where Sarah and Mayer are standing in the middle of a field, we are given a close up shot of Sarah with Mayer looking over her shoulder and almost feeding her ideas on how to go about this investigation but she ignores him and walks off screen. We later see that this is the right thing to do and that she was right to do her own thing which therefore shows individualism in The Killing.

Gilory: In a predominately white culture, other ethnicities are portrayed in a negative way through media.

1) She is shown independent and confidence in her workspace, contrasting to Carrie, she wears no makeup, wears non-sexual clothing covering her body as well as she hasn't bothered to put her hair in a position, she is very casual and work based.

2) The only scene she sexualised in is the very first scene when she wakes up with her fiance which shows in her personal life she is sexualised perhaps, other than that like i said previously when she is at work she is very casual about what she does and doesn't try to impress anyone.

3) 

Tuesday 16th May 2023

Stereotypes

Politicians: Politics are portrayed like a tactical warfare using sneaky tricks to persuade or deceive other people.

Racism: Racism is portrayed like a normal thing, this is demonstrated by Theis's reaction to his friend saying a racial slur and how he seems unbothered by it.

Family unit: Theis and penielle are presented very traditional, with the man doing majority of the work, such as when Theis tells penielle to stay when he's finding their daughter.

Police: Police is represented as a counter stereotype where we can see Sarah more dominance in the work force compared to her male colleague.

Victim: Stereotypical young female, murder, kidnapping, sexual abuse.

Bandura Audience Theory:

Media influences people so we can be exposed to it without observing media.

How does Bandura apply to stereotypes in the killing? It applies in lots of different ways one way being Theis and Penielle, its demonstrated to the audience that the man should be dominant in the relationship and do more than the female partner.

Realism

Events: nana running away, pernielle gets sister to watch the kids, student debate at school, cut funding for schools, 

Characters: Theis responsibility - family, provider, dishwasher, work, house

Jan, realistic - complains, lots of flaws.

Ideology: ideas/ideals, consumerism, dishwasher, big house.

Narrative: sarah moving away, son's life disrupted

Nana's kidnapping and missing is pretty realistic as everywhere in the world things happen like that.

Baudrillard:

Verisimilitude: Similar to the truth

Postmodernism: Irony, fragmented narrative, breaking 4th wall, parody, 

Baudrillard says media used to reflect reality

Simulacra is an artificial copy 

Simulacra become hard to tell apart from reality = hyperreality

Baudrillard can apply to Homeland because the CIA is a simulacra, the people that made Homeland don't actually know that goes on behind the scenes of the CIA, this creates a hyperreality as it creates assumptions from the audience.

Tuesday 6th June 2023

Jenkins

Participatory culture - The development of new media allows the audience to have more power rather than just passively consuming.

Convergence culture - Media is constantly consumed in a variety of ways on different platforms.

Spreadable media - Media habits are adapted by the audience for their own purpose and spread with others.

Shirky

Technical developments have changed the relationships between the producers and the audience.

Producers used to create content for audiences, content is now created by audiences.

Audiences can't be soon as a single mass of people, audiences can engage differently with some creating or adapting media products themselves.

Prosumers have different motivations to professional media producers, this creates a cognitive surplus where a large amount of people give their time to create something, like wikipedia.

Q3 Paper 2 30 Marks 50 Minutes

How far = judgement must be made

Context influence needs to be explored, all of them: historical, political, economic, social, cultural.

Analysis of the texts and theory applied.

Refer to all the theoretical framework, media language, audience, representation, industry.

These TV dramas represent social groups as some groups are different some groups are the same, The Killing is on a low budget, it was produced by DR and was published on PSB and then had success on BBC. Contrasting to Homeland it has a big budget, acting stars, on location filming (Iraq to USA), made by showtime which is a big production team, this brought Homeland a lot of success. We can see that industry and economic differences is why we see different representations on social groups. Another factor we can consider is the context, the lack of respect for women in the USA and their stance on gender equality compared to Denmark. 

The context is shown when the female social group in The Killing and Homeland are represented very differently, in The Killing, Sarah is respected and this is shown when she's about to leave to Sweden and she has her own special leaving party organised by her co-workers.

Tuesday 13th June 2023

Representation Theory

Q4 10 marks 17 mins 

P1 - Define the theory - briefly explain key aspects of theory

P2 - First reason why its useful/ relevant - what does it help us to understand? Link to set product

P3 - Second reason why its useful / relevant - exemplify this by linking to set product

P4 - Third reason why its useful / relevant exemplify this by linking to set product

P5 - State any possible limitations of the theory - interrogate weaknesses of the theory.

P6 - Briefly conclude - evaluate overall usefulness of theory.

Monday 8th January 2024

Q3 Political Context 

Homeland 

One contextual factor visible in Homeland is political, this criticises Washington as it focuses on personal gain rather than the country for the politicians, this is shown when Brodie is being flew back after soldiers discover him and it becomes a massive story in the news. We can tell he is throwing up by the diegetic sound, David hears about this dialogue shows selfishness and doesn't care much, he wants to impress the vice president and the news. This supports Gerbners theory which is mean world syndrome, people see this corruption in government and will think every government is like that.

The Killing

One contextual factor visible in The Killing is political, it criticises the current mayor but shows hope for a brighter future, the mes en scene when Troells enters the room with the current mayor is sinister, an empty parliament room with many rows of seats, there is also low-key lighting to reinforce this sinister atmosphere. Barthes theory applies to this because he speaks about the connotations and denotations.

29th April 2024 

Narrative and sub plots

Jess and Mike - Jess is Brody's wife and Mike is Brody's friend whilst Brody was gone Mike has been 'taking care of her'

Carrie's mental health - Bad mental health, shown by her taking pills, her removing her ring at a party, her relying on sexual acts

Dana and Chris kids - 

Jess and Brody - They have a family

Neale says that genres can decline and increase in popularity, Homeland is an espionage, thriller and drama and because of the event that happened at the time (9/11) this genre was popular at the time. This also supports his statement that genres are fixed.

Todorov - Equilibrium - Disruption - Recognition of disruption - Resolution - New equilibrium 

Levi Straus - Binary oppositions 

Killing Todorov 

Equilibrium - Introduces Sarah

Disruption - Missing person

Recognition of disruption - School girl who ran away

Resolution - 

New equilibrium - Finding out who did this

Nordic countries have better gender equality compared to America

Yes Carrie is treated differently, she is often dismissed and taken unserious, contrasting to Sarah

30th April 2027

Key areas: Context, LIAR, Judgement, Theory

Context of production + consumption - HK + TK - Hesmonhaldg

Conventions incorporated - HL + TK - Neale, Todorov

Viewpoints and ideologies - HL - Gilroy TK - Butler 

Conclusion - 

C + C  - The production of Homeland is significantly different to the production of The Killing. Homeland was created by Showtime which had a contrasting budget compared to DR1, Homeland had celebrity actors, on-sight shooting

V + I - The Killing reflects Denmark as a country, Sarah is the main character which is important because she is a female, this reflects Denmark's gender equality at the time, ranking significantly higher compared to America. 

7th May 2024

Back in Washington and her representation subverts the conventional ideas about feminine roles and behaviour. Why?

Carrie - MC, female, mental health issues, suspicious, untrustworthy.

Brody - Quiet, patriotism, deceptive, untrustworthy

The differences in the codes and conventions of long form television dramas reflect the different values, attitudes and beliefs of the audience that consume them. How far do you agree with this statement?