My Big Fat Revision

‘Most texts today mix genres.’ How true is this of your three main texts? [30]   Most television programmes mix a selection of genres to create hybrid genres. This not only creates for interesting development in the story but allows for the show to be more unique in a fairly crowded industry. It can act as a unique selling-point, enticing audiences from across many genres to the programme which increases the likelihood of success. The three texts (Breaking Bad, The Night Manager and Black Mirror) all do this to an extent and this essay will explore just how true the statement is to these programmes. The Night Manager is predominantly of the spy genre. There are typical conventions that connote intelligence in crime in most scenes, notably the bloodied kitchen cupboards which helps the audience immediately place this as a crime programme. The freeze frame like photographs being taken reinforce the spy genre, adding an element of secrecy but still having the ability to make the audie...

Discuss the different ways audiences are positioned by your three main texts [30] Texts are constructed to the position the audience in a particular place. The relationship between the text and the audience is what will decide their responses. This essay will look at the different ways audiences are positioned by looking at Breaking Bad, Black Mirror and The Night Manager. Breaking Bad is about Walter White, a chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with cancer after his 50th birthday. He turns to crime, specifically making crystal meth to help his family. George Gerbner would say that the illegal acts in Breaking Bad which are glorified may encourage the audience to act in a similar way in the real world as they would have shifted perceptions of reality – in this case, crime being less detrimental than it actually is. This said, the audience of Breaking Bad are likely to have been exposed to drug use and violence in previous episodes of past seasons so are less likely to be shocked by what...