Avengers Narrative

A story is all the events surrounding a group of characters in a place at a certain time.

A narrative is a selected way a story is told:

• Does it follow some sort of structure 
• Does it have conventions 
• Doors it have a beginning, middle and an end
• What characters? Protagonist, antagonists and props theory 

Types of TV drama's

• Single drama/film 
• Soap (continuous drama TV shows like Eastenders)
• Soaps generally have massive casts
• Serial (A Tv show that runs in seasons such as Riverdale)
• Anthology ( A series with a completely different stories and different characters)
• Long from series dramas (Different seasons but the storyline in through every episode or across multiple seasons)
• Long from series with some experimentations (Plays around with how many hours are in a series and how many episodes)

Linear narrative - A sequence narrative with a beginning, middle and an end in that order. Linear narratives provides a straight forward sequential representation of events leading to a single resolution. As such easily accessible to audiences that are the dominant form in a mainstream media representations.

In the Little Red Riding Hood there is a state of equilibrium because everyone in a sate of neutralness. A disruption in the equilibrium is when she meets the wolf, The wolf disrupts the balanced, happy nature of the story. There is a recognitions of the disruption when the wolfs in the grandmas house. The  attempt to repair the damage when there is an alteration between the wold and Red Riding Hood. The new equilibrium is when the grandma is alive and everything is happy. 

The incredibles uses Todorov  heory at the beginning everyone loved the superhero's, suddenly after one incident people started to dislike hero's and wanted to ban them, after a while of secretly saving the day the people were beginning to like them again and accept them.

Cuffs is known as a character led narrative with multiple storylines, its a serial drama.

The Avengers is now as a long form and serial drama.

Cuffs:

Equilibrium = There is no commotion in the city.

Disruption = Bus crashed into shop then goes onto stealing the ATM's.

Recognition = The police call for backup and try to intervene .

Attempt to repair = The police go onto the car chase to stop them.

Return to new equilibrium = Criminals have not been caught yet.

The Avengers:

Equilibrium = Peaceful atmosphere, the fight with Peel and Steed.

Disruption = When everyone finds out who the main characters are and attack them.

Attempt to repair = They fight back and win.

Return to equilibrium = They end up going back home to their peaceful atmosphere.

The Avengers audience questions

The Avengers audience questions

1. The avengers show is clearly targets teens to young adults as it is set after watershed so it has to be targeted at the older age as they wanted that age to watch their show.
2. The avengers has a lot of flirtatious content in it so this appeals to the older people watching the show, instead of the children as its after wateshed.
3. Due to ITV and the general use of TVs the audience are allowed to watch this television show.
4. The show only really showed white people and no blacks were on tv until a couple of years ago when they got their equal rights.
5. The show clearly lacked of technology of today as it wasn't invented yet like coloured shows and better quality microphones which made the show seem speed up and not worked on.
6. This escapism was most evident in game shows and talent contests, but drama series such as The Avengers would also offer escapism through their representation of a world of competence, sophistication, humour, and a heavy hint of sexual tension and eroticism. As a typical drama series, The Avengers offered an entertaining combination of repetition and difference with a new Proppian villain very week for the central pairing to fight against – the two sometimes swapping the ‘damsel in distress’ role – with familiar signposts along the way (e.g. the programme usually ended with the pair driving away from the scene of their triumph). Spy dramas were a familiar and perhaps dominant genre in the 1960s, both in television and film and suave, sophisticated and hyper-competent show.
7.  a passive audience is an audience that merely observes and event rather than actively responding it. There's been a few studies done on what is called the 'audience effect'. Those studies seem to show that a passive audience works well for some performers that don't require a whole lot of skill.
8. a passive audience could interpret the avengers as England being a very white and heterosexual country unlike a non passive audience would go against there being no coloured or gay people.

Avengers title sequence HW

1. The music in the opening sequence at first is very light and has no genre but suddenly gets deeper and starts to seem more like action opening  scene and music.
2. The whole opening is in black and white and the quality of the music instantly allows the viewer to realise that it was based in the 1960s well a while ago.
3. Patrick Macnees character in the opening is seen as a sneaky fighter, you can tell as most of the frames with him in is shown with him with a weapon or his umbrella.
4. The flower prop makes the pair of them look like they're a couple and brings them together because of how similar they are.
5. Diana Rigg is seen as a powerful woman which she is a very strong fighter, you can also tell she is very feminim due to the rose she was holding in her hand in one of the frames.
6. ?
7. The music had to be edited into the sequence also the music was probably edited to sound better and not terrible.
8. The costume of Diana made her look like a sexy feminine character and so did the flower, also they both had weapons making them look like the spys they were.

EXTENTION

The opening for the show 'Cuffs' was all in colour and flashing images whilst 'the Avengers' one was in black and white and much slower, they both use props to show what the characters are like, like 'Jack Vickers' with a hand cuffs and 'patrick Macnees' with his gun. This show how television has adapted to our days at 2010 due to the colour and the quality.

Industry ownership,scheduling, regulation and fundings in the 1960s

Industry  ownership, scheduling, regulation and fundings in the 1960s


The BBC began in 1936
ITV began in 1955( and was the one competition BBC had)

• TV during the mid 1960s only had 3 channels, BBC, BBC2, ITV
• Television were small, expensive and only available is black and white
• Programs were limited  only available certain times of the day. When nothing was broadcasted the national anthem would play
• Channel surfing didn't exist like today as there were inly 3 channels
• BBC had monopoly over the industry, prior to ITV, there were no advertising on television soon after it became popular
• When ITV began it became a duopoly (2 main competitors)

Funding:

1. How were ITV funded? The ITV was funded by advertisement on there shows and small companies that they owned and by America.
2. What issue does ITV face through commercial funding? The issues that ITV faced was that they had to stay to the ITA rules which were limited number of adverts and cannot sponsor adverts and regarding when and how long advertisement could be on and television advertisement was a new thing so not many advertisers didn't know how popular they would be.
3. How did the popularity of the avengers impact the production values? ABC invested 2million dollars(15millionold brit currency) for season 4 of the avengers, this allowed the show to have better picture quality, bigger sets, more casts, better stories and bigger and much higher budgets .

Regulations:

British television production was protected by the rules of the public service broadcasting that limited foreign content. This was different to world television which was dominated by the USA.

Due to ITV being the channel of the time it faced no competition for advertisements which meant that the commercial television could be highly regulated. Of course the ASA standards and society have changed since then.

ITV opened its channel at 4.20PM with a daytime soap and showed a range of children shows. Adult programs came on after.

In 1964 the watershed was introduced at 9PM. This allowed for more adult programming such as the avengers. ITV shutdown at midnight, by which time it was assumed audiences would be asleep.

1. What is the watershed? The watershed is the time 9pm and it stops most children shows for more adult themes like fighting and sexual scenes at the time where children stopped watching.
2. Why was the watershed created in 1960? The watershed was made in 1960 as more adult shows were starting to be produced like the avengers.
3. How might watershed affect themes and content within avengers? In the avengers it is seen as very sexual so all of the sexual and fighting scenes would be taken out and changed so that it would be appropriate for the youth.

Scheduling and figures:

The avengers was scheduled at 9.05 on a Saturday on ITV, this was prime time. By the fourth series it had attracted 7million homes and episodes often appeared on the top 10 television shows.

Remote control had not been invented yet so people had to physically get up and change the channel.

Why did the time slot for the avengers impact the large viewing figures? The time slot for the avengers was good as it was right after the watershed so everyone would be watching also its on a Saturday so everyone one is watching (Prime time).

1960s mood board

"Q: Explain how social contexts influence television programmes. Refer to Cuffs from the 2010’s to support your answer. (H/L) "

Q: Explain how social contexts influence television programmes. Refer to Cuffs from the 2010’s to support your answer. (H/L)

1. The target audience for the show Cuffs would probably be niche as, there are gay and Muslims in the show this makes it a niche show as many people would not want to watch it for these reasons.
2. The show Cuffs is very appealing to its audience as it is a crime show full of: crime, mystery and fights, this makes the show appealing to the audience as this is a popular thing.
3. The show Cuffs can be streamed on BBC which is a popular broadcasting channel up there with Netflix, also there is BBC Iplayer which allows the viewer to watch the episodes they missed out on.
4. It assumes that audience members are not passive consumers of media. Rather, the audience has power over their media consumption and assumes an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. Unlike other theoretical perspectives, UGT holds that audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet their desires and needs to achieve gratification. This theory would then imply that the media compete against other information sources for viewers' gratification.
5. Television audiences, though still relatively passive, aremore active than in the 1960s. Apart from the readiness to switch channels, the phenomenon of ‘second screening’ – commenting on social media while watching linear television – allows far greater audience feedback and interactivity. This is considered a major factor in the survival of scheduling on linear television channels in the age of video on demand. Second screening, together with the success of programming such as sport and talent shows relying on audience votes, encourages ‘live’ viewing.
6. Unfortunately Cuffs was going to finish as they did not have enough viewers to support the show so they started an online petiton to keep the show going, unfortunatley this did not work out and the show had to come to an end.

Avengers HW

During the 1960s there were very few homosexual men in public life due to the rights of gays , this affected The Avengers as there would be no gay actors, unlike Cuffs, in 2010 homosexuals have the same rights and are able influence the programme like Jake Vickers.

Women were often portrayed as sex objects in the programme The Avengers. The main character Steed often treats Peel in a way which is seen as sexual harassment, however it was also a time of sexual revelution, Peel was also represented as a confident educated women, also reflecting the change and the concerns of that time.

Social, Cultural, Historical Contexts Of The Avengers

Social, Cultural, Historical Contexts Of The Avengers

The avengers is a very distinctive that is British - its a spy thriller featuring three spy women as the main character. Television was responding to the cultural social changes in society.

Brief summary - 
Steed and Emma are on the trail of several murdered agents. They visit little bazley by the sea, a town that strangers rarely leave alive- and discover its secretly infiltrated by enemy agents.

• Coming out of the 1950s the UK is very bleak and still recovering from the war.
• Young people were given a choice.
• Parents grew up with the war with rationing and fighting, the parents want their own children to have a more fun and freedom.
• People had fought for what we take for granted nowadays.

When we write about the 1950s it is historical context 

Music-

They experimented with new sounds and developed innovative pieces of music. Their albums lyrics included rebellion against the authorities,  as seen in 'revelation'.

Drug culture-

Recreational drug use was at its height in the 60s. It was very difficult for anyone in the show business to avoid becoming involved drugs such as LSD and ecstasy. Young people who were looking for fun were encouraged by their idols to take hallucinating drugs.



Feminism-

• Rise of the feminist movement,
• Use of contraceptive safe birth control. This  change the relationships / attitudes of many onyx women sexuality,
• Lawsuits for equal pay (women were payed 60% less),
• Fighting for reproductive rights, 
• Abortions were illegal,
• The 1960s was a patriarchy society,

Emma Peel - 

• Seen Steeds professional equal,
• Inspired by James Bond, intertextuality Bond an M relationship,
• Sexual tension (Peel and steed)
• Clothes of Peel and fighting ability: demonstrated modern liberated femininity, she embodies the new fashion in some who like to dress and fight like men, slightly ahead of fashion at the time.
• Leather outfit very different from the typical 1950s woman,
• Spitted heroine of the 60s,
• Use of dialogue is always seductive,

Sexuality -

• Homosexuality was illegal,
• A survey taken four out that 93% of people thought being gay was an illness that you should be medicated,
• Public gay men were either sent to prison or a mental institution,
• Gay men had  chemical castration to 'remove their gayness',
• If men were sent to the institution they would get treatment that we would consider like torture,
• In 1967 the law was changed that gay sexual activities were allowed on 3 conditions, they had to be 21, give consent and in a private place,

Heterosexuality was considered to be the norm an example of this is that emma uses her sexuality as a weapon and is very sedative while speaking with men. Emma bum is touched by Steed although nothing happened due to in the 1960s women were seen as objects, In the avengers there is a complete absence of homosexuality as it was still illegal then.

Cold war - 

The cold war (45-91) was an ongoing stand off  between Russia and America to show who was the strongest country, they were also very close to having another world war (3). People in UK were in fear from the Russians spies watching them in their daily lives.

Ethnicity-

There are very limited numbers of ethnic minorities and this does not represent the time it was set as there were many asian and Caribbean communities and all the characters in The Avengers were white as at that time British media was seen as a show that was whitewashed.

There was a sitcon called love thy neighbour that had a black character in it however, he was the victim of a racist joke.

Gender-

• Steed was the archetype of a gentleman hero like james bond. Peel combined femininity and modernity. The show is set in a post sexual revolution times which meant women were allowed to be free and were allowed to have sex unconditionally due to the pill.
• By the ed of the sixties more than 80% of women used the contraceptive pill as the government allowed it to happen. 
• Rise in women driving (Mini was designed for women).
• 850 women went out on strike for equal pay.
• 
  

Regulation

Regulation-

• Television in the UK is regulated by OFCOM,
• OFCOM have a set of rules called broadcasting code

10 main sections- 

• Crime
• Religion
• Harm and Offence

Ofcom also define the watershed. It is before 9PM and before 5:30AM, this is when programs that children shouldnt be watching are allowed on. This includes sexual content, violence, graphic or disturbing imagery and swearing. This means that programs such as Cuffs have to be careful about their content which means that it reduces the realism of the programme.

Cuffs have to be careful with what they show on screen. For example, when a character gets stabbed they do not show the actual stabbing case they cut it out and may show blood on the floors its pre washed show. They  ask cannot swear and show sexual content.

PSB Characteristics- 

• High quality 
• Original 
• Innovative 
• Challenging 
• Widely available
• Distinctive 

Cuffs shows the characteristics by informing the audience about the rise in hate and racist crimes. It informs about the rise in theft and shoplifting, the acceptance of homosexuality and how multicultural societies work. This simulates learning and knowledge about issues in society such as how muslims are treated.


Schedules 

1. Tv scheduling is deciding what times Tv shows should be on and will be suit the audience, the show itself and not the same time as other shows, for example the great British bake off is on a 8Pm on Wednesdays.
2. Scheduling is critical to the success of many shows because if another show is on at the same time and day a lot less people will view the show as they'll be watching another.
3. Wednesday at 8Pm.
4. They wasted cuffs to replace an old show called 'Waterloo road' which was a school soap drama.
5. Cuffs got an average of 2.4 - 4.1 million views per episode.
6. Appointment viewing is when someone watches a show because of the specific time its set. Comfort viewing is when your watching a show because you really enjoy it.
7. Cuffs was cancelled due to the fact it wasn't getting enough views for how expensive the show was to shoot, also cuffs was not a comfort appointment viewing when it was trying to be both.

PEE paragraph

The release of gay rights allowed 'Cuffs' to have a main character who is also gay, during the show he has shown that he is treated equally and is open about being gay as of many years before this was an illegal act. This show allows the main character to show he is strong although in the social media they he would be perused as very weak and feminine.