uses and gratifications

study the uses and gratifications theory and question, which gratifications audiences would gain from each of your studied texts. IDENTIFY.
Justify your answer with clear links to technical conventions, responses or sequences from the narrative. JUSTIFY.

Peaky Blinders.
There are several gratifications audiences would gain from Peaky Blinders. One that audiences may gain from this text is gaining insight into circumstances of others. This would be due to the cultural and historical knowledge that Peaky Blinders gives to it's audience. With the text set in 1919, post WWI in Birmingham, the narrative sequence produces certain aspects that link to the time, place and positions of the people living through this time, in a place full of crime, drama and poverty. The situation of the view of women and their positions also causes the audiences to gain insight into peoples circumstances in this historical context as a character such as Ada are represented as being dependant on men, such as when she relies on Freddie to come home and marry her after discovering she was pregnant; whilst others are seen as being repressed by men due to many women losing their positions after all males returned home after the war. For example in one scene of episode 2 when Aunt Polly states to Tommy that she had to run the family business for 5 years while he was away fighting, and now she is seen as taking a back seat as Tommy has returned to his position as the boss.
         Another gratification that audiences may gain from the narrative is reinforcing personal values. This stems from a part of the storyline focusing on Ada and her pregnancy. The historical and cultural knowledge in this era regarding pregnancy is clearly demonstrated in Peaky Blinders as being completely frowned upon by society if the female is not married. As this is the situation Ads's character is in, the narrative displays negative actions from characters such as Aunt Polly, who tells her of her own abortion as a teenager and tells Ada to have one herself as well as run away

Peaky Blinders - how does the text attract it's audience?

Peaky Blinders is a crime drama series set in Birmingham in 1919, after soldiers had returned from World War 1 and formed a criminal gang. In the specific episode watched in class, there are several elements that are all helpful towards attracting the text's target audience. 

One aspect of Peaky Blinders that attracts it's audience is its high production value and cinematography. For example, in one of the first scenes of episode two, a fight occurs between the Shelby Brothers and the Irish Gypsies. The cinematography used throughout this fight scene is something that will target and active audience through the use of carefully constructed lighting, camera work and a slow motion effect, that is included throughout this fight scene as a way for the audience to watch the scene carefully as well as show off the highly complimented cinematography.

Another element of the text that attracts audiences is the constant use of non diegetic sound. This however, targets a more passive audience, as Peaky Blinders is a text that uses conventions to target both active and passive audience members. The use of a soundtrack throughout this episode is something that will help a passive audience read the narrative and feel the emotions that the producers of the text want them to feel. On the other hand, the fact that the soundtrack is consistently made up of more contemporary music, breaks the conventional techniques that would be expected in a text from the post war era.

The different ways in which audiences respond to Mad Men - need to finish

The hit television series Mad Men has been clever in the ways in which it targets it's audience and gains audience response. Since airing in *, / Mad Men has received many audience responses which have encouraged and introduced many more audience members.
As Mad Men is a show that targets a niche and active audience, it's audience have responded to the programme in several different ways.
One aspect of Mad Men that has

NEED TO DO

Audience Respone to Lost

Lost is an American drama series that aired for the first time in the US on the 22nd September 2004. It has been nominated for a variety of different awards including 54 Primetime Emmy awards, winning 11, 48 Saturn awards, winning 13, 33 Teen Choice Awards, 12 Golden Reel awards, winning 5, 8 Satellite awards, winning 1, 7 Golden Globe Awards, winning 1, 6 Writers Guild of America awards, winning 1, 5 Directors Guild or America awards, 2 NAACP Image wards, winning 1, 2 Screen Actors Guild Awards, winning 1 and a BAFTA award. 

Amongst the wins for the series are a Primetime Emmy award for 'Outstanding Drama Series', a Golden Globe award for 'Best Television Series - Drama', a Screen Actors Guild Award for 'Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series' and a Peabody award.

The series has an ensemble cast and several different Lost actors have received acting award nominations. Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson are the only actors to win Emmy Awards while Matthew Fox has been nominated for eighteen individual awards (winning three), the most of any cast members, Evangeline Lilly is second with fifteen nominations. "Pilot" is the most nominated single episode of the series, receiving nominations for fifteen different awards, winning six, including four Emmy Awards. "Through The Looking Glass" is the second most nominated episode, with nine. "The End" received the most Emmy nominations for a single episode with eight, winning one. Lost has been nominated for over 200 awards and has won 57.

intended target audience of Lost

The television series Lost a wide range of conventions which attract its targeted mainstream audience. A mainstream audience is one that appeals and interests a wide range of viewers, form different ages, genders, classes and ethnicities.

One of the main conventions which help give Lost such a wide mainstream audience is the ensemble cast that it presents. An ensemble cast means that the majority of the cast are assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time, making each of their character roles equally as important as one another. Ensemble casts also include many different varieties of characters, from different ages, genders, classes and ethnicities, meaning that the majority of Lost's mainstream audience can identify with at least one of the characters. 

Another convention that attracts a wide, mainstream audience is the way Lost combines escapism and relatable plots. Being set on a mystical island, and set away from everyday environments, Lost can gratify the audience with escapism by diverting them from reality and problems, enabling a preferred reading.  However, the non linear narrative, flash backs and flash forwards provide relatable issues and plots that will provide alternative gratifications such as enforcing personal identity. Combining these two mainstream narrative conventions causes Lost to reach to an even wider audience as some viewers may enjoy the feeling of escapism, where others may want to able to familiarise themselves with the more realistic plots such as flash backs of characters lives previous to the plane crash they were involved in.

One major convention that Lost includes, which helps reach out to a wide, mainstream audience is the enigma codes placed in the storyline. Enigma codes control what the audience see or know. They produce questions in the audiences mind and then proceed to solve, whilst gaining the attention and interest of the audience. In the series 1, episode 2 of Lost, there are many enigma codes placed in the text that question the storyline, such as a pair of handcuffs being found, a letter being read by Sawyer and secret mentioned. However only one enigma code is answered in this episode, causing a mainstream audience to want to continue to watch Lost in the hoe that these questions will soon be answered. These enigma codes, along with the carefully constructed use of the score to control audiences emotions are a large part of how Lost targets a mainstream audience.

The Typical Social Realism Genre Conventions Present in Fish Tank

Many social realism films hold different conventions, making them typical of their genre. In Fish Tank this is present in several different ways. In a short clip of the film, viewed in lesson, these genre conventions were clearly present on screen.  

The clip starts of with the protagonist, Mia, dancing in her kitchen to a music video on the television. As she is watching the video she is copying the moves and expressions of the woman on screen being shown as sexualised and provocative. This is a feature that happens more than once in the film when Mia is dancing or watching people dance. As this film is based in urban, working class environments, many of the representations of success and wealth are shown through the television and music videos. This causes Mia to aspire to be a dancer as she may feel it is her only way of becoming successful and getting away from the environment she seems to be stuck in.

Another convention which is extremely typical of this genre is the male character role. During the short clip of the film, Connor, the lead male character is introduced to Mia. As she is dancing in the kitchen she turns around and he is standing in the doorway watching her. He also compliments her on her dancing, to which she then responds in quite an aggressive and defensive manner, however when his back is turned to her, she begins to admire his body, looking him up and down as the camera shoots from her point of view to capture the sense of realism in the scene. It also becomes apparent, later on in the clip when Connor leaves the flat, as the calm between the characters suddenly turns into chaos 

Sci-fi Conventions Present in The Hunger Games

A narrative theme that appears in the sequence of The Hunger games is the anti establishment ideology. This is shown through the story behind The Hunger Games. It describes district 12 as one of many who tried to rebel against the authority and wealthy district. The underclass districts lost however, and the one power district remains to this day the establishment district. As punishment for rebelling, the poorer districts are forced to compete in The Hunger Games and fight to the death, This is showing them that they will never be in power and they are forever controlled by fear.

Another convention that appears in The Huger Games that also fits in with the sci-fi genre is the iconography of technology. Certain objects such as the train they travel on is clearly an example of the high end technology that the hierarchy have use of. This district also show clear iconography of their power through their extravagant clothes and make up. This contrasts with the iconography shown by district 12. This, and many of the other districts competing are shown a very poor and under established. There is no clear signs of any technology present, in fact, it is represented as it is from the past, as the children know how to hunt. This technology and contrast within the district is also shown when Katniss is being tested on in a lab. She is made to look almost like an experiment, showing where the power lies.