Throughout the three main texts there are a variety of conventions and representations which are presented to us, appealing to a wide audience to create a wide range of responses, each with polysemic features.
To begin, set in Birmingham in 1919, Peaky Blinders is a crime drama which follows former world war one soldiers who have returned home and formed a criminal gang. Throughout examples we see of it being a highbrow text, showing cultural and intellectual richness with postmodern values, each contributing to attract its audience. To begin the fact that it is set after the first world war would attract a audience who are interested in the culture at that present time, mainly a much older audience. In addition, the fact that it is set in Birmingham will have more appeal to those in the midlands than those who aren't. This gives the audience a sense of national identity when watching Peaky blinders. Peaky Blinders has been complimented on its high production values and cinematography. The use of key lighting, slow motion scenes and camera movement helps portray what is going on with more detail. For example when Tommy is sleeping and has a flash back to the war, what we see is a fight scene but the camera movement is very disjointed and the only clear thing we see is someone getting stabbed. This as an audience makes us focus on key things in the scene and tells us about the character in more detail, in this case we learn that Tommy is still suffering from the war with the flashbacks and disturbed sleep. This is favoured by the viewers and is more pleasing to watch. In addition, at the beginning of episode two of season one we see a lens flare during the fight scene. Research suggests that a negotiated audience enjoyed the text. Even so Peaky Blinders requires quite an active audience to be viewed to its full potential. However throughout it lacked originality and often seemed to mirror some of the key narrative themes of board walk empire. This is similarly about American gangsters around the same era perfuming similar acts.
Encoding and decoding is an active theory developed by Stuart Hall which examines the relationship between a text and its audience. This theory can be applied to Peaky Blinders. The characters we see have been encoded in a certain way to appeal to us as an audience. For example Tommy is portrayed as a strong confident male. His attributes are easily shown to us with leader like traits but along side this he has a mental problem from the war and he's an alcoholic. Aunt Polly is protruded as a strong willed, strong minded independent woman. The society Peaky Blinders is set in is quite a mysoginistic one so her persona is very good. She has mother traits to people she involves herself with, and especially in comparison to the other female characters as they are shown to us as quite vulnerable. Chief inspector Campbell is also another strong male. However he is a rival to Tommy. The fact that he's Irish also brings up issues of the Irish republican army which was a big deal at that time. As an active audience, decoding these characters allows us to engage with the texts and allows us to find out their personality and finding out why they're this way appeals to us and helps us plot what will happen to them.
Mad Men is an American TV series drama. One of the main appeals of Mad Men is its attention to detail. To begin the use of retrophilla is always represented from the date it is set in. Being set in the 1960's, audiences who remember that time will recognize the attitudes and views of the time. An obvious one is the attitudes towards women. Women in Mad Men are represented as if they are lesser than men, and his is clearly shown in the workplace as the mens attitude towards them is always quite perverted and sexualised with no serious attitude. In episode 5 of season 11 there is a scene where Don Draper is making his Jaguar pitch for his company. This particular scene is constructed in a very clever way which active audiences would like. As he is describing the car in all its beauty we see Joan who is getting used for the company. As a result of this it appears as if Don is also describing Joan, or women in general. As an active audience this is a very interesting scene as it represents the attitudes towards possessions of that time Another one is what they all wear. They dress in a very classy way with men in suits and women in dresses which is a strong representation of the time. These conventions will bring nostalgia to the audience provide entertainment through that. To build on this, racism is also shown. Although this is very subtle it is still a underlying current throughout. Looking at the work place and the workers it is noticeable that there are no other ethnicity's show apart from white American males and females. The segregation, the fact that one of them says "Get a colored person in, they don't mind being told what to do" and the fact that that nobody challenges those comments saying that its racist gives us a clear portrayal of how people of that time regard a multi ethnic workplace and society. It is clear to see that Mad Men has been produced with the intent to touch peoples personal identity as a lot of its viewers would have experienced these attitudes in their lifetime. With these features its is easy to say that Mad Men is aimed at an active audience as these little features included will only be noticeable with an active viewing.
Lost is an American television series created by JJ Abrams. In the little sequence we see in Lost there are examples of how the producers are trying to target their chosen audiences. To begin Lost is made by ABC which is a major film label, so we know it is aimed at a mainstream audience. Furthermore some enigma codes are shown. We see a handful of characters walking through the forest together in a big group, like they are vulnerable on their own. As an audience this makes us question what is in this forest and what danger could possible happen. This is supported by the non-digetic sound. The the slow flowing music is full of tension and suspense. The second enigma code we see is when Syed and Sawyer argue. These two characters clash and argue quite a lot in the starting stages, we even see them fighting earlier on. This makes us as an audience question what will happen between these two. Will they fight even more or become friends? The use of the hypodermic model through this allows the audience to passively be entertained by these devices. However the uses and gratifications theory can be applied after a audience watch Lost. After it is over they still think about what has happened in the text and actively engage with it in their mind others online. Before we even see the bear we hear the use of digetic sounds such as bushes rustling and aggressive growling. As this is happening the camera queues to close ups of the characters faces and their expressions. This allows the audience to gain a deeper insight as to what each of the characters seen is like, letting us learn about their personality and how they act when in trouble. The use of an ensemble cast with a range of age, race and personality allows the audience to pick their favorites and even gives them some form of national identity if they are the same ethnicity.
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