TV Industry: Life on Mars - Genre

• Learning objectives: To study Life on Mars, TV series, with consideration given to generic issues, signifiers, conventions, iconography.

• Key terms: 
• Pleasures of watching crime dramas: How the text appeals to the audience.
• Verisimilitude: the appearance of being true or real.
• Convention: the widely recognised way of doing something which is to do with content, form and style.

• Crime drama is one of the most enduring, popular genres, not just on TV but also novels, films and theatre.

• Its engaging narrative offers a space for debates about policing, criminality, gender, race and social and cultural values.
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• There are two kinds of TV crime drama, with important distinctions between them. 
• One-off crime dramas tend to focus on the kinds of crime that create the most anxiety among the viewing public. They are distinguished by the aspects of law enforcement that they focus on, for example a police inspector, a team of detectives, a psychologist or a lawyer.
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• Long running TV crime dramas will have a variety of sub-plots over time that help build relationships between characters.
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Life on Mars

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• The following are key elements of the genre all of which can be seen as contributing to audience pleasures of watching crime dramas:
• Resolution to a mystery
• Question of morality
• Debates about innocent and guilt
• Verisimilitude- audience can recognise the representations of ‘ordinary’ people in everyday environment. If a text lacks verisimilitude it can be said to be unrealistic.
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• Power struggles between divisions of the police; government and the police and the judiciary system and the police
• Life on Mars is an unusual hybrid of time travel, science fiction and crime drama.
• The central concept is Detective Inspector Sam Tyler who is from present day Manchester wakes up in 1973.
• This programme was a new twist to crime drama as one suggestion Tyler may be in a coma in 2006 imagining his experiences. This innovation is one of the reasons for the success of the series. 
• The audience is uncertain whether Tyler may really be in from 1973 or having visions or if he has traveled back in time.
• This was not a typical crime drama series as it showed how the 1970s were very politically incorrect as it looked at sexism, racism, homophobia, police brutality. This politically incorrectness was one of the main themes that ran through the series as Sam Tyler regularly clashed with DCI Gene Hunt over police approaches.

Post modernism:


In the 70's, The Sweeney wasn't Post Modern.
Until the media producers and therefore the audience have a text to compare with they cannot be part of 'the joke'. You live in the post modern era where the majotity of texts rely on intertextual referencing as a factor of post modernism.

Life on Mars, BBC, 2006-07

You will look specifically at Episode 4 of Series 2 which can be found on the student shared drive.

Remember if answering the question on texts (Section A) you must choose one question out of two options.

Your focus for this question will be Common, Luther and Life on Mars.

You should be able to discuss the following:

• Genre: The generic codes and conventions relating to the three television shows we have studied.
• Narrative: The narrative structures and techniques appropriate to the three texts.
• Representations: The main representations contained within the three texts. Specifically; people, places or issues.

Semiotic analysis of opening title sequence:

Dream/ flashback to past (Sam as child)

Golden glow - sense of nostalgia created by warm, high key lighting on Auntie Heather - She is represented as a caring maternal figure in Sam's life.

Sound echoes (dreamy/dislocation), calm emotive music.

Mid shot of Sam in bed -camera on its side, as the camera turns through 90 degrees it signifies Sam's return to reality or waking up.

Mise-en-scene of Sam's flat establishes the 1970's - large floral patterns, old fashioned TV that Sam tries to tune.

There is a sense of impermanence; peeling wallpaper, sleeping bag.

Title sequence:

Explanation of the narrative - generic to every episode ' My name is Sam Tyler...' explains the accident but creates enigma as he says ' am I mad, in a coma or back in time?'

Mid shot of Sam on the ground (camera turned on its side echoing the bed shot)

Dramatic music echoing a heartbeat to build tension

Slow motion effect as Sam talks about being on a different planet to signify his isolation and feeling of being out of step. Connotations of the slow process of policing in 1973

Low angled shots of the police signify authority, upholds dominant ideologies of police and power

Iconography of police genre: Mise en scene of police station, music, male, investigation, violence, car

Female presence suggests love interest

Task 1:

Carry out a semiotic analysis of the post title sequence. Bullet points orange books.

This is the introduction to the main narrative, the discovery of a body is the inciting incident that sets the narrative arc in motion.

Close up of grassy ground; tilting crane shot moves out to reveal children playing on derelict land.

Life on Mars - Genre:

Police/Detective

Narrative: Investigation into a young woman's death.

Mise-en-scene: Police station, blinds, smoke etc. (at times this is iconic of film noir).

Sci-Fi

Narrative: Time travel / Parallel universe.

Mise-en-scene: Technology used as a means of communication e.g. TV, radio, telephone.

Comedy

Themes: Culture clash, conflict of attitudes between 1973 and 2006

Dialogue

Drama

Narrative: Sam's dislocation and desire to return to the present and the attempts to contact him from the present.

Task 2: 

Watch Series 2 Episode 4 of Life on Mars and and answer the following question:

How does the programme consciously show politically incorrect behaviour and attitudes for audiences to judge them in our time? The file can be found in [StudentShare>Media>A2_2016]

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Postmodernism:

Life on Mars is a hybrid of different genres. This offers new pleasures for audiences:

There is an evident crossing and fusing of different time periods - misunderstandings, humour, culture clashes.

Irony e.g. naming assumed identities Tony and Cherie Blair.

Influence of other media - Life on Mars is the title of a song by David Bowie (as is the title of the next series; Ashes to Ashes).

It has been argued that, in 1973, sexism hadn't been invented.

Task 3:

How does the title sequence of Life on Mars use genre conventions?

-You should open your response by outlining what is to be understood by the genre genre conventions of TV Crime drama.
Consider:
Settings, usually well known places or cities which are dangerous places.
Titles, can give a clue to the genre, CSI, Sherlock, Sweeney. Mise-en-scene can include genre conventions, blood, X-Rays, weapons, fingerprints, police tape or cars...discuss Luther titles here.
Characters are divided into types; crime solvers, criminals, victims. Propp's characters can usually be applied here.
At the end of the episode/series the crime is solved, criminal usually is punished. Lead characters will often have a back story, and will weave their personal life in to the narrative. There is usually mystery involved, or some sort of puzzle, so that the audience can try to figure it out themselves. Almost always ends on a cliffhanger to keep the audience watching the next episode. 
Binary opposites are often used to keep the audience interested.
Don't forget audio codes such as sirens and often a humming sound to make the audience uncomfortable.

• How does the episode replicate, with some variation, standard conventions?
• Demonstrate some of the reasons for this approach to production.
• Consider the ideological implications of conforming or challenging standard conventions.

1. What information does the opening sequence give the audience? 

Firstly, the colour scheme of red and yellow signifies danger, blood, violence death and crime. These signifiers can be linked to the ‘mean world syndrome’ (A lens through which the audience views the world as dangerous and 'mean...' reception of the text suggests anxiety is communicated) which is backed up by the graphic iconography of bullet holes and crime tape. 

2. How do the graphics signify information? What does it stand for? 

The graphics consist of a colour palette of red and yellow, which connotes danger and violence. The graphics also consist of mainly squares, lines and droplets. The Lines could represent broken shards of glass or possibly even a spider diagram interlinking different crimes, events and the role of Luther in deconstructing this web of enigma. (Barthes) The silhouette of Luther presents the main protagonist, literally 'in the shadow,' which indicates that he is an anti-hero. This may also foreshadow his need to break the law on occasion in order to apprehend the law breakers. This reflects changing attitudes toward morality in the modern world...right and wrong, good and evil become subjective viewpoints. The lines create confinement (are these legal constraints) within the frame itself. Also the droplets are used as transitions and can connoteblood or violence. Although the series is based in the present, the opening sequence has a grain effect in order to give a vintage or crime noir aesthetic. The sequence has intertextual value, as the abstract imagery is associated with James Bond. Likewise, this suggests that Luther is a super-sleuth. Images of fingerprints are also used as it is associated with forensic evidence (sub-genre) and profiling criminals. As we don't know who the finger prints belong to,everybody remains a suspect. (Crime genre convention) A large eye is visible at 0:22, with the red background seen throughout the film. The red colour changes the way we perceive the image of the eye. The eye would normally resemble sight and the future, but the red adds a hint of violence, resembling the eye of a witness or the criminal. 

3. How have music and audiocodes been used to style the pace of the programme? 
The music is supposed to be the backing track for the opening, creating a suitable (meanworld) atmosphere for viewing the series. The soundtrack isn’t fast paced and is instead slow and dark, which reinforces the themes of the drama itself. The beat is rhythmic and consistent throughout the entire sequence, providing appropriate places for the editor to cut on the beat. The repetitive melody places the music in the trance sub-genre and communicates tension. A However, the lyrics in the opening sequence are very dark, and certain phrases in the song link to specific parts of the theme. For example, at 0:22, we can hear the woman singing ‘eyes of flame’ and we see the image of an eye followed up by the eye of Idris Elba a.k.a. Luther. The flames have demonic connotations and suggest that he will need dark, demonic powers to combat the problems faced in the criminal underworld

4. Which characters are introduced and what expectations does the audience have?

As an audience we can tell that Idris Elba is the main character from the introduction of his name over the dark silhouette. His star persona therefore anchors the character he is playing as Elba is well known for playing hyper-masculine characters. He has been in several well known crime series, this builds an expectation from the audience about the series. The audience would normally expect 2 or 3 of the other main characters to appear during the opening, but Luther defies that expectation and we only catch short glimpses of Luther’s face and his silhouette. The core target audience is British (although it is a successful international export too), I believe that the audience would expect to see imagery of the city to establish location. Ruth Wilson is well known for playing the role of ‘Femme Fatale’ in other films/series. When her name shows up next to the silhouette of Luther, this indicates to the audience that she will play an important role. 

5. How is the narrative being introduced? 

From the opening sequence we can tell that it is based in London, because of the vectors of the London skyline. We can also tell that this is a show about crime, due to the iconographic markers of yellow police tape and fingerprints. From the image of lines linking from the Vectors of London to Luther, we can feel that Luther is connected to the imagery of the city. This is reinforced up by the blood red sky, indicating danger and emphasises the ‘Mean World Syndrome’. However the counterclaim for this would be that Luther is a ‘Super Cop’ and that he will reassure any anxieties (Richard Sparks) or problems that get it in his way.

6. What clues are given about the sub-genre? 
Firstly, the images of fingerprints indicate that this is a sleuth as in common detective/sleuth TV shows and films, fingerprints are found at crime scenes by the main sleuth. Blood droplets can indicate crime, murder or violence, which are common factors in the sleuth sub-genre. Also the image of a police line tape is shown to indicate crime or police investigations and reinforce the image of crime genre.

A1. To what extent are your chosen texts typical of their genre? 

This is an A grade response which dealt with Luther as one of the texts, you will write about Common, Luther and Life on Mars:

BBC’s police drama, ‘Luther’ is a strongly typical of the police drama series. Set around the life of police detective John Luther, the series follows many of the conventions used within this genre, reminiscent of similar texts such as ‘Cracker’ and ‘Silent Witness’. Firstly, the series adheres to the crime series genre by using the familiar narrative of the police force catching the criminal. Throughout the series, new criminals are introduced only to be brought down by Luther and his team, creating peace, equilibrium, again taking Todrov’s theory into account. Interestingly Propp's idea of the hero character, here clearly defined as John Luther himself, is portrayed by black actor Idris Elba, subverting the stereotype that the hero must be a white male. However, the hero soon begins to display stereotypes and conventions visual to the television crime series, as we discover that John Luther is a troubled man, has anger issues and recently split up with his wife. This trait, the troubled cop, is heavily used throughout the series, drawing similarities to other crime dramas, such as Cracker, where the hero Fitz, played by Robbie Coltrane, has problems with alcohol and gambling. 

The good cop, bad cop stereotype is played upon in the form of good policeman Justin Rifoley, playing off Luther’s bad cop temper. Most characters speak with working class accents, DCI Rose Telser utilising a slightly dodgy cockney twang, which is a convention of most crime dramas, adding a gritty, realistic tone shying away from unnatural Received Pronunciation. Finally, the series lead setting, the police station, connotes to the audience that they are watching a police drama and not a romantic comedy, providing sufficient realism whilst enabling the writers to fill in any holes simply by pointing to a chart in the meeting room.

In conclusion, these three texts are typical of their genres, strongly conforming to the conventions laid down by series within the same genre that have come before them, adhering to character, setting and iconography traits, and whilst in places this is occasionally subverted, on the whole, it remains similar.