Luther

1. REALISM
in Luther

2. TO COME…
• How has sound been used in this scene to create meaning?
• How does this extract represent a version of reality?
• How do crime drama represent the concerns of the time in which they
are made?
• How do production processes influence crime drama?
• How might media regulation impact crime drama programmes?
• How might different audiences use crime drama to fulfil their needs?
• How might different audiences respond to crime drama

4. mise-en-scene,
camerawork, editing,
sounds

5. HOW MIGHT A CRIME DRAMA CREATE A
SENSE OF REALITY?

6. HOW DO THESE SCENES UNDERCUT THE
SENSE OF REALISM?

8. • Both scenes in the extract (the flat/stairwell and bridge) appear to have been filmed on location,
anchoring the text in ‘real’ life
• Subdued artificial lighting on the stairwell and natural lighting in the bridge scene adds to this
‘realism’ but frames the scenes within the ‘gritty’ crime genre
• A long shot of the London skyline is used to establish Luther walking on to the bridge, reinforcing
that this is a real location
• Background action (pedestrians, vehicles) is used to place the hero and villain in the real world; the
diegetic sounds associated with these are also used
• The characters’ hair is blown around as they are in an open air, real location
• The version of reality established at the start of the scene is side-lined somewhat as the drama of the
scene increases
• Other conventions used perhaps work to undercut how ‘real’ the audience would perceive these
scenes to be, e,g. melodramatic non-diegetic music, the dramatic device of having the detective leave
her flat only just before the villain arrives home and that no passers-by intervene when a man is first
threatened with a knife and then holds a woman over the side of a bridge

9. • Luther as a stereotypical ‘troubled’ male detective. His dress codes, unshaven with his
top button undone and a loose tie, connote this
• Problems in his family life are also stereotypical of this kind of crime drama hero
• Luther as a stereotypical ‘maverick’ male detective, bending the rules of what the
police are allowed to do by breaking in to Alice’s apartment and taking the urn as
evidence without a warrant/authorisation
• Luther losing his temper and physically threatening the villain by holding her over the
side of the bridge reinforces this ‘maverick’ male stereotype, as does his threat to
frame her for the murders by planting evidence

10. • In the extract, Alice Morgan taunts Luther with how carefully she has ensured there is no evidence
of her crime - this shows her as highly intelligent and is a distinctive character for the genre which
varies the conventions and challenges stereotypes within the genre and in society more broadly of
men being more intelligent than women
• In the extract, Alice Morgan threatens Luther with a kitchen knife and says 'kiss me or kill me'. This
shows her as a dangerous woman and relates to the stock character or archetype of the ‘femme
fatale’ which is typical of ‘noir’ as a cultural context, but less common in television crime drama
• Morgan’s red hair and dark red lips perhaps connecting to the ‘femme fatale’ character of noir
crime dramas
• In the extract, Alice Morgan is shown as a complex character who commits crimes but also relates
to Luther – this is an unconventional relationship between the two characters and varies the female
role in crime drama where women are sometimes the heroes (police/detectives) or typically the
victims of crime.
• The efficient, ruthless connotations of her dress codes (smart jacket, trousers and boots) are
stereotypical of a villain and challenge stereotypes of women as 'gentle' or 'caring'