Introduction to Long Form TV Drama

Paper 2 – Evolving Media
SECTION B: Long Form Television Drama (LFTVD)
2 SET PRODUCTS
Episodes 1 ONLY
The next 5 weeks

SECTION B: LONG FORM TELEVISION DRAMA (LFTVD)
• This is a synoptic study (Representation, Media Lang,
Industries, Audiences, contexts and theories (Academic Ideas
and Arguments)
• with a 30 mark question that will cover all 'theoretical
frameworks’ (media Lang/Represent/Audiences/Industries)
• There will also be a 10 mark question asking students to
evaluate an academic idea or argument from any framework.

You should be able to discuss: (on Moodle)
- media language. Meaning created. Genre conventions, hybridity, intertextuality. Techniques and
multiple narrative strands over the 'long form’.
- representations Portrays events, issues, individuals and social groups. Positioning
of audiences through the values, attitudes and beliefs conveyed by the social, cultural, historical and
political context of the set texts.
- Industries - the influence of technological change, digitally convergent media platforms (production,
marketing, distribution and exhibition of long form television drama) The impact of digital distribution
platforms on the contemporary global television industry.
- the economic and industrial context behind the large budgets currently given to contemporary US long
form television dramas compared to those produced in other contexts.
- how audiences consume and interpret LFTVD in different ways. Target audience, demographic and
technological factors related to consumption. Audience interpretation and responses (become
producers themselves)

WHAT IS A LONG FORM TELEVISION DRAMA?
• High quality TV Drama
• Approximately 10 episodes
• In-depth, lengthy often complex narratives
• Allows plot and characters to develop over time
• Characters motives develop
• Complex characters – ambiguous, enigmatic, polysemic text
• Creates tension and engages audience (active spectators)
• Recent shift – Box Sets. Binge Watching
• A cross over between Cinema and Television
• Attracts the best innovative Directors, Actors and Writers

MIND MAP
What does a long form television drama need to have?
(Codes and conventions)
Long Form
Television Drama

MIND MAP
What does a television drama need to have? (Codes and conventions)
Long Form
Television Drama
Dramatic cliff hangersVarious locations
Multiple narratives /
Flexi Narratives Stock characters
High production values
1 hour episodes
Unusual characters
Original/Innovation Concepts

WHAT
IS LONG FORM
TV DRAMA?
"Long-from TV drama is a concept to describe the
recent shift of interest towards television series
of high quality drama that many consider to have
replaced cinema as the focus
of serious entertainment. Unfolding over multiple
episodes...these TV shows are seen to provide
content described as dark and difficult,
yet produced in an innovative style
that strains against the conventions of cinema as well
as network television."
(http://questia.com, 2014)

DISTRIBUTION AND CONSUMPTION
Long Form TV Dramas
are accessible to online
audiences who are no
longer constrained
by TV Schedules.
'Time shift'
recording. DVD and
Blu-Ray boxsets plus
streaming services
such as Netflix,
Amazon Prime and
All4 allow
for immediate online
consumption and
more choice.
Has led to
phenomenon of
'binge watching'.
In America in particular,
online distribution has
meant producers are no
longer constrained by the
strict rules on 'adult'
content that affect
TV network broadcasters.

SET TEXTS:
LIST A: US DRAMA
(ENGLISH LANGUAGE)
STRANGER THINGS
(SEASON 1, EPISODE 1 JULY
2016 BBFC, 12)
LIST B: EUROPEAN DRAMA
(NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE)
DEUTSCHLAND 83 (SERIES
1, EPISODE 1, OCTOBER
2015 BBFC, 15)

WE WILL NOW WATCH
BOTH SET TEXTS IN CLASS.
MAKE SOME NOTES ON
WHAT YOU FIND
INTERESTING IN TERMS OF
MEDIA LANGUAGE AND
REPRESENTATION

EVOLVING MEDIA:
LONG FORM TV DRAMA
Media Language
and Representation.
PART ONE: how media
language is used to create
meaning in both texts including
through genre
conventions, hybridity,
intertextuality and multiple
narrative strands over the
'long form'.

WATCH STRANGER
THINGS AGAIN AND
MAKE NOTES IN
TERMS OF:
Technical elements (Camera, Lighting,
Editing, Sound, Performance and Mise
en Scene)using Semiotics
Narrative including binary oppositions
and equilibrium/disequilibrium.
Genre including hybridity.
Postmodernism including
intertextuality and hyper-realism.

BARTHES’ SEMIOTICS
Technical elements (Camera, Lighting,
Editing, Sound, Performance and Mise
en Scene)using Semiotics

MEDIA LANGUAGE REPRESENTATION DRCAGES
•Mise en scene
•Camerawork
•Sound
•Editing
•Disability/ability
•Regional identity
•Class/Socio economic
status/Social Groups
•Age
•Gender
•Ethnicity
•Sexuality/Sexualisation

APPLYING SEMIOTICS
(ROLAND BARTHES)
TO EXAMPLES OF
MOVING IMAGE WHEN
REFERRING TO MEDIA
LANGUAGE.

TODOROV’S NARRATIVE THEORY
Narrative including binary oppositions
and equilibrium/disequilibrium.

LEVI-STRAUSS’S BINARY OPPOSITIONS

GENRE
FRENCH WORD THAT MEANS ‘TYPE’ OR ‘KIND’
• Genre = a type or category of film
• Genre is a way of categorising films with similar
characteristics – generic conventions

GENRE
HOW CAN WE IDENTIFY GENRE? CODES & CONVENTIONS
1. Setting – location, historical period
2. Themes – Greed, law & Order, Building New Lives, Corruption
3. Characters – formal gunslinger, shy single man, the bully
4. Props & Significant Objects – eg weapons
5. Narrative & Plot – a small town is being terrorised by a gang, the
environmentalist’s warnings come true.
6. Style – wide shots of landscapes, mass destruction

GENRE CONVENTIONS
SEMANTIC
• Props
• Costumes
• Character types
• Locations
SYNTACTIC
• Ideologies
• Narratives
• Representations
• Social Cultural Political Historical
Contexts

What does
Genre mean?
Not static –
constantly
evolving
Genres offer
reassurance to
the audience
A set of
characteristics
or formulae
Minimises risk
or failure of a
film
A set of rules
and vocabulary
to organise
meaning
Meeting
Audiences
expectations =
pleasure

GENRE AND PRODUCERS
• Producers often repeat generic formulas that have been
commercially successful
• Many directors are associated with particular genres.
• Roland Emmerich and Disaster Movies.
• Some actors are linked with genre – Hugh Grant & RomComs
• Bruce Willis?
• Jennifer Aniston?

STRANGER THINGS – GENRE?
•Sci-Fi (Science Fiction)
•Horror

SCIENCE FICTION FILM GENRE CONVENTIONS
Quasi-scientific
Visionary and imaginative
Heroes, aliens
Distant planets, quests, fantastic places,
new technology and extraordinary
monsters.
Sci-fi films often feature multiple genres.
They often adopt a current zeitgeist – Cold
War, Fear of Technology, The Environment

ICONOGRAPHY
• Spaceships
• Aliens from other planets
• Weapons (laser beams)
• Conceptualism of the future
• Time Travel
• Breaking the laws of Physics
• Technology – robots, computers as antagonists

SCIENCE FICTION GENRE STRANGER THINGS
CODES & CONVENTIONS
1. Setting
2. Themes
3. Characters
4. Props & Significant Objects
5. Narrative & Plot
6. Style

1. Setting – Laboratories
2. Themes – Technology goes wrong, corruption, good v evil
3. Characters – Scientists, innocent victims
4. Props & Significant Objects – technology, weapons
5. Narrative & Plot – A dangerous entity threatens innocent people
6. Style – high key lit scientific labs, low key lit attacks, fast paced chase scenes
SCIENCE FICTION GENRE STRANGER THINGS
CODES & CONVENTIONS

SCI-FI DRAMA EVOLVES THROUGH SPECIFIC STAGES OF
DEVELOPMENT:
1 - Primitive - form Finds Itself
2 - Classic
3 - Revisionist - pushes boundaries
4 - Parody Stage
5 - Homage
STEVE NEAL GENRE THEORY

NEALE – GENRE THEORY
• Steve Neale says that “genres are instances of
repetition and difference.”
• He argues that because of that, film genre goes
through a cycle of changes throughout its lifespan
• The genre will change its signs, orientation or
expectations in order to move to the next stage of
the cycle.

PRIMITIVE GENRE STAGE
• Trip to the Moon (1902) George Melies
• Metropolis (1927) Fritz Lang

CLASSIC SCIENCE FICTION
• The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
• It Came from Outer Space (1953)
• The Blob (1958)

REVISIONIST STAGE
• 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968)
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind
• ET – Extra Terrestrial
• Alien
• Hybrid genres: Cowboys versus Aliens – new idea = $$$?

PARODY STAGE
• Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
• Spaceballs (1987)
• Galaxy Quest (1999)

HOMAGE STAGE - INTERTEXTUALITY - PASTICHE

• Rick Altman refers to Science Fiction genre as a ‘parasitical genre’
that relies on hybrids
Semantics + Syntactical frameworks taken from elsewhere. Eg
• Science Fiction/Horror – Alien
• Sci Fi / War – Star Wars
• Sci Fi /Western –Star Trek ‘wagon train to the stars’
There is No Syntactic framework in
Science Fiction genre

HORROR FILM
Unsettling films designed to;
• Frighten and panic (but in a safe environment)
• Cause dread and alarm
• Invoke our hidden worst fears
• Captivate and entertain us in a cathartic experience.
• Often conclude in a terrifying shocking Finale.

FEARS CREATED BY HORRORS
• For different types of audiences it can deal with our fears;
• Nightmares
• Our vulnerability
• Alienation
• Revulsions
• Terror of the unknown
• Fear of death
• Loss of identity
• Fear of sexuality

CONVENTIONS
• There's always a lead character, that often results as the survivor in the
film.
• The Killer/ monster often has a trademark characteristic in the way he
kills, for example the people he kills or the weapon he uses to kill them.
• Its usually good against evil, the two characters conflict.
• The outcome is the good person always survives, or defeats the “bad
guy.

HORROR GENRE - STRANGER THINGS
CODES & CONVENTIONS
1. Setting
2. Themes
3. Characters
5. Narrative & Plot
6. Style

1. Setting – dark woods, cabin in the woods
2. Themes - violence, heroes and villains, good v evil
3. Characters – group of teenagers that explore/attempt to solve mystery
4. Props & Significant Objects – monster, weapons
5. Narrative & Plot – Someone goes missing/is murdered or attacked
6. Style - Low key lit locations to create tension
HORROR GENRE - STRANGER THINGS
CODES & CONVENTIONS

HORROR EVOLVES THROUGH SPECIFIC STAGES OF
DEVELOPMENT:
1 - Primitive - form Finds Itself
2 - Classic
3 - Revisionist - pushes boundaries
4 - Parody Stage
5 - Homage
STEVE NEAL GENRE THEORY

FORM FINDING ITSELF
Ground breaking films that begin a new
genre (usually building on an older genre)
Slasher example – Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock
1960) AND Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe
Hooper 1974)
PRIMITIVE GENRE STAGE

CLASSIC
Associated with the genre by the majority
of audiences, adds essential elements
(like codes and conventions) that become
the norm in future films
Slasher example – Halloween (John
Carpenter 1978)

PUSHES BOUNDARIES
Stretches the classic by tweaking elements,
sometimes by using the unexpected or by
going even further with the current codes
and conventions.
Slasher Example - “Friday the 13th” ( Sean
S Cunningham 1980)

PARODY
Focuses on the elements of the genre
that are commonly repeated in films
and mocks them in a humourous way
(such as stereotypes or specific scenes
or actions)
Slasher Example – Scary Movie (Keenan
Ivory Wayans 2000)

Homage
Makes reference to other famous films from
the genre as a mark of respect. Especially by
using specific scenes or situations or even
sometimes by direct reference

GENRE CONVENTIONS
• Deutschland 83 genre?
• What genres? https://www.filmsite.org/subgenres2.html

SPY/THRILLER /ESPIONAGE GENRE
DEUTSCHLAND 83 CODES & CONVENTIONS
1. Setting
2. Themes
3. Characters
5. Narrative & Plot
6. Style

Recognisable
conventions/ingredients /
Dominant repetition = ‘Mastery’
+
Borrow from others / revitalizes
genres
GENES HELP MARKET A PRODUCT

STRANGER THINGS
Traditional Conventions
SEMANTIC
• Props
• Costumes
• Character types
• Locations
SYNTACTIC
• Ideologies
• Narratives
• Representations
• Social Cultural Political Historical
Contexts
New /Hybridised Conventions
SEMANTIC
• Props
• Costumes
• Character types
• Locations
SYNTACTIC
• Ideologies
• Narratives
• Representations
• Social Cultural Political Historical Contexts

MEDIA MAGAZINE ARTICLE
(Emailed to you)

Postmodernism including
intertextuality and hyper-realism.

POSTMODERNISM:
INTERTEXTUALITY
AND 'HYPER-REALISM'

INTERTEXTUALITY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwTpsw-ufDA

COMPLETE AT LEAST 8SEPARATE ANALYSIS SHEETS

REPRESENTATION THROUGH MEDIA LANGUAGE
(SEPARATE POWERPOINT TASK)

CREATE YOUR OWN
CHARACTER CHART
WITH BRIEF DESCRIPTION
OF THEIR ROLE,
RELATIONSHIP AND
ACTION IN EPISODE 1

DEUTSCHLAND 83
• Look at the official poster for Deutschland 83.
• What can you expect from the TV series?
Consider:
• Genre
• Narrative
• Intertextuality
• Historical Period it is set in
• Watch the Trailer – what expectations could be met?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4WIfrO0aig

HISTORICAL CONTEXT TO
DEUTSCHLAND 83
Complete the
historical research
before we watch
the programme

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
• How it All Started
After World War II the country of Germany ended up dividing into two separate countries.
• East Germany became a communist country under the control of the Soviet Union and Poland – The German Democratic Republic.
• East Germany was a satellite state of the Soviet Union. Soviet occupation authorities began transferring administrative responsibility
to German communist leaders in 1948, and the GDR began to function as a state on 7 October 1949. However, Soviet
forces remained in the country throughout the Cold War.
• Until 1989, the GDR was governed by the Socialist Unity Party (SED), though other parties nominally participated in its alliance
organisation, the National Front of Democratic Germany. The SED made the teaching of Marxism–Leninism and the Russian
language compulsory in schools.
• The economy was centrally planned and increasingly state-owned. Prices of housing, basic goods and services were set by central
government planners rather than rising and falling through supply and demand; and were heavily subsidised. Although the GDR had
to pay substantial war reparations to the USSR, it became the most successful economy in the Eastern Bloc. Emigration to the
West was a significant problem – as many of the emigrants were well-educated young people, it further weakened the state
economically. The government fortified its western borders and, in 1961, built the Berlin Wall. Many people attempting to flee were
killed by border guards or booby traps, such as landmines. Several others were imprisoned for many years

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
How it All Started
At the same time West Germany was a democratic country and allied with Britain, France, and the United States. The initial
plan was that the country would eventually be reunited, but this didn't happen for a long time. It was called the Federal
Republic of Germany.
• The Federal Republic of Germany was established from eleven states formed in the three Allied Zones of occupation held
by the United States, the United Kingdom and France (the "Western Zones"). US and British forces remained in the
country throughout the Cold War. Its population grew from roughly 51 million in 1950 to more than 63 million in 1990.
• At the onset of the Cold War, Europe was divided among the Western and Eastern blocs. Germany was de facto divided
into two countries and two special territories, the Saarland and divided Berlin. Initially the Federal Republic of Germany
claimed an exclusive mandate for all of Germany, considering itself to be the democratically reorganised continuation of
the 1871–1945 German Reich. It took the line that the GDR was an illegally constituted puppet state. Though the GDR
did hold regular elections, these were not free and fair.
• The FRG had major influences from America, England and Western cultures.

BERLIN…
The City of Berlin
Berlin was the capital of Germany. Even though it was located in the eastern half of the country, the city was controlled by all four
major powers; the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain, and France.
Defections
As people in East Germany began to realize that they did not want to live under the rule of the Soviet Union and communism, they
started to leave the eastern part of the country and move to the west. These people were called defectors.
Over time more and more people left. The Soviet and East German leaders began to worry that they were losing too many people.
Over the course of the years 1949 to 1959, over 2 million people left the country. In 1960 alone, around 230,000 people defected.
Although the East Germans tried to keep people from leaving, it was fairly easy for people to leave the city of Berlin because the inside
of the city was controlled by all four major powers.

THE BERLIN WALL
Building the Wall
Finally, the Soviets and the East German leaders had had enough. On August 12th and 13th of 1961 they built a wall around Berlin to
prevent people from leaving. At first the wall was just a barbed wire fence. Later it would be rebuilt with concrete blocks 12 feet high
and four feet wide.
•
https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/berlin-wall
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3Xe4AdJaFQ
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt7AA_JaDeM
•

THE PROGRAMME
Deutschland 83 is a German-American television series starring Jonas Nay as a 24-year-old native of East
Germany who in 1983 is sent to the West as an undercover spy for the HVA, the foreign intelligence agency of
the Stasi.
The Stasi – The ministry for state security or State Security Service. It was the official state security service of the
German Democratic Republic (East Germany). It has been described as one of the most effective and repressive
intelligence and secret police agencies to ever have existed. The Stasi was headquartered in East Berlin with an
extensive complex in Berlin and several smaller facilities throughout the city.
It is a co-production of AMC Networks' Sundance TV and RTL Television by the production company, UFA Fiction,
with international distribution by RTL Group's Fremantle Media International and North American distribution
by Kino Lorber.
The series premiered on 17 June 2015 on the Sundance TV channel in the United States, becoming the first German-
language series to air on a US network. The broadcast was in the original German, with English subtitles. It
subsequently aired in Germany beginning in November 2015, and in the UK on Channel 4 beginning in January
2016.

DEUTSCHLAND 83
• Re-watch the trailer and look at the poster again –
now you know some of the history – does this show
in both products?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4WIfrO0aig
• How could this link to Stranger Things?
• Complete research into the historical era for
Deutschland 83

OUR SECOND TELEVISION CLOSE-STUDY PRODUCT IS CRITICALLY
ACCLAIMED GERMAN COLD WAR SPY DRAMA DEUTSCHLAND 83.
LET’S SET THE SCENE – 1980S
• What do you already know about the 1980s from your study of Stranger Things?
• What are we expecting to see here in terms of Historical context – remember this
is set in East/West Germany

LET’S SET THE SCENE – 1980S
• What do you already know about the 1980s from your study of Stranger Things?
• What are we expecting to see here in terms of Historical context – remember this
is set in East/West Germany

TO BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THIS SERIES,
YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE COLD WAR
Your task:
Research The Cold War. You will need to know:
• Who the political dispute involved/was between;
• How long it lasted;
• How it affected everyday life for the residents of the countries it involved;
• How Germany was divided;
• The differences in culture/society between West and East Germany.
• The NATO exercise ‘Able Archer’

OVERVIEW
• Deutschland 83 is a German-American television series
starring Jonas Nay as a 24-year-old native of East Germany
who in 1983 is sent to West Germany as an undercover spy for
the HVA, the foreign intelligence agency of the Stasi.
• This means it falls under the bracket of the spy drama.
• Our set episode is called ‘Quantum Jump’ which in the
summary is described in the statement “East Germany's
Secret Service is concerned by American military plans in
West Germany. East German Secret Service employee Lenora
Rauch sends her nephew to West Germany to act as a spy.”

POLITICS, POLITICS.
1980S: REAGAN AND THE COLD WAR.
• THE 1980S: REAGAN AND THE COLD WAR.
• PRESIDENT REAGAN WON THE 1980 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION FOR THE
REPUBLICAN PARTY AND CAME TO POWER IN JANUARY 1981.
• Like many other American leaders during the Cold War, President
Reagan believed that the spread of communism anywhere threatened
freedom everywhere. As a result, his administration was eager to
provide financial and military aid to anti-communist governments and
insurgencies around the world.
• HE PURSUED A POLICY OF REARMAMENT AND PROVOKED AN ARMS
RACE WITH THE SOVIET UNION.

THE BERLIN WALL
• The Berlin Wall was a symbol of the Cold War, constructed after the Berlin crisis of 1961. Too many East
Berliner’s were abandoning East Germany for the west.
• It divided Communist-controlled East Berlin and NATO-supported West Berlin. East Germans were not
allowed to cross the border for a better life in the West – many were shot trying to climb over the wall.
• The East German government eventually allowed people to freely cross the border on 9 November 1989,
during the collapse of the East German Communist Government. This signalled the beginning of the end
of the Cold War.

• The Americans wanted to deploy medium range nuclear missiles into Europe. Which could strike targets in
Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in less time than an inter-continental missile – around 4 minutes.
• These were known as cruise missiles and Persian II missiles. This severely worried the ‘Warsaw Pact’ nations.
• Peace campaigners mounted demonstrations around Europe, led by C.N.D (Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament). Many campaigners erected peace sites around U.S military Bases. EG. Greenham Common

MEET THE POLITICIANS
Western Politicians Eastern Politicians
Ronald Reagan – U.S President –
Republican 1980-1988
Margaret Thatcher – UK Prime Minister – Conservative
1979-1990
François Mitterrand – French President
1981-1995
Helmut Kohl – West German Chancellor
1982-1998
Yuri Andropov – Soviet Union President
1982-1984
Erich Honecker – East German Chancellor
1971- 1989

HISTORICAL CONTEXT
• So…Deutschland ‘83 is set at the height of the Cold War.
• Martin Rauch is a border patrol guard in East Germany, the side of
Germany under USSR control. The East Germans lived in fear of a
nuclear attack from the West (America) and on the whole, lived
lives of relative poverty in comparison to the flush, westernised,
West Germany. Martin’s Aunt, Lenora, sends her Nephew to West
Germany where he works as a spy and becomes Mortiz Stamm.
This was an era categorised by espionage. Many people worked as
spies in West Germany, East Germany, America, Russia etc. and it
was a big problem for Governments with lots of resources devoted
to rooting out spies.

CULTURAL LINKS.
• The threat of a Nuclear exchange was a constant menace and was reflected in the pop culture of
the early 1980s
• Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Two Tribes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6-2b_3Dmxw
• Nena. 99 Red Balloons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14IRDDnEPR4
• The populations of Western and Eastern nations were drilled for war with public information
programmes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CWFbDEOoAY
• Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TIXBJuwUcE

SOCIAL/CULTURAL CONTEXT – VERY DIFFERENT DEPENDING ON THE SIDE OF THE
WALL YOU LIVED.
West Germany East Germany
- Similar to the U.S as under US influence-
CAPITALIST ECONOMY.
- Department stores, restaurants, cars, highways
- Western entertainment – television, films etc
- Fashion was less conservative and more radical
due to access to pop culture.
- Very vibrant music scene – (David Bowie lived in
West Berlin in the 70s) youth would go out to
party for most of the night
- No curfew and free movement
- Large discrepancy between rich and poor
- Under USSR control – COMMUNIST
- No billboards, neon signs or advertisements
- Very little choice of product
- State department stores were stark and was hard
to find a variety of supplies
- Difficult to own a car – very little traffic
- No entertainment that wasn’t politically altered or
focused.
- No western products except on the black market.
- Secret police were VERY observant and had many
informers
- Strict curfew

• Deutschland 83 versus Stranger Things
• Baudrillard – hyper-reality and post modernism
REALISM VERSUS NOSTALGIA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1glttxEEVuI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNd-qSF698A

DEUTSCHLAND 83 VERSUS STRANGER THINGS
REALISM VERSUS NOSTALGIA examples to support:
• Realism / Verisimilitude?
• Hyper reality / homage /Intertextual references (music, films etc)
• Positioning of audience? Why?
• Target audience? National/international? Media-savy v mainstream
• Reception theory – preferred reading, oppositional, negotiated

REALISM
• D83
• news footage
• Organisations that existed
• Locations – Bonn, Berlin etc
• Costumes
• Intertextual refs to music
• Economic refs to East Germany
• Stranger Things
• Technology
• Costumes
• Music
• Intertextual refs to 1980s
films…

NOSTALGIA
D83
• Music
• Humour over realism?
• Global audience therefore
homogenised viewpoint?
Stranger Things
• Filmic references – Pop Culture
– American Dream ideology
• Family unity
• Children on bicycles
• Picket fence

MEET THE SPY AGENCIES
Intelligence Services in the West Intelligence Services in the East
USA - CIA – Central Intelligence Agency
UK – MI5 – Military Intelligence 5
West Germany – FIS – Federal Intelligence
Service
USSR – KGB – Committee for State Security
East Germany – SSD – State Security Service –
known as the Stasi

KEY SCENE – MORTIZ’S FIRST TASTE OF WEST BERLIN
COMMERCIALISM/CAPITALISM

DEUTSCHLAND 83 ANALYSIS
• We will be looking at each scene in depth and
making notes.
• Analyse your given scene (accessed via E
Stream)
• Present to the class

CHARACTER NAMES
Martin Rauch and Moritz Stamm
Martin’s Aunt. One of the Stasi. She is
a cultural attaché of the East German
Permanent Mission (StäV) in Bonn
Martin’s girlfriend
Gen Edel’s son
Gen. Edel’s daughter
Martin’ mother
Gen. Edel’s wife
Gen. Edel’s sister in-law
Fellow East German spy
US NATO
Lenora's boss at the East
German Mission.
Mrs. Netz, General Edel's secretary.
Professor at University of Bonn and
Martin's handler who works for Stasi's
foreign arm, the Main Directorate for
Reconnaissance (HVA).

SCREEN SHOTS TO BACK UP POINTS – SCENE ONE

NARRATIVE - NARRATOLOGY
•Having watched Stranger Things and
Deutschland 83 how is 'disequilibrium'
established across the various plot strands?
• Make reference to your notes and the following slides to
help you.

DISEQUILI
BRIUM.
What are the parallel narratives?

DISEQUILI
BRIUM.
Will has gone missing.
Some kind of 'experiment' has unleashed a monster.
A mysterious 'girl' is on the loose.
Secret Service Agents appear willing to stop 'Eleven'
at any cost. (Benny Hammond, café owner shot)
Hopper struggling to make sense of the case and deal
with his sense of grief and chaotic home life.
Nancy's relationship with Steve undermining
her attempts at study.

DISEQUILI
BRIUM.
Ronald Reagan: ‘Evil Empire’ speech. Missile Crisis
escalates (news)
Ingrid Rauch’ kidney failure/lack of medical
support
Martin drugged and abducted to West Germany
Martin (Moritz) photographs missile sites – Gen
Jackson’s briefcase
Mrs/ Werner hears Martin phone East Germany
Lenora blackmails Martin to do ne more job

• THEORISTS?
• TERMINOLOGY?

• THEORISTS? Todorov & Levi Strauss
• TERMINOLOGY? Parallel narratives, plot, sub plot, linear,
flash backs, resolved, unresolved, omniscient narratives,
restricted narratives, foreshadowing, enigmas, lures,
disequilibrium, disruption, equilibrium, repairing
disruption, Audience positioning: dominant/ preferred
reading, oppositional reading, negotiated reading

DEUTSCHLAND 83
• The programme is on 4od and Reigate College E Stream
• It may be an idea to watch the next episode to see
where the narrative is going…..

LONG FORM TV DRAMA
• Recent shift of interest to TV Services:
• Distribution through internet platforms
• Quality Productions + Complex flex-narrative
• Choices on HOW to watch
• On-line = no TV schedules
• Time Shift recording
• Immediate on-line consumption ‘binge watching’
• Global Media Environment
• Cultural Texts beyond UK & US
• Sophisticated media savvy audiences
• Production companies that are free from studio-based production and formulaic drama productions

LONG FORM TV DRAMA - US
• US TV – dominated by cable TV eg HBO
• Many are subsidiaries of media conglomerates US Netowrks
– advertisers and controlled by federal regulation
• Netflix – on-line distributors – now produce themselves

This is a synoptic study (Representation, Media Lang,
Industries, Audiences, contexts and theories (Academic Ideas
and Arguments)
Q3 with a 30 mark question that will cover all 'theoretical
frameworks’ (media Lang/Represent/Audiences/Industries)
Q4 There will also be a 10 mark question asking students to
evaluate an academic idea or argument from any framework.

INDUSTRY
• Producers
• TV companies
• Budgets
• Distributed by
• On what platform/station
• Released in which countries / when

INDUSTRY• Producers
• TV companies
• Budgets
• Distributed by
• On what platform/station
• Released in which countries / when
• How else did fans/viewers interact with the programme?

• Research the following TV channels and consider their ideology and why
Deutschland 83 was aired on them
• Sundance TV – USA
• Channel 4 – UK
• RTL Television - Germany

PRODUCTION
• The show was created by the husband and wife team of American novelist Anna Winger and
German TV producer Joerg Winger. It is produced by Joerg Winger, Nico Hofmann, and
Henriette Lippold. Anna Winger said that they did extensive research with experts who
were from both sides of Germany. Historian Klaas Voss from the Hamburg Institute for
Social Research was very important in providing historical information. Jonas Nay, who
played Martin, said he received technical assistance from military adviser/NATO expert
Steffen Meier.
• The show was shot in and around locations in Berlin, Germany. A suburb in east Berlin was
used to portray period East Germany. For some scenes the Stasi headquarters was used as a
location and the production was able to film at the Stasi Museum, which is the actual site of
the original headquarters.
• Directors Edward Berger and Samira Radsi used the same crew—and often the same
locations—to shoot their respective episodes. One director would prepare for shooting
while the other was shooting. They worked in parallel like this throughout the filming of the
show.
• SundanceTV created a digital marketing strategy that reflected the use of locations in
Germany that were meant to recreate both East and West Germany in the early 1980s. The
marketing team created sliders that show locations as they were in contrast to the current
day.

RECEPTION
• 1) What positive aspects of Deutschland 83 are highlighted in the reviews?
2) What criticisms are made of the show?
3) Why did the Telegraph suggest that Deutschland 83 did the 'period' aspect of 'period drama'
so well?
4) Find three comments from either of the Guardian articles. What did the audience think
of Deutschland 83? Do you agree with the comments?

HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=UFXRYQ4VOHY
• 1) What does Jonas Nay say about growing up in a united Germany?
2) The Channel 4 News interview is conducted in German with English subtitles. How does this reflect
Channel 4's remit as a public service broadcaster and their target audience?
• "Channel 4 is a publicly-owned and commercially-funded UK public service broadcaster, with a
statutory remit to deliver high-quality, innovative, alternative content that challenges the status quo.”
3) Interviewer Matt Frei asks about the current political situation in Germany. Why might this interest
the audience of D83?

THE MAKING OF
• https://www.channel4.com/programmes/deutschland-83/videos/all/making-of-why-should-
you-watch-deutschland-83/4685975315001
• 1) Why should audiences watch Deutschland 83 - what does the clip offer viewers?
2) Why is history an important aspect of the appeal of the show?
3) What technical aspects are highlighted in the video?

THE MAKING OF
• https://www.channel4.com/programmes/deutschland-83/videos/all/making-of-set-
design/4685975324001
• 1) Why were the set design, costume and props so important for Deutschland 83?
2) How historically accurate was the setting, costume and props?
3) Why were the props, costumes and music such a key audience pleasure
for Deutschland 83?

HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?TIME_CONTINUE=3&V=EB0YFR2JVAU
• 1) The opening of the trailer uses sound and editing to draw the audience in. Explain why this is effective.
2) How does the trailer use action and enigma codes (Barthes) to encourage the audience to watch the show?
3)PRINT THREE SCREENSHOTS Pick three shots/scenes from the trailer that capture the spy thriller sub-genre. Why
might this appeal to an audience? Try and apply Neale's genre theory 'repetition and difference'.
4) PRINT THREE SCREEN SHOTS Pick three examples of mise-en-scene from the trailer that capture the 1983 setting
the confirm the sub-genre of period drama. Why might this appeal to an audience?
5) The trailer uses the song 'Two Tribes' by Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Why did the producers select this
soundtrack for the trailer?
6) The only words heard in the trailer are in English. Why do you think the UK trailer avoided subtitles or German
dialogue?

WHAT IS ‘WALTER PRESENTS’?

• Originally shown on Channel 4 and is now readily accessible through their ‘Walter Presents’
service.
• Walter Presents is a video on demand service of UK's Channel 4, part of its All 4 online
platform. Launched on 3 January 2016, it specialises in foreign language drama and comedy
(English subtitled). It is named after Walter Iuzzolino, who selects its content.
• In the UK the service is a partnership between Channel 4 and Global Series Network. It is
free to view and supported by adverts. Walter Iuzzolino began reviewing potential content
for the service two years before its launch, viewing 3,500 hours of television in all.
• The service aims to avoid so called art house programming in favour of more mainstream
productions, aimed at competing against services like Netflix and Amazon Prime, and
toward audiences already familiar with Nordic dramas such as The Bridge. Iuzzolino set
three criteria – any selected show must be popular in its native country, it must be "award-
winning or already critically acclaimed", and it must have "the finest writing, directing and
acting that each country has to offer....something worth our time as viewers".

• The series premiered on 17 June 2015 on the Sundance TV channel in the United States, becoming the first
German-language series to air on a US network. The broadcast was in the original German, with English
subtitles.
• In Germany, Deutschland 83 began to air after the U.S. run on RTL 26 November 2015. There, the series lost
viewers over the course of its run; the series finale had 1.72 million viewers, or approximately half of the
series premiere's viewers. As a result, German newspaper Bild called the show "the flop of the year".
Despite weak initial ratings in Germany, Deutschland 83 became a sleeper hit.
• It premiered on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on 3 January 2016, with the final two episodes shown
back-to-back on 14 February. It has since become the most popular foreign-language drama in the history of
British television with an audience of 2.5 million viewers as of January 2016.

STRANGER THINGS DEUTSCHLAND 83
LANGUAGE
INSTITUTION
AUDIENCE
REPRESENTATION
HISTORICAL C
POLITICAL C
SOCIAL +
CULTURAL C

REGULATION (LIVINGSTONE & LUND)
• Ofcom / BBFC
• Netflix (ST) based in Holland –
therefore by passes UK regulation
• D83 – broadcast in UK on Channel 4
after 9pm watershed then on 4OD –
easier to view if under age.
(read exemplar essay from Matt Sheriff)

REPRSENTATION DRCAGES
• Ability/Disability
• Regional Identity
• Class / Socio Economic status
• Age – Children. Teenagers. Adults.
• Gender
• Ethnicity
• Sexualisation/Orientation

REPRSENTATION – CONTEXTS DRCAGES
• Ability/Disability – Dustin Stranger things – positive
representation versus 1980s films (Goonies)
• Regional Identity – suburban Hawkins, Indiana
• Class – status. Affluence. Will’s family not.
• Age – Children. Teenagers. Adults. Where are the old people?
• Gender – Mothers. Girl friends (Nancy)
• Ethnicity – Diversity – Black Pride following Hollywood criticism -
Black Panther
• Sexualisation/Orientation – Objectification. Patriarchal. #Me Too
2016

REPRSENTATION – CONTEXTS DRCAGES
• Ability/Disability – Dustin Stranger things – positive
representation versus 1980s films (Goonies)
• Regional Identity – East German v West German (Cold War)
• Class – status. Affluence of West. Will’s family in ST
• Age – Children. Teenagers. Adults. Where are the old people?
• Gender - Women 1980s versus Fourth wave of feminism / #Me
Too
• Ethnicity – Diversity – Black Pride following Hollywood criticism -
Black Panther
• Sexualisation/Orientation – Objectification. Patriarchal. #Me
Too
2016

Representation in 'Deutschland 83'
Areas of focus:
Age
•Gender
•Class/Status
•Nationality
Age
Throughout the episode it becomes clear that the power lies within older characters
who typically boss around the younger ones. Martin's Aunt is dominant and has
control over Martin's action and decision making. When asked to go undercover, it
was clear that Martin didn't really have a choice and that he was always going to be
forced to do it. The older people are evidently more knowledgeable. First off, Walter
beats Martin at chess despite it being said that Martin was a half decent player.
Furthermore, Tobias gives Martin all his training in the build up to his mission.
Martin's mission requires him to work under General Edel.

Gender
The series is dominated by male characters. Women work for the men throughout. This can be
seen with through Edel's receptionist and Martin aunt Lenora working to find a candidate for Walter.
Men are at the figure point of the plot, with Martin being the main protagonist. Martin's mother, Ingrid,
challenges the stereotype as she does not rely upon a male figure, and in fact it is her sister that
provides her with the medical treatment she needs.
Society in the`80's was very patriarchal and male dominated. Despite having somewhat reasonable
power, Lenora is still bossed and controlled by men, with Tobias, Walter and Martin taking
figurehead roles in the mission. Edel's daughter has to perform a song in front of all the guests at his
barbecue, despite not particularly wanting to do it, rather, her dad forced her.

FEMALES IN STRANGER THINGS
The women of Stranger Things are mostly relegated to fairly traditional roles (mother,
sister, best friend, love interest), both the show’s central plot and the depth of the script
could be seen as taking these characters out of stereotype.

STRENGTH AND HEROINES
• All Three women are stronger than the men beside them
• Joyce – seen as being crazy. Strong single mum. Her maternal instincts
know she can get Will back. She never gives up.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=58&v=aA8LzZpHx3U
• She is given an unprecedented amount of screen time, centralizing the
narrative of maternal grief in a way few (if any) genre films of the time
ever did. Really, Stranger Things is Joyce’s story:Will’s disappearance sets
the plot in motion, and Joyce’s unflinching resolve to get him back propels
it forward.

• The first time we see Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer), she’s on the phone
surrounded by pastel pinks and baby blues. It’s the stereotypical image of the
‘80s teen girl, straight off a Babysitter’s Club paperback, and she appears to act
like one too.
• She fends off her boyfriend Steve’s advances by saying she’s not like other
girls, he responds,“You mean, you’re not a slut?”
• Nancy is the girl who says no and survives because of it.
• Nancy doesn’t lose her innocence the moment she has sex, she loses it the
moment her best friend Barb goes missing.With that, she drops Steve
Harrington and picks up a baseball bat, becoming, as one of her brother’s
friends puts it,“kind of a badass.”

• When Eleven appears her gender confounds expectations. One of the three 12-
year-old boys who find her in the forest, disheveled in a hospital gown from the
government lab she has fled, asks:“Where’s your hair, do you have cancer?”
Later, another kid says,“She doesn’t even look like a girl.” How girly Eleven
looks is less about aligning herself with gender norms and more about
claiming her humanity. She wants to be normal, and being a normal girl is
being a pretty girl. So when the boys dress her up like Gertie dresses up E.T., it
makes sense that his “be good” translates to her “pretty good.”
• “It’s not just a fun girl with superpowers.This is someone that if she wanted, or
even accidentally, could seriously hurt one of them,” Ross Duffer told Variety.
“She’s a bit of a wild card, she doesn’t fully have control.”Where E.T.
whimsically makes his friends fly, Eleven is more destructive, bypassing her
friends’ bikes to instead chuck an approaching van over their heads.“Did you
ever stop to think that maybe she’s the monster?” one of the boys asks Mike
(Finn Wolfhard) of his new roommate.

WOMEN IN STRANGER THINGS…
• Who are the women we see in Episode One?
Joyce Byers
Eleven
Nancy Wheeler
Barbara Holland
Karen Wheeler
Connie Frazer
(Social Worker)
OUTLINE HOW EACH FEMALE CHARACTER IS REPRESENTED IN EPISODE ONE

Using adjectives, outline how each female character is
represented in episode 1.
Screen - intro to each character
ACTIVITY
Lenora Annette Ingrid Yvonne Renate Ursula

ACTIVITY 2
How are the representations technically
constructed?

ACTIVITY 3
Can we map any theory onto these
representations?

IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE
REPRESENTATION OF THE WOMEN OF EAST
GERMANY AND WEST GERMANY?

● Women become oppressed through a
capitalist system because as the system
promotes consumerism women become
commodities (Wolfgang and Arnold
spending the night with prostitutes)
● Women are encouraged to compare
themselves to ‘idealised versions’ of
women
● Women become victims of patriarchy
(Yvonne is subject to domestic abuse)
● Women are passive
● Women were expected to go to work
because the politics of the East centres on
equality
● A greater sense of equality transfers to the
domestic space
● Women are independent and empowered
● Due to a lack of consumerism women
were less likely to compare themselves to
‘idealised’ versions of ‘women’ - women as
individuals and not a collective.
● Women are active
Extension reading on Marxist Feminism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxist_feminism
http://www.feministezine.com/feminist/philosophy/Introduction-to-Marxist-Feminis
m.html

Class/Status
Deutschland 83 presents a clear difference in power between the rich and the poor. The evidently more wealthy Lenora and
Walter are able to force Martin to do the mission through bribing him with a transplant for his mother. Furthermore, Tobias also
does this, despite Martin running away. Martin also plays assistant to General Edel as he once again serves someone richer
than him.
Deutschland 83 also show the difference in class and status through the setting. When put into comparison, Edel's social event
is paces above that of Martin's mothers birthday. Edel's house is much bigger and cleaner. The people there are wearing suits
and dressed very smartly, whereas over in the East they are all wearing casual clothes. At Martin's mothers's they are listening
and singing along to an anti-war pop song, whereas at Edel's they listen to classical and opera. This alone effectively presents
a huge contrast between people of different classes and status.
Nationality
Deutschland 83 effectively creates a clear emphasis of contrast between East and West Germany economically, socially and
culturally.

Nationality
Deutschland 83 effectively creates a clear emphasis of contrast between
East and West Germany economically, socially and culturally.

STRANGER THINGS STEREOTYPES
STEREOTYPES?
SUBVERTED BY ?

STRANGER THINGS STEREOTYPES
• Scientist – glasses, lab coat
• Mike’s family affluent suburban
• Nancy – teenage girl
• Hopper - a policeman haunted by his past
• The agents – faceless, nameless ruthless
• Mothers - domestic. Holding family together
SUBVERTED BY – Nancy excelling at science, Joyce’s family economically struggling.
Anti-patriarchal father as powerless, scientist fearful

DEUTSCHLAND 83 STEREOTYPES
• Young people at party seeking pleasure
• Walter – ruthless male spymaster
• Martin – lack of self confidence, committed to communism
• General Jackson – gung-ho American military man – no concern for local fears
• Yvonne – troubled, rebellious teenager
SUBVERTED BY – Socialist righteousness v consumerist west
Lenora – West Germany is rigidly patriarchal

STRANGER THINGS REPRESENTATION MEDIA CONTEXT
• 1980s family set in Spielbergian mostly white suburban family life (BMX’s, walkie talkie
radios)
• Mothers domestic, struggling to hold family together
• Absent fathers – insensitive, distracted
• Young boys – fierce masculine camaraderie and loyalty
• Mike’s sister Nancy – virginal, studious, submissive
• Ep1 social anxieties about scientific experimentation. When science goes wrong
• Nostalgic 1980s popular culture – global recognition American Life/dream
• Eleven – children with supernatural powers – cultural traditions of dangerous children
(The Midwitch Cuckoos)

VIEWPOINTS AND IDEOLOGIES
• Individualism – People are individuals The opposite to collectivism – members
of a group
• Consumerism – The ideology that we should judge ourselves and others on our
material possessions, our lifestyle.
• Patriarchal power – The system and ideology of male power described by
feminism. (The Male Gaze, Male power stereotypes, female submissivness.
Male violence. The separation of masculine public realm and fmemal domestity
• Ethnocentrism – belief that your own culture is normal/natural and others are
inferior and/or strange

DEUTSCHLAND 83 REPRESENTATION MEDIA CONTEXT
• Social contradictions in divided East/West Germany
• East Germany: rigidly controlled
• Promotes women's equality (Lenora)
• West Germany – less controlled – the military is the ridged patriarchy
• Both Germanys are represented as white (The America General Jackson – ‘the
other’)
• Social anxieties about Germanys divided past

DEUTSCHLAND 83 REPRESENTATION MEDIA CONTEXT
• Cultural The spy narrative has a global cultural resonance – success globally
• The East German past were buried in the triumph of the West success at
reunification
• Historic context (see above) plus 1983 division, cold war heightened, pre-1989
collapse of communism.
• Political – The concern in both E and W Germany about America.
• Possible modern feeling about US v Europe today
• Possible American author’s reference to current Representative politics

REPRESENTATION OF ETHNICITY ON US TV 1980’S
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
The portrayals of African Americans in movies and television shows in America reinforce negative
stereotypes. Professor Narissra M. Punyanunt-Carter, from the department of Communications Studies at
Texas Tech, found many facts in her research paper, The Perceived Realism of African American Portrayals on
Television, "After reviewing numerous television shows, Seggar and Wheeler (1973) found that African
Americans on these programs were generally depicted in service or blue-collar occupations, such as a house
cleaner or a postal worker". This is in contrast to their white counter-parts who are business executives and
business owners. "In contrast to White characters, research indicates that that African Americans have
lower socioeconomic status (SES) roles on television than Anglo Americans" (Segger & Wheeler, 1973)
(pp243).
She also found that "the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1977) found that African American television
portrayals typically depicted the following stereotypic personality characteristics: inferior, stupid, comical,
immoral, and dishonest"

ANALYSIS EXAMPLE…
• QUESTION: Why do long form television dramas from different countries offer different
representations?
• In your answer you must:
• consider the contexts in which long form television dramas are produced and consumed
• explain how media contexts may have influenced representations in the set episodes of the two long form
television dramas you have studied
• make judgements and reach conclusions about the reasons for the differences in representation between the two
episodes.
(30 marks)
What would we need to consider to answer this question?

QUESTION EXAMPLE…
• QUESTION:Why do long form television dramas from different countries offer
different representations?
What would we need to consider to answer this question?
• Representations seen in both episodes studied
• Background to the TV Show – industries and budgets
• Narrative and Themes
• Applying Theories to Long Form Television Drama

ARE THEY STRONG?
• Stereotypical domestic setting women – Mothers (Joyce & Karen), Popular Girl (Nancy), Best Friend (Barb) abused
(Eleven), and when they don’t follow suit they are seen as “weird” (Eleven).
• Each of these women are in the know: Joyce not only knows that a supernatural force has abducted her son, but
understands how to communicate with it. Nancy is sure that Barb did not run away and realizes how to attract the
monster that took her, and Eleven naturally has the best understanding of what her newfound friends are up against,
considering it was she that inadvertently opened the door to the Upside Down. Had these women been able to team up
immediately to take the monster down, the series may have only lasted one episode. Instead, Stranger Things serves as
a reminder that even for the strongest, most intelligent, most resourceful of women, the first battle is not seeking out
and destroying the monster; it is convincing the men around you to believe what you are saying.
• What all these characters have in common (with the exception of Barb, who doesn’t have much screen time) is that they
seem totally beholden to men. Joyce is dismissed as crazy until the police chief has cause to believe her; Eleven is
abused all her life, and even Mike and his friends are total dicks to her on multiple occasions. No one believes Nancy
about Barb except Joyce’s eldest son, Jonathan. They’re underutilised, which is criminal considering how much potential
they have,

SHORT COMPARATIVE ESSAY
• QUESTION: Do long form television dramas from different countries offer different representations of
females?
INCLUDE:
• Your opinion – yes or no?
• Discuss historical setting and the implications on females/males at the time
• Discuss the representation of females in an American suburban setting compared to that of the Cold
War – differences evident between East Germany women and Stranger Things and West Germany
women?
• Incorporate character names and specifically how they are represented through technical elements –
camera, mise, sound, editing? Give examples from the text and highlight differences/similarities
• Highlight WHY the representation is different in both programmes.
• PEE – Point, Example, Explain

Introduction to Long Form TV Drama

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